The Racing Biz has been tracking claiming activity in the mid-Atlantic region and reporting on it weekly for the last several months, in our Claimbox report.  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 January 28, 2014.

Claiming activity held steady for the week ending January 28, and for the most part, our Midlantic Claiming 7 list of the trainers claiming the most horses in the region did, too.

For the second straight week — and the third time in four weeks — Scott Lake led all regional trainers.  He’s claimed 10 horses in the last 30 days with a combined value of $121,500 (average: $12,150).  That put him three claims ahead of Patricia Farro, who moved up into second, one ahead of Ferris Allen.  The average value of Farro’s claims, $13,143, was tops among the leaderboard.

Two trainers moved onto the list: Hugh McMahon (5 claims in the month) and Michael Pino (4 claims), who checked in at fifth and seventh, respectively.  Falling off the list were Ronney Brown and Kieron Magee.

Lake lost four horses during the month, leaving him with a net gain of six horses (and $83,500 in the value of those horses) — tops in the region.  Amy Albright, who claimed four and lost one, and Ferris Allen (six and three) both enjoyed three-horse gains.  On the flip side, Jamie Ness and Michael Pino lost six horses each during the month, but it was Michael Trombetta — whose five lost via the claimbox were offset by only one claim — who had the biggest net loss, of four horses.

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For the week…

Weather continued to wreak havoc on the region’s racing schedule, but claiming activity remained flat for the week.

Overall, 43 horses were claimed during the week — same as last week — though the average (and therefore, gross) value dropped.  The 43 claims grossed $404,000 (average: $9,395), a drop of nearly 16 percent from the prior week.

Parx Racing was the region’s biggest track for claiming activity.  Eighteen horses changed hands via the claimbox there, with a combined value of $211,000 (average: $11,722).  That was two horses, and $69,000 in value, more than were claimed at Laurel.  Charles Town, which had only one day of live racing, had only one horse claimed, while at Penn National, there were eight claims for the week.

The claimbox report covers claiming activity at Laurel Park, Parx Racing, Penn National, and Charles Town.

Weekly Dollar Value of Horses Changing Hands