Sim Magic \u2013 Starter Allowances Lots of people may consider the STR Races to be very undervalued, and in some fact they are, if you look at the BP rewarded, the winner only gets 15 BP, Claiming and ALWs both pay 20 BP, with the Claimers even having tons of modifiers, that allow you to earn even more BP. So including the 5 BP reward for running back at the same track, the max you can get out of a STR Horse from it\u2019s second race on is 20 BP. A Claimer can earn 40 BP plus, if you keep him through several races, so why would you move a horse that you just claimed into STR Level? The answer is easy, if it is good enough, so you don\u2019t want to loose it, even if it has more class, I wouldn\u2019t advice you to move a horse you just claimed directly into ALWs or Stakes races, cause there is one huge upside in STR races, and thats the level of competition. Usually STR rcaes have small field of 4 to 7 runners, so having claimed a good horse, it can turn into a winning machine in STR races. As you know a horse keeps it\u2019s claim tag for six months, so it comes to no surprise, if you use the new \u201cHorse-Stats\u201d tool, and select the horses with the most wins the last 6 months, the list is topped by STR Horses. Let\u2019s look at some of them, to learn, when to put a horse into STR Races. Take Viptitude \u00a0<\/SPAN>http:\/\/www.simulatedsports.net\/hr\/runtime\/prettyhorse.asp?hossnum=132947<\/A> , if you look at her races, you see her last 7 Races all have been 4yo F S-2000 races in France, so she whooped an easy 20 BP in each of those races, and that without the risk of being claimed, if you look at her whole career, her first owner manowar never found a place to run her, she was usually winning in claimers and had no shot at STR races, however only ran once beyond 9f, and thats likely what her claimer spotted, she had an 85 over 11f on 8\/18\/07, not a great time, but decent. And the one that claimed her likely spotted that, and decided to give her a shot at a 12f STR in France, which likely wasn\u2019t bid on. From then on it was clear, speeds just around 80 are enough for 4yo fillies to win a STR 2000(the lowest tag) over 12f. The longer the distance, the lower the speed necessary, to step up a class. From then on he kept bidding her exactly those type of race every 3 weeks. So was it a mistake for the old owner to drop her that deep into a 2K CLM, well likely, he should have put her back at longer distances, but spotting this horse at 2 K was a great move. \u00a0<\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN>So what to look for to find such a horse? Look for a soft spot, like being not switched in grounds, or having only one race on a certain surface, often only 1 switch to turf cxan be misleading, but most of the time it\u2019s not the surface switch, but the distance, often horses are not stretched out beyond 8 or 9f at the age of 3, thats a mistake, look if a horse perhaps has dynamite staying power before dropping it for good. I\u2019d advice any owner to try a 12f or 14f race before giving up on a 3yo, well, of course except it showed it can\u2019t even stay 8f. Let\u2019s take a look at No. 2 in the list http:\/\/www.simulatedsports.net\/hr\/runtime\/prettyhorse.asp?hossnum=154973<\/A> Redirected is the typical example of one owner giving up too early and the other one picking up a great STr horse, as you can see his 2nd<\/SUP> race as a 3yo was already a 30K CLM, likely his first owner thought he\u2019d get him through, well not here, and bung4 picked up a great STR horse, even 30K usually is a high tag for a STr horse, however, as you can see, he faced small fields, and once again speeds in the 80s proofed good enough to keep on winning. So far we only looked at a 4yo filly and a 3yo, so what speeds will older horses need to be great at STr races take a look at this one: http:\/\/www.simulatedsports.net\/hr\/runtime\/prettyhorse.asp?hossnum=117165<\/A> As you can see the 5yo Mare needed speeds in the 90s, but at 9f this was even enough for a 5yo to start winning STR Races. How well judged was the claim, well, I guess well thought out, it was a horse struggling at ALW class, that won a low-tag claimer, and then was run again for a similar claim, usually a move an owner will make to pick up max BP, well here the running back for an even tag worked well for touched, that took the horse away from adrian9, who picked up his 40 BP by winning the first race in a claimer, but passed a great STr Race, touche went right into STrs and got 5 wins and a 2nd<\/SUP> with track bonuses, so a total of \u00a0<\/SPAN>133 BP(if i calculated right), so a big difference in value. As we know looked at working examples, when should I not run a horse in STRs, as it looks like every winning claimer can become succesful in STRs, if conditions are right, but thats not true, for example, if you find yourself struggling for 3rd<\/SUP> places, or finding a horse, that stays with you at the track and dominates you, then it\u2019s time to move out of STr Races, you need to be sure to win races , if it should be worth running in them, if your horse can\u2019t win at STR, most of the time it\u2019s best to retrun to claimers, and look to pick up the bonuses of winning claimers, and risking the horse being claimed after a couple of races. To lead you out of this weeks article I wanna give you two examples of my own horses: