Broberg, Torres take Remington Park training, riding titles
Karl Broberg has become the burr in the saddle of the country’s winningest trainer Steve Asmussen and Remington Park’s winningest owner Danny Caldwell, ending both their streaks of capturing their respective annual trophies at Remington Park.
If not for Broberg of Mansfield, Texas, Asmussen would have won 16 training titles in a row at Remington Park and have 19 overall instead of his record 17. As it is, Broberg ended Asmussen’s reign of six titles in a row going into 2022 by winning this year’s trophy with 48 wins to Asmussen’s 30, good for second in the standings.
This was Broberg’s second training title at Remington Park after ending another Asmussen streak in 2015. Asmussen had won eight in a row from 2007 to 2014. His wins have diminished for four years in a row, however, even when he was winning titles. He won a record 104 times in 2018. That fell off to 83 wins in 2019, 73 in 2020 and 42 last year.
“It was kind of Steve to let someone else win it for a change,” Broberg said with his usual caustic humor. “This means much more to me than winning the leading owner title. I think Barack Obama was president the last time I won. I have to thank all my great help in the barn. Couldn’t have done it without them.”
Aside from numerous victories in the claiming ranks and in allowance races, Broberg also scored stakes wins in the $150,000 David Vance Sprint with Flash of Mischief and in the Ricks Memorial with Island Hideaway.
The final top five in trainers for 2022 were Broberg, 48 wins; Asmussen, 30; Scott Young, 25; Kari Craddock, 22; and Robertino Diodoro, 20. Craddock is the all-time leading female trainer at Remington Park.
By horses’ money earned, Broberg also was at the top of the heap with $1,119,986. He was the only trainer this meet with more than a million. Second through fifth were Asmussen, $941,866; Young, $781,467; Craddock, $759,220; and Ray Ashford, $638,266.
Leading owner – End Zone Athletics
It was a similar scenario with End Zone Athletics, Broberg’s outfit, winning the top owner trophy for the meet. He ended the streak of Caldwell of Poteau, Okla., who had won the last two in a row. If not for End Zone Athletics, Caldwell might have won the owners’ title 12 consecutive times, but End Zone wound up with it in 2019 and 2022. Both times he broke Caldwell’s streak. Caldwell also had won eight times in a row when Broberg was the party pooper in 2019.
The top five in the 2022 owners’ race were End Zone Athletics, 34 wins; Caldwell, 25; Bryan Hawk, 20; C.R. Trout, 11; and Silva Racing (Miguel Silva), 9.
Caldwell was leading owner by horses’ earnings with $644,544 to End Zone Athletics’s $612,794. Caldwell moved to the earnings top on the final night of the season when one of his favorite horses, Rated R Superstar, won the $102,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial Stakes on the next-to-last race of the meet. That win gave him $60,000 more in purses than End Zone Athletics, who held a lead of $28,250 going into the Jeffrey Hawk.
Leading jockey – Cristian Torres
In the jockeys’ race, Cristian Torres, in his first meet at Remington Park, ended a four-year streak by David Cabrera of winning the Pat Steinberg trophy. Torres finished with 71 wins in a runaway against runner-up Stewart Elliott, who had 59. They were followed by Jose Alvarez, with 45; Gerardo Mora, 43; and Leandro Goncalves, 41. Cabrera fell to ninth place with 30 victories.
“I’m really grateful to all the trainers and owners that trusted me,” said Torres. “It was fun. I need to thank Robertino Diodoro and Broberg. And especially thank my family.”
In horses’ money earned, Torres also was tops with $1,742,742, followed by Elliott, $1,578,561; Goncalves, $1,411,265; Alvarez, $1,367,485, and Alfredo Triana Jr., $1,167,043. Also surpassing the $1 million mark were Cabrera, Weston Hamilton and Mora.