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 March 18, 2014.
Mid-Atlantic claiming activity rose for the fourth consecutive week. And more trainers using the claimbox led to a shuffling in the Midlantic Claiming 7 list of busiest trainers in the last 30 days.
For all that, the top three names on the list looked pretty familiar: Scott Lake and Dane Kobiskie once again ran one-two, with nine and eight claims, respectively. And Patricia Farro, with five claims in the last 30 days, rose from sixth place to third. Kobiskie’s eight claims were worth a combined $109,000 and averaged $13,625 — both numbers atop the list.
Three trainers entered the list this week. Ronney Brown and Wayne Potts have made five claims each, while Jamie Ness has made three. They replace Claudio Gonzalez, Ferris Allen, and Ernest Haynes. All three have made four claims, the same as Ness and Michael Pino, but for lower total value.
Kobiskie led all trainers in net gain of horses. While claiming eight, he lost four by claimbox, leaving him with a net gain of four horses (though just a gain of $5,000 in total value). Four trainers posted a net gain of three each during the month. On the flip side of the ledger, Philip Aristone had a net loss of three horses during the month, which was the largest amount. And Lake lost nine horses via the claimbox, by far the highest, leaving him with a net of zero.
For the week…
The number of claims and their value continued to rise, both for the fourth consecutive weeks.
The number of horses claimed rose to 66 — a ten percent gain from last week’s 60. And though the average value of those claims dipped by 2.5 percent, the total value of claims rose by more than seven percent, to $661,000. The average value of claimed horses was $10,015.
Laurel Park and Parx Racing were the busiest tracks, with Laurel seeing 22 horses claimed and Parx, 21. The total value of horses claimed at Laurel, $268,000, was comfortably the top in the region, as was the average value there of $12,182.
The claimbox report covers claiming activity at Laurel Park, Parx Racing, Penn National, and Charles Town.
