Asmussen takes Churchill title in a tie

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen won 11 races to tie for the training title at the Churchill Downs fall meeting that ended Sunday in Louisville, Ky.

Asmussen has dominated the standings for more than a decade at Oaklawn, collecting three consecutive titles and nine overall since 2007. Brad Cox, Oaklawn’s fourth-leading trainer in 2018, won eight races to finish fourth at the Churchill Downs fall meeting.

In the Churchill Downs fall jockey standings, Ricardo Santana Jr. and Edgar Morales each won 18 races to tie for fourth. Santana has won six consecutive Oaklawn riding titles.

Morales was Oaklawn’s leading apprentice jockey in 2018. He lost his apprentice weight allowance late in the Churchill Downs fall meeting.

Four of Oaklawn’s leading trainers in 2018 continue to hold the top four spots nationally in victories this year, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.

Through Wednesday, Karl Broberg had 471 victories, well ahead of runner-up Asmussen’s

366. Robertino Diodoro and Cox are third and fourth at 249 and

226, respectively. Broberg, the country’s winningest trainer the last four years, finished ninth in Oaklawn’s trainer standings in 2018 with 14 victories.

Asmussen, who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016, won 44 races in 2018 at Oaklawn. Diodoro won 32 races to finish runner-up for the second consecutive year. Cox won 27 races in 2018 at Oaklawn.

Since the Oaklawn meeting ended April 14, Broberg has won training titles at Lone Star Park and Retama Park in Texas, Prairie Meadows in Iowa, Evangeline Downs in Louisiana and Louisiana Downs.

Asmussen also topped the standings at the Churchill Downs spring meeting and through Wednesday led Broberg

82-48 at Remington Park in

Oklahoma City, which closes Dec. 16.

Diodoro and Oaklawn regular Mac Robertson shared the training title at the Canterbury Park meeting that ended Sept. 15 in Minnesota. Each had 57 victories. Robertson was Oaklawn’s

10th-leading trainer in 2018 with 12 victories.

Cox won the title at the Ellis Park meeting that closed Sept. 3 in Henderson, Ky.

Norman McKnight, Oaklawn’s co-seventh-leading trainer in

2018, had a meet-high 115 victories at Woodbine Racetrack through Wednesday in Toronto. McKnight captured his first Woodbine training title in 2017 and won 16 races in his Oaklawn debut in 2018. Woodbine closes Dec. 16.