City Chapel, the longshot claim we've been following since he was purchased for $4,000 out of a race in which he went to Post at Final Odds of 29.80, brought home some more purse money for the Trujillo barn this past weekend, taking the Show Sunday in Race 2 at Golden Gate Fields. The contest was $5k Clm NW2L X; and, since I know many of you are not degenerate horse players, I'll explain what that means.
Let's start in the middle; Clm is simply shorthand for Claiming Race. A horse in a claiming race is being put up for sale by his current connections. Anyone (OK, not anyone; there are rules as to who can file a claim; but, let's try to keep this relatively simple) can purchase any of the horses running in a claiming race by completing the proper paperwork prior to the race and paying the claiming price. The cost of the horse in this case would be $5,000, or $5k. If more than one person files a claim for a specific horse, then lots are drawn after the race to determine who gets to buy the four legged beauty.
Alright, so every horse in the race is up for sale (well, not every horse; there are exceptions; for example, because of this rule Dos Eqkeys could not be claimed out of this race). That's one way that the race track insures that the race will be competitive; after all, no one (well, again, almost no one) is going to enter a horse worth $10k or $20k or more in this race, and risk losing him for the $5,000 claiming price.
Another way the race track insures this will be a competitive field is by placing conditions on which horses can enter the race; that's what that "NW2L X" is. Briefly, "NW2L" is shorthand for "Non-Winners of Two Lifetime". Well, that seems pretty easy to understand; if a horse has won two races in its career, then it can't compete in this race.
But wait; we know that can't be the whole deal, because we know that City Chapel won his second career race back in February; so how does he qualify? Well, that's where the "X" comes in.
When read out loud, the "X' is stated as "other than". So, reading the full condition of "NW2L X" so that all can hear, one would say, "Non-Winners of Two Lifetime Other Than...." and then look at everyone as they patiently wait for you to tell them "Other Than WHAT?" In this case, a look at the entries tells us that the "WHAT?" is:
1) Maiden Races;
2) Claiming And Starter Races For $4,000 Or Less
Those races, to use the official language, are "not considered".
So now we see how City Chapel is eligible to compete in this race. One of his two lifetime wins came in a maiden race; if that race is "not considered", or if we're talking about all his races "other than" the maiden races, well, then, City Chapel has just one win, and can run in this event.
To give another example, you see that Tonzatrouble, another horse running in this race, has four lifetime wins. But if you don't consider Tonzatrouble's maiden victory; his win in a January Claiming Race for $3,200; and this win where he ran for a $4,000 price tag, then Tonzatrouble has only one win "other than" those races, and is thus eligible to run in this contest.
Hopefully that's clear. If it's not, shoot me an email (JimboMatthews@GMail.com) or post a comment below, and I'll try to do better in a future post.
Anyway, back to City Chapel, we see that he continues to be a sound investment for Owner and Trainer Victor Trujillo, bringing back total purse winnings (including Sunday's race) of $16,750. Not bad for a $4,000 purchase.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
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