Welcome to our guide to Photo Finish Live virtual horse racing CLAIMING Races. A “Claiming Race” is where any horse entered can be “claimed” or bought for a set price prior to the end of the race. We feel they can be a lot of fun and highly strategic so this guide aims to help you take part.

First off, if you either want to be able to claim a horse or race one, you’re going to need an account and DERBY, the in-game currency of Photo Finish Live. Please see this guide to getting started.

Beginning in season 20, we’ve created a claiming leaderboard https://photofinish.live/stats/horses-season-leaders, which tracks horses by wins in claiming races during the current season.

Every horse that finishes in the top 20 of the leaderboard wins $300 worth of crown at the end of the season for it’s stable owner at the end of the season. For more info, check out the article here  https://photofinish.live/news/article/stake-your-claim-claiming-leaderboard-now-live 

Entering a Claiming Race

Step 1: Log in at photofinish.live and navigate to the racing tab. Then go to the filters button and filter for claiming races.

Step 2: Select a claiming race with the preferences, distance, and claiming price you want. Claiming prices range from 400 DERBY to over 50,000 for the core races.

Most Claiming Races are also offered as a Grade Restricted variety.

In the race below, it would cost 1k Derby ($12) to claim a horse in this race. It is grade-restricted to S- horses (or below only). So you pay your 200 derby entry fee, and there’s 2.28k Derby in the race pot. Race results payout from the race.

Then, anyone claiming the horse will have ownership transferred to them once the race is finalized (5 minutes after the start), and the old owner will receive a 1k Derby for the horse.

If you have a horse worth 20k Derby in this race, it will get claimed; alternatively, if you have a horse with 400 Derby in this race, it may be outclassed and unable to compete.

Step 3: If everything looks ok, select the register button.

Step 4: Select the horse you want to enter into the race and be sure to heed the multiple warnings.

 

Step 5: Confirm your entry and once again, heed the warnings.

Step 6: Are you super duper 100% sure? If so, click the continue button. Seriously, if you complain about your top tier horse getting claimed after all this because you didn’t bother to read, everyone is going to laugh at you.

Step 7: You’re now registered for the race. Take note of when it’s going to run and come back at that time to enjoy the show. If you miss it, don’t worry, as always, you can watch the replay. If your horse is claimed, you’ll get a notice in your inbox and receive the DERBY.

Claiming a Horse

Looking to check out the claiming races to see if you might want to put a big in for a diamond in the rough or to see a horse with wins climbing up the leaderboard you want to claim?

Follow our intro above and steps one and two to log in, get yourself some DERBY, navigate to the racing tab, and filter for the claiming races. You can only claim horses when the selection window opens up for a claiming race. This happens when the race fills OR when there’s three hours left before post time. Once that happens, click on the race and here’s what you’ll see:

Once you have determined you would like to claim a horse, click the “Place a Claim” link below the horse.

If your claim is successful, you will receive a notification in our inbox indicating you have claimed the horse.

Strategy

Some thoughts for you as you plan your claiming race strategy:
1. Is it worth trying to sneak in a good horse occasionally you think will win the race?

2. Have you done your research in the marketplace to see what horses are available at what prices?

3. Is a claimable horse that seems like a donkey actually a diamond in the rough because it wasn’t raced properly? Or maybe it hasn’t hit peak age?

4. What are the various claiming prices of races? Are there really good horses on the marketplace that would dominate a tier and are below the claim price for that tier?

5. Did anyone accidentally race a filly (female horse) that could be worth much more DERBY?

6. Consider if one of these horses on the claiming wins the leaderboard this season and how it has historically been done in claiming races. Is it a horse you can claim cheaply that can succeed in slightly higher races and maybe get claimed in them? Could its value increase as it stacks up wins?

As always, feel free to join the community on Discord to ask questions and share your own strategies. See you at the track!