There is an art to entering a harness race. Three days before the race, the horse owner submits an entry to the race secretary indicating the name of the horse, the driver, the trainer, and the class. There is no cost to enter the competition. The race secretary reviews the entries.

It often happens that a horse owner will choose the same “catch driver” (similar to baseball’s pinch hitter). A driver can only race one horse at a time so this presents a problem! In this case, the driver chooses the horse he wishes to race. The trainers of the other horses are given a chance to name another driver. If the trainer fails to call, the judge assigns a driver. The entries are drawn to determine the post position.

There are two types of classes horses can enter: claim or condition. In the Claim Class, you put a price tag on your horse based on what you judge their competitive value to be. A low price tag (claim) may make it easier to win. But keep the winning streak going, and anyone who comes up with the money, can “claim” your horse. There are five levels of claim classes that run from $2,500 to $10,000. The art to running in this class is to choose the right claim class so that your horse is competitively inthe money but won’t be claimed. One thing is for sure, horses move from owner to owner when they race in this class, and that keeps things interesting.

Condition classes offer stiffer competition than the claim class, but there is no risk in losing your horse. Consistently successful horses earn significantly higher amounts of money in this class, but face much stiffer competition. The trainer determines which class to enter.