Who gets the purse money after a claiming race?

Even though the person who has claimed the horse becomes his/her owner, if the horse wins, or earns money in race, the money goes to the owner who entered him/her in the race. Also, if the horse is injured or worse has to be euthanized, the responsibility lays in the hands of the person who claimed the horse.If there is more than one claim in on a horse, numbered pills corresponding to the number of claim slips are put into a bottle, which is then shaken, and a single number rolled out. The claim slip that matches that number gets the horse. Everybody else gets their money back. You don't know prior to the box being opened if there is a claim on your horse. Any purse money earned in the race belongs to the original owner, regardless of whether or not the horse is claimed.

Claiming Races - A claiming race means that the horses may be purchased by a qualified, licensed person for the claiming price listed in that race. Many people do not understand why someone would want a horse to be claimed. Just as in other professional sports, not all horses are good enough to be top competitors in stakes level races. Racing in the claiming ranks allows the owners, as well as the horses, the opportunity to win against horses of the same caliber. Depending on the track, a horse may be entered for as low as $5,000 or as high as $100,000. There is also another type of race called the optional claimer. In this case, the horses may be eligible to be claimed or they may be allowance horses, competing under allowance conditions, and therefore are not eligible to be claimed. This type of race was created to combine two types of races and help the Racing Secretary have a fuller field of horses for this type of race.

For more information on types of races or another view/angle on above-

http://horseracing.about.com/od/helpfornewfans/a/a...

Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claiming_race

:)