Horse Betting World

The Rich Get Richer

By Joey Adams

According to Equibase, more than 7,500 trainers sent horses to post in 2010. The list includes household names like Todd Pletcher, Steve Asmussen, and Bob Baffert. It also includes names such as Clifford Dobson and Rene Odom. The list includes trainers who saddled hundreds, sometimes thousands of starters, and trainers who enjoyed slapping the saddle on just once.

Dating back to 2008, Steve Asmussen has been the runaway leader in number of starters, but by his standards his total was way down in 2010. Back in 2008 Asmussen sent out an absurd 3,002 starters; in 2009 the number dipped slightly to 2,944, and in 2010 he sent out “only” 2,412. That is 532 fewer starters in 2010 than 2009, but still a remarkable 1,286 more than the second-ranked trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer, who saddled 1,126.

Of course the list every trainer aspires to lead is the earnings list, and for the first time since 2007 Todd Pletcher was back on top. And it wasn’t even close. For the calendar year of 2010 runners from the Pletcher stable amassed more than $23 million in earnings. Asmussen ranked second with more than $16 million, while Bob Baffert was the only other trainer in double figures with more than $11 million.

Remember Rene Odom mentioned above? How about a whopping $28 in earnings!

Ranking as the leading trainer by earnings would seem to imply a trainer had to send out a high volume of winners. That is clearly deceptive – Pletcher saddled 274 winners in 2010, whereas Asmussen went to the winner’s circle 506 times!

In terms of “wins,” Asmussen was head-and-shoulders above the rest. His 506 wins were 215 more than runner-up Jamie Ness, who saddled 291 winners. To put that margin in context, consider that only six trainers (from more than 7,500) saddled more than 215 winners in 2010. To say the gap from Asmussen back to the rest of the pack is large is quite an understatement.

This brings up an interesting question – who is winning all the races, and who is winning all the money? As can be expected, wins don’t necessarily correspond to earnings, as some trainers ply their trade at smaller stocks with cheap purses, while others have barns full of stakes-quality runners and target the biggest races.

If we divide the yearly earnings by number of winners we can see that each winner was worth more than $32,000 for Asmussen, versus more than $84,000 for Pletcher. Why the discrepancy? Asmussen won far more races than Pletcher, but his far-flung stable is much more diverse – he races everything from cheap claimers to stakes winners. Pletcher focuses his stable at the top, reducing his number of starters but paying off when they hit the wire first.

Take it one step further and divide the yearly earnings by number of starters. Each starter for Asmussen in 2010 was worth more than $6,700. Each starter for Pletcher was worth more than $21,000. Big races, big money.

To see the large gap between winning races and winning money, look no further than Joe Woodard. He ranked fifth in the country with 255 wins and sixth with 945 starters. Where did he rank on the earnings list? How about 117th! Each winner for Woodard was worth little more than $6,200 and each starter just $1,600.

Some trainers win all the races while others win all the money. Still others just appreciate the chance to slip a saddle on in the paddock – slip a saddle on a horse, that is!