The Racing Biz has been tracking claiming activity in the mid-Atlantic region and reporting on it weekly for the last three months. We continue that, along with our Midlantic Claiming 7 — the trainers who have been busiest over the prior 30 days, ending in this case on October 22.
With the Claimbox off last week, there was some upheaval in the Midlantic Claiming 7. 
There are three newcomers to the list, and and there’s a new overall leader.
On the heels of a busy week, trainer John Locke moved to the top of the leaderboard with 15 claims, though the dollar value of those claims — $154,500 — places him third. In that regard, he’s behind last week’s top two, Patricia Farro and Jamie Ness, each with 14 claims but higher overall values.
New to the list this week are Juan Vazquez, Ronney Brown, and Kathleen DeMasi in the fourth, fifth, and seventh spots, respectively.
Farro and Ness also top the list of trainers having had horses claimed from them, with Farro having lost nine and Ness, eight, in the last 30 days. Jorge Navarro, however, is tops in dollar value, having lost six horses for a combined $126,500
The list tracks horses claimed in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and at Parx Racing and Penn National in Pennsylvania and at West Virginia’s Charles Town Races.
For the week…
It was among the slowest weeks in the last several months at the Claimbox.
Just 44 horses changed hands in the last week, tied for the fewest of any week, and their combined value of less than $414,000 was the second lowest in any week. Those numbers are due in part to the relatively small amount of racing in the region. With Delaware no longer racing, and New Jersey having just two six-race cards of grass races each week at the Meadowlands, claiming opportunities are fewer. In addition, this past week saw Laurel Park host the Maryland Million and Charles Town host the West Virginia Breeders Classics — both cards with no claiming races.
Parx led all tracks, with 18 horses having changed hands at the claimbox with a combined value of $186,500. On the other side of the ledger, just one horse was claimed at the Meadowlands. Overall, the claimed horses averaged about $9,400.
