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 April 8, 2014.
A busy week propelled trainer Ronney Brown to the top of the Midlantic Claiming 7 for the first time. Meanwhile, regionwide, the volume of claiming activity was flat versus the prior week, and the value of claims dropped.
Brown claimed four horses during the week ending April 8, giving him 12 claims in the last 30 days. That was two more than Scott Lake — who led all trainers last week — and John Locke. Patricia Farro — fourth on the list with nine claims — led all trainers in dollar value. Her claims were worth a combined $118,500. Ramon Preciado led all trainers in the top seven with an average value of $14,750.
Only one trainer entered the list this week. Michael Pino checked in seventh place on the list with five claims worth a combined $40,000. He replaced Dane Kobiskie.
Brown led all trainers in net gain over the last 30 days. While he’s claimed a dozen horses, he’s lost just four, giving him a net gain of eight horses. That was well clear of Wayne Potts’s net gain of three horses. On the other end of the spectrum, both Hugh McMahon and Louis Linder had net losses of five horses in the last 30 days, each having made a single claim against six lost via the claimbox. Scott Lake and Patricia Farro led all trainers in having horses claimed from them; each lost nine via the claimbox.
For the week…
The volume of claiming activity was flat during the week, while the value of claimed horses dropped significantly.
Overall, 50 horses changed hands via the claimbox, exactly equal to the number claimed a week ago. However, the value of those horses dropped by more than 25 percent, to $409,500 — the lowest level since mid-February when a spate of cancellations left the region with only a handful of live cards. As a result, the average fell by the same amount, to $8,190, and the median dropped by more than 21 percent, to $6,250.
Parx Racing was the region’s busiest track by claiming metrics. There were 19 claims worth a combined $170,000 at the track, an average of nearly $8,950; all three were the highest in the region. At Charles Town, 15 horses were claimed, while 10 and six were grabbed at Pimlico and Penn National, respectively.
The claimbox report covers claiming activity at Laurel Park, Parx Racing, Penn National, and Charles Town.
