I'm not certain in but in some cases it seems that a trainer thinks that they can improve a horse. Maybe they've seen something that they think can be changed by a bit or blinker change. Sometimes it's one that they had in the past. In NY over the winter you see some that look like the trainer claimed them to hold out for the spring turf season. Similarly you might see a trainer who keeps horses at (say) Delaware claiming a Delaware specialist out of a race at Laurel just before the Delaware meet opens.
Midwest TB's does extremely well off the claim. Not sure wht they spotted but I'd look for him to move up. Was he a "new" gelding? Maybe they let someone else do the "brain surgery" and hope to take advantage of potential to improve?
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RIP Monroe.
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