Tag: selling race

What is a selling race?

In horse racing, a selling race, also known as a ‘selling plate’, or ‘seller’, for short, is a low-grade race in which the winner must be offered for sale at public auction, subject to a minimum bid of £3,200, or more, at the discretion of the racecourse. Aside from the winner, beaten horses in a selling race may be ‘claimed’ for a value specified by the trainer of the horse in question when making the entry for the race.

Selling races can be conditions, or stakes, races, in which horses carry weight according to their age and sex, or handicaps, in which horses carry weight according to their official handicap ratings, as allotted by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), Either way, the prize money in selling races is generally poor and, prior to October, 2018, selling races were subject to varying amounts of commission, up to 50% above the minimum bid, from racecourse to racecourse. At that point, in a effort to encourage owners to run their horses in selling races, the BHA capped the maximum commission retained by racecourses at 10% of the sale price.

What is a Stakes Race?

Traditionally, a ‘stakes race’ was any horse race in which some, or all, of the prize money was contributed by the owners of the horses involved. However, nowadays, all owners contribute to prize money through entry fees – calculated as a percentage of the total prize money added to stakes – so, more often than not, the term ‘stakes race’ is used to describe a Listed or Pattern race. Listed and Pattern races are the most prestigious, and valuable, types of horse races, contested by the best horses, who carry the same weight, subject to certain conditions, such as age and gender.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) also uses the term ‘conditions stakes race’ to describe a flat race that is below Listed or Pattern status, but is not a handicap, classified stakes, maiden, selling or claiming race.