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. NW500PS 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 500 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 NW500PS was carded 30 times for the pace (18) and trot (12), carrying purses from $3,000 to $5,000. The first appearance in this record is May 7, 2002 and the last is Nov 28, 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
Was NW500PS raced at the trot or the pace?
Both: pace (18) and trot (12). The figures are race counts, so the condition leaned pace here.
What did NW500PS pay?
Purses of $3,000 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 NW500PS last appear on a card?
2008-11-28, having first appeared on 2002-05-07. Both dates come from the surviving documents for those days.
What does the class code NW500PS 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 NW500PS carded?
30 races in the recovered record, 2002-05-07 to 2008-11-28. That is a count of surviving charts and entry sheets, so it is a floor rather than a total.