What It Means
A class code is the racing secretary's shorthand for who was allowed to enter. It is set down in the program unexplained, because the horsemen reading it already know the grammar. NW400PS breaks into parts, and each part narrows the field a little further.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| NW | non-winners: a ceiling on what a horse may already have won and still stay eligible |
| PS | per start: the money ceiling is an average for each start rather than a season total |
The figure 400 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 NW400PS was carded 27 times for the pace (19) and trot (8), carrying purses from $2,700 to $4,000. The first appearance in this record is May 13, 2002 and the last is May 13, 2008, 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
What does the class code NW400PS mean?
It is a set of eligibility conditions, not a grade. Read in parts: NW — non-winners: a ceiling on what a horse may already have won and still stay eligible and PS — per start: the money ceiling is an average for each start rather than a season total.
How often was NW400PS carded?
27 races in the recovered record, 2002-05-13 to 2008-05-13. That is a count of surviving charts and entry sheets, so it is a floor rather than a total.
Was NW400PS raced at the trot or the pace?
Both: pace (19) and trot (8). The figures are race counts, so the condition leaned pace here.
What did NW400PS pay?
Purses of $2,700 to $4,000. 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 NW400PS last appear on a card?
2008-05-13, having first appeared on 2002-05-13. Both dates come from the surviving documents for those days.