Mid-Atlantic claiming activity fell to its lowest level since The Racing Biz began to track it, according to our latest Claimbox Report.
Overall, just 44 horses were claimed at Charles Town, Delaware, Monmouth, Parx, and Penn National during the seven days ending September 10. That was down 29 percent from the 62 horses claimed during the previous week, and 10 fewer horses than had been claimed in any prior week.
The monetary indicators also fell precipitously. The average valued of a claimed horse — $9,100 — was the lowest it has been and off 17 percent from last week’s total, while the median dropped from $10,000 to $7,750. The gross value of the horses claimed, $400,500, was over 40 percent below the prior week.
Penn National supplanted Parx this week as the track with the largest number of claims. At Penn, 15 horses changed hands via the claimbox, while 12 did so at Parx. The horses claimed at Parx had the highest gross value, $164,500, and the highest average, about $13,700. The horses claimed at Penn were worth a total of $108,000.
Michael Pino led all trainers, claiming three horses for a total of $40,000. Philip Aristone claimed two for the same total of $40,000. Bruce Kravets, Dee Curry, and John Locke all lost two during the week. Though they lost only one each, Marcos Zulueta and Shane Murphy led in the value of horses claimed away, each having lost a $25,000 horse.
Why the stark reduction in claiming value? In part, it may be a result of fewer days of live racing, as there was no racing at Timonium and only two days at Monmouth. Additionally, Parx, which typically cards a number of claiming races each day, had only one on its “Pennsylvania’s Day at the Races” card on September 7.
