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MINIMUM CLAIMING PRICE I -» Raised at Lexington With Idea of Attracting- Better Horses. ♦. 8. S. Com lis Believes ,000 Claiming Price i Will llesult in Improved Baring at • uming Meeting. • LEXINGTON, Ky.. April 12. -That the Kentucky Association, which operates the local track, the oldest in America, is ever K: alert to any change from previous custom that tends to improve racing and particularly the sport to be offered here is probably no W better exemplar than in that Associations recent raising of the minimum claiming price for races here. Previously races were put on for horses to be entered for 00, which under the Kentucky claiming rule made them claimable at ,300. as the purs? 00 is added to the i entered price in reaching the full claiming cost. Beginning with the coming meeting, the minimum entering price will be ,000. which, with the purse, will raise the mini- 1 mum claiming price to ,800. This departure from previous meetings is , expected to result in a higher standard of racing, as the raising of the claiming price is certain to keep many of the less valuable horses out of the races and what few accept are likely to be at such a disadvantage, en- ] gaging more valuable rivals, that they will ultimately be lost to local racing. In discussing the rule S. S. Combs, president of the Kentucky Association, expressed himself as confident that it will bring improved racing and successfully combat the participation of the lower grade of horses in local racing. He said further that later meetings no doubt will find the minimum claiming price gradually moving up. and holds that such restriction alone will protect the major race tracks of this country against i he cheap horses which, in the past, have been more than plentiful in their quest of purses, often much greater than the value of the horses that won them. It is noted in the recent issue of the book of conditions for the earlier days of the Churchill Downs meeting, that the minimum claiming cost during that meeting will be the same as here. While the smallest purse during the Downs meet will be ,200, the higher minimum claiming price is reached by raising the minimum entering price to 00. In former seasons it was possible to enter a t horse as cheap as 00 at the l,ouisville track. Knowing of their intention to raise the claiming price here, the management of the local track discouraged owners of the cheaper grade horses from coming here and a perusal of the platers that will be available reveals horses of quality much higher than ever before. The same, no doubt, will be noted at Churchill Downs. The question of whether the lowest type of thoroughbreds, the less capable ones, should have opportunity to race for purses equivalent to those provided for racers of greater va!ue and ability has long puzzled track managers and the local management is satisfied that it has successfully solved that problem
