For example, the Illinois Racing Board stipulates that any horse may be claimed for its entered price by any licensed owner or agent or anyone who has filed an application and been granted a claiming license.
They are a quality classification, as well as a way of ensuring racing outcomes are less predictable, which in turn increases the handle, or amount of parimutuel betting, and a way to bring liquidity to the racehorse marketplace.
General Quarters, a USD 20,000 claimer, won the grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes and ran in the 2009 Kentucky Derby.
In 2018, Maximum Security won a claiming race, but was not claimed, and went on to run in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, and initially appeared to win, but was disqualified for interfering with other horses.
[5] The 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike was purchased in a claiming race for $30,000, was entered into the Derby only after Ethereal Road was scratched, and won at 80-1 odds.