What It Means
A class code is the racing secretary's shorthand for who was allowed to enter. It is printed on the program without a key, because the horsemen reading it already know the grammar. FMOPEN breaks into parts, and each part narrows the field a little further.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| FM | restricted to fillies and mares, so no horses or geldings may enter |
| OPEN | open: the top class of the meeting, carrying no eligibility ceiling at all |
In the programs held here FMOPEN was carded 12 times for the pace (12), carrying purses from $4,000 to $7,000. The first appearance in this record is Jun 17, 2003 and the last is Mar 31, 2009, 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
Questions about this condition
When did FMOPEN last appear on a card?
2009-03-31, having first appeared on 2003-06-17. Both dates come from the surviving documents for those days.
What does the class code FMOPEN mean?
It is a set of eligibility conditions, not a grade. Read in parts: FM — restricted to fillies and mares, so no horses or geldings may enter and OPEN — open: the top class of the meeting, carrying no eligibility ceiling at all.
How often was FMOPEN carded?
12 races in the recovered record, 2003-06-17 to 2009-03-31. That is a count of surviving charts and entry sheets, so it is a floor rather than a total.
Was FMOPEN raced at the trot or the pace?
Only at the pace — all 12 races.
What did FMOPEN pay?
Purses of $4,000 to $7,000. 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.