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 May 6, 2014.
Claiming activity in the mid-Atlantic bounced back solidly this past week after a down week, and a new trainer ascended to the top of the Midlantic Claiming 7 list of trainers who have claimed the most horses in the last 30 days.
Following a week in which he claimed four horses, Ronney Brown moved to the head of the class. He has claimed 10 horses in the last 30 days, one more than Wayne Potts. His claims were worth a total of $86,750 (average: $8,675), just the fourth highest total and fifth highest average of the top seven. Scott Lake led all trainers in the value of his claims, with his seven worth a combined $125,500, and his average, of $17,929, was also tops in the region among the top seven.
Dane Kobiskie was the list’s only newcomer; he’s claimed six horses worth a combined $103,500 in the last 30 days. He replaced Michael Pino among the top seven.
Trainers Ronney Brown, Murray Rojas, and Patricia Farro shared the highest net gain of horses. Brown has claimed 10 and lost six, a net of four. Similarly, Rojas has claimed five and lost just one, while Farro’s six claims were offset by just two claim-aways. Five trainers — Jamie Ness, Ramon Preciado, Michael Trombetta, Jeff Runco, and Marcos Zulueta — all had three more horses claimed away from them than they claimed. Dane Kobiskie and Wayne Potts have each lost seven horses in the last 30 days, tops among all trainers.
For the week…
With mid-Atlantic racing coming back to normal following the closure of Atlantic City, claiming activity bounced back to normal levels during the past seven days.
Overall, 59 horses changed hands via the claimbox with a combined value of $573,500. Those numbers were a big jump from the prior week, when just 35 horses changed hands. That was a 68 percent increase in horses claimed, and the total value was an increase of 56 percent. The average value of those claims fell by about seven percent, to $9,720.
After a dark week, Parx Racing was the region’s busiest claiming track. Twenty-two horses changed hands via the Bensalem claimbox — two more than the 20 claimed at Pimlico — with a combined value of $231,500, and an average of $10,523. All three numbers were the highest in their categories. Pimlico was second in all three (20 claims for $192,500, average of $9,625). There were 12 claims at Charles Town during the week and five at Penn National.
The claimbox report covers claiming activity at Laurel Park, Parx Racing, Penn National, and Charles Town.
