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Class Condition

7500CL — Harness Racing Class Condition

Carded 15 times in the surviving Plainridge programs, for purses of $4,000 to $5,000.

What It Means

A class code is the racing secretary's shorthand for who was allowed to enter. It is printed in the program with no explanation, because the horsemen reading it already know the grammar. 7500CL breaks into parts, and each part narrows the field a little further.

PartWhat it does
CLclaiming: every starter may be bought for the stated price shortly after the race

The figure 7500 in the code is the money threshold itself. Read together with the letters above, it is what separates a horse that may enter from one that has won too much to be eligible any longer.

In the programs held here 7500CL was carded 15 times for the pace (15), carrying purses from $4,000 to $5,000. The first appearance in this record is Apr 1, 2003 and the last is Sep 26, 2005, which gives a rough sense of how long the racing office kept the condition in rotation.

Conditions like this one are the machinery that keeps a small meeting competitive. Rather than grading horses by an official rating, the secretary writes an eligibility sentence and lets the entries sort themselves out. A card at a regional track therefore carries far more distinct class codes than an outsider would ever expect to find.

Race Days Carrying This Condition

The full condition index

Questions about this condition

What did 7500CL pay?

Purses of $4,000 to $5,000. Purse is the money on offer for the race, split by finishing position, and it is the most reliable indicator of where a condition sat relative to the rest of the card.

When did 7500CL last appear on a card?

2005-09-26, having first appeared on 2003-04-01. Both dates come from the surviving documents for those days.

What does the class code 7500CL mean?

It is a set of eligibility conditions, not a grade. Read in parts: CL — claiming: every starter may be bought for the stated price shortly after the race.

How often was 7500CL carded?

15 races in the recovered record, 2003-04-01 to 2005-09-26. That is a count of surviving charts and entry sheets, so it is a floor rather than a total.

Was 7500CL raced at the trot or the pace?

Only at the pace — all 15 races.