Honest toilers who try their hearts out every week for average stakes, many of them hit triple figures in terms of race starts.
Some in Australia have raced more than 300 times.
Matt Smith picked out the well-travelled pacer Cullen's Finest, and traced his career back to the beginning as the horse embarks on his 125th start at Forbury Park tonight.
2006-2009
• Co-breeder: Robin Wales:Super sire Christian Cullen was all the rage when Wales and his co-breeders decided who to match with their mare, Sally Fine.
''He looked very popular at that point. We thought a lot of the mother so we put it to Christian Cullen. The foal was really nice and we were going to put it in the yearling sales originally but it didn't do very well as a youngster, so we kept it.
''He was a good bread-and-butter horse but there were always better horses around than him. One of our partners still backs him every time.''
April 2009-May 2012
• Trainer: Ian Cameron, Fernside
• 53 starts - 3 wins, 12 placings
Ian Cameron had high hopes for Cullen's Finest when the horse was foaled in early 2006, but when the youngster returned to his Fernside stables to be broken in, he had not quite come along as he had hoped.
''He could never hold his condition early on - he was a bit weak. Even now when he's racing, he comes up good fresh but then goes off again.''
After 53 starts, which included wins at Ashburton and Reefton in 2010 and Motukarara in March 2012, Cameron decided the 6yr-old had perhaps done everything he could in Canterbury.
''It was too tough for him around here and the mark he was on at the time. I was sorry to see him go, but they were filling the stables up. You just didn't have any room for anything else.
''He was a lovely horse and we always rated him earlier on. But he's still doing a good job, isn't he?''
June 2012-October 2012
• Trainer: Phil Burrows, Fernside
• 9 starts - 1 win, 3 placings
Phil Burrows searched back through his memory banks when he decided to have a go at claiming Cullen's Finest in May 2012.
''I could recall him going a very good workout against a horse of mine [Mached Out] which we thought was pretty good. We beat it by a nose but we were well clear of the rest.''
Burrows is a fan of the claiming races which extend the racing careers of older horses and give owners an instant fix.
''Even if they get claimed [the next week], they haven't lost any money out of it.''
• Trainer: Andrew Armour, Invercargill
• 5 starts - 1 placing
Armour took over the training of Cullen's Finest when his friends, Southland rugby identities Matt Saunders and John Hardie, claimed the horse at Timaru. While he did not win an official race during his time at the West Plains stable, he did win the Tin Shed Cup at the Balfour trials.
''They wanted one to race in those sort of races,'' Armour said.
''Most of those horses, they've been round the ringer a wee bit, so a change is as good as a holiday to them. They seem to quite enjoy going place to place.''
January 2013
• Trainer: Craig Kennett, Waimate
• 4 starts - 1 win, 1 placing
Josh Kennett, who would train Cullen's Finest when his father, Craig, claimed the horse again in August 2013, was the new owner of Cullen's Finest after their name was drawn from a ballot at Roxburgh in January 2013 after multiple claims were lodged for the horse.
''We had Wot The Owl before that and made money off him. I was looking for another horse to claim and he was that sort of horse he was looking for,'' Kennett said.
''It was a good bit of fun in the end.''
Kennett was not too concerned by bidding farewell to the horse after he was claimed by connections of Geoff and Jude Knight following his third at Forbury Park on January 31.
''It's the nature of it. We've got horses like that off other people.''
March 2013-August 2013
• Trainers: Geoff and Jude Knight, Roxburgh
• 16 starts - 4 wins, 7 placings
Cullen's Finest had been on the Knights' radar for a few months when they managed to lodge a successful claim in late January last year.`We thought he was a nice little Christian Cullen who would fit into our regime. He's just an old gentleman - he's lovely to have around. All the girls here ride him. He loves swimming . We never put the hobbles on him, we just canter him and just hack him around.
''When we turn them out for a spell, sometimes they go up in to the hills, drinking from fresh water creeks and running through tussock country.''
August 2013-January 2014
• Trainer: Josh Kennett, Waimate
• 8 starts - 1 win, 1 placing
The Kennetts decided to give Cullen's Finest a short spell after they were successful with their claim at Forbury Park on August 15 last year.
''We gave him a wee break just at the end of the claiming races and when he came back up he wasn't quite in the form he was with the Knights,'' Josh Kennett said.
Three average runs in November were quickly forgotten though when Cullen's Finest provided Kennett with his favourite memory in harness racing to date on his home track at Waimate last December.
''Here's Shifty ran second, so we got the quinella - that was a good day.''
January 2014-present
• Trainers: Geoff and Jude Knight, Roxburgh
• 3 starts - 1 win, 1 placing
''Some of the syndicate members were here and said we should claim him back. I suggested we shouldn't claim him back, but after the Roxburgh Cup the stipes came down to me and said, `You'll be taking Cullen's Finest from here'. I said, `No, we didn't put a claim in for him', and they said, `Yes you did'.
''Against my poor judgement, the syndicate claimed him.''
After one start, the Knights gave Cullen's Finest a spell, and he then returned with a win at Forbury Park on May 1, paying the handsome dividend of $23.
Knight is one of the biggest fans of the claiming system, and knows there is a chance the 8yr-old might not be coming back to Roxburgh tonight if someone is keen on him.
''We don't like losing any of them because we all love them and they're like family members around here, but we understand if we lose them and want them back, we put a claim in for them again.''
Claiming races
How they work
• Horses are entered with a ''price'' attached to their nomination.
• Races are penalty-free, meaning horses do not go up a grade if they win a race.
• A preferential barrier draw means horses with a lower claiming price are drawn inside the higher-priced horses.
• Interested parties must lodge a claim with a form of payment for the horse's claiming price along with a $75 change of ownership fee.
• If more than one claim is lodged, the winning claim is drawn by the stipendiary stewards after the race.
Cullen's Finest
At a glance
• Breeding: Christian Cullen - Sally Fine
• Foaled: January 5, 2006
• Breeders: Robin Wales, Ron Todd and Graeme Campbell
• Career: 124 starts, 11 wins, 15 seconds, 15 thirds - $67,858 in stakes
