The draw

The manner in which horses are entered in a particular race and assigned post positions has gone largely unchanged for generations. Above, horsemen & racing officials huddle around the racing office counter while entry cards, each representing a horse, are pulled from the box (right) and numbered pills are pulled from a shake bottle (held by pill-puller, left). Which ever pill number is pulled for a given entry card will be that horse's post position. Each pill is then placed in the corresponding numbered divot on the makeshift board as seen here on the counter. The purpose of the board is to allow everyone to see which number was pulled instead of the puller announcing it and dumping it into a less circumspect vessel. This reduces the ease, and possibly the likelihood, of chicanery in the assignment of post positions.

While less common now, given dwindling field sizes, occasionally a race over fills. This means not all horses entered will be assigned a post position or a placing on the also eligible list. Assuming all horses have equal preference, those not pulled, and thus not assigned a post position number or placing on the also eligible list, will not have a chance to run in the race. Such horses are said to have been "left in the box."

The same type of bottle and pills are used to determine which party claims a horse when more than one claim is dropped for a particular horse. On TVG or HRTV, when you hear "trainer Hai Bute took Cheap Speed out of the fourth in a three-way shake" that merely means three claims were dropped and Cheap Speed will now be in the care of Mr. Bute.

*pic circa 1950, Cumberland Racetrack