AT THE POST

FINAL LEADERS

Although he was nowhere close to last year’s 80 victories, Ricardo

Santana Jr. topped the Oaklawn Park jockey standings for the fifth consecutive year.

Santana, 24, rode 53 winners in the 2017 meet, giving him 315 victories at Oaklawn since 2012.

His winning percentage was 19 percent, and Santana posted 61 seconds and 29 thirds for a 51 percent in-themoney percentage.

Ramon Vazquez (47) finished second to Santana for the third consecutive year. Vazquez won 16 percent of his races. Luis Contreras won 31 races in 162 mounts, to tie Santana for the highest winning percentage of any of Oaklawn’s regular riders.

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen won his eighth trainer’s title with 41 victories, winning at a clip of 17 percent. It was the second year in a row for Asmussen to win and his fifth title in the past six years.

Asmussen had 38 second-place finishes and another 30 thirds, giving Asmussen 109 in-the-money finshers in 235 starts (46.4 percent).

Robertino Diodoro (31) was second to Asmussen, but Brad Cox (26 of 94) had the highest winning percentage (28 percent) of the regular trainers.

Danny R. Caldwell was the track’s leading owner. His stable, trained by

Federico Villafranco, produced 22 winners, 19 seconds and 15 thirds for combined winnings of $965,728. — Tim Cooper

STAUFFER TO KEEP CALLING

Vic Stauffer has signed a threeyear contract to remain as Oaklawn Park’s track announcer through at least the 2020 season.

Stauffer, track announcer at Hol-Lywood Park before the track closed after the 2013 season, was hired by Oaklawn for the 2017 season on Aug. 19, 2016. He replaced Pete Aiello, who left Oaklawn after one season to become track announcer at Gulfstream Park.

“Any day they will let me call races at Oaklawn, I’m pleased,” Stauffer said. “This has been more than I expected. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy being around big-time racing. I had kind of a down time because I was heart-broken about Hollywood Park closing. This has been a great thing for me professionally and personally.”

Stauffer has called races at several race tracks, including Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, Calif., and Hialeah Park near Miami. He was Hollywood Park’s announcer for 13 seasons.

Before he would agree to return to track announcing, Stauffer said he would only work for a top-level track.

“I would not have come back at a lower level,” Stauffer said. “I was only going to come back to something commensurate to Hollywood Park, and boy did I. It’s just been fabulous. The fans and the city have embraced me, and the staff has been very supportive. It’s all been great.”

On many of Oaklawn’s dark days, Stauffer has umpired high school baseball and officiated basketball. He compared his work as a referee and umpire to race announcing.

“As a sports fan, I want to be a part of the game,” Stauffer said. “It’s kind of like being an announcer, because I can’t be a jockey, so the way for me to get into it is to officiate.”

Stauffer said the level of recognition Oaklawn track announcers receive is an “amazing thing.”

“Even in Little Rock,” Stauffer said. “I went to the theater. I saw Phantom of the Opera, and I had a half-dozen people say, ‘Hey, so happy to have you here.’ The announcer here is like a celebrity. It’s a fake celebrity because I’m just a broken-down horse player like everybody else, but, yeah. It happens. Actually, my partner, the first game I umpired, he said, ‘You’re the announcer at Oaklawn. Of course, then they all want a winner.” — Pete Perkins

FINAL FURLONG

Jockey Geovanni Franco has been suspended three days for dropping down without being clear while riding

Rarin to Go in the first race on April 12 and initiating contact with Rapid

Red. Rarin to Go was disqualified and moved from first to second. Because the 2017 race meet has concluded, the suspension days are being carried over to the opening of the 2018 meet. Franco rode two winners Saturday, including Inside Straight in the Oaklawn Handicap. Franco rode 45 winners in this year’s Oaklawn meet.