Top trainers: Who leads at 7 major tracks across the nation?

Following up on last week’s story on leading jockeys at top meets across the country, let’s take a look at the leading trainers.

We’ll see who is at the top of the standings at Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita, Oaklawn, Turfway Park, Fair Grounds, Aqueduct and Tampa Bay Downs.

For consistency, all these stats go back to Dec. 1 other than Oaklawn, which started the next week, and Santa Anita, which opened Dec. 26. Stats are through Wednesday.

We’ve ranked trainers by most wins, but we’ll also look at win percentage and Horse Racing Nation impact, which measures a conditioner’s relative success compared with the odds of their charges. Trainers with a positive HRN impact are outperforming their odds and typically good bets going forward, while trainers with negative HRN impact are underperforming expectations.

Gulfstream Park: Joseph and Pletcher lead

Saffie Joseph Jr. leads with 37 wins, but he has nearly twice as many starters as the other top stables. Nevertheless, his 19 percent win rate is very solid. Todd Pletcher has sent out 20 percent winners from his 106 starters. Further down the list, Brian Lynch has been red hot, winning at a 29 percent clip and a plus 58 percent impact. 

Fair Grounds: Wilson, Cox are atop standings

Trainers Shane Wilson and Brad Cox are 1-2 in the trainer standings but got there in very different ways. Wilson’s presence is so large at the New Orleans track that he has more starters than the next two trainers combined. And at 17 percent, he’s won 33 races on 198 starters. Quite the opposite, Cox has won 18 races with only 55 starters, good for 33 percent. 

Santa Anita: Glatt and Mandella are hot 

On the West Coast the top of the standings is fairly tight, but two stats that jump out are the lofty winning percentages of Mark Glatt at 37 percent and Richard Mandella at 36. Glatt has only 41 starters but at that rate has amassed 15 wins to top the standings. 

Oaklawn: Asmussen is by himself at the top

At Oaklawn we already can see Steve Asmussen is running away with the trainers’ race. His 29 wins are nearly double those of Kenny McPeek, who checks in second with 15 wins. One hot trainer is Cipriano Contreras, who is winning 29 percent of races with an outstanding plus 84 percent impact number. 

Turfway: Ennis, Cox are tied at the top

John Ennis and Cox are tied with 16 wins each and sport excellent win percentages of 31 and 35 percent, respectively. Of particular note is that Ennis’s starters have an impact number of 125 percent, meaning they are winning more than twice as often as they should based on the odds. 

Aqueduct: Rice is alone at the top

Trainer Linda Rice has focused on staying in New York this winter, and the results are showing as she’s alone at the top of the Aqueduct trainer standings. Interestingly, Mike Maker is tied for third place with 13 wins but winning at a 29 percent rate with a small stable and only 45 starters.

Tampa Bay: O’Connell, D’Angelo lead the way

Trainer Kathleen O’Connell leads the Tampa Bay Downs standings with 24 wins, winning at 24 percent, followed by Jose D’Angelo in second with 66 wins and a 30 percent win rate. Also noteworthy is Shug McGaughey has won with 44 percent of his 18 starters at the meet.