We’re just six days from the Eclipse Awards ceremony at Gulfstream Park, where America’s racing champions for 2016 will be crowned. As yet, the TRC Global Rankings algorithm does not assess active racehorses, so it can provide no insight on the 12 equine sections. But it most certainly does rank three other significant award categories - jockeys, trainers and owners. Here are its final top tens in each for the year.
These standings take into account all Graded races on U.S. soil - but just for 2016, not for the last three years as in the case of the main TRC Global Rankings.
TOP TEN JOCKEYS
Rank | Name | Modal country | Rnrs | Runs | IV | tRPR | G1s | G2s | G3s | Pts |
1 | Javier Castellano | USA | 114 | 172 | 1.35 | 98.81 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 1157 |
2 | Florent Geroux | USA | 89 | 138 | 1.34 | 96.18 | 8 | 4 | 15 | 1137 |
3 | Mike E Smith | USA | 71 | 105 | 1.26 | 97.05 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 1129 |
4 | Julien R Leparoux | USA | 77 | 114 | 1.24 | 95.82 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 1117 |
5 | Jose L Ortiz | USA | 72 | 112 | 1.23 | 94.87 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 1109 |
6 | Joel Rosario | USA | 68 | 104 | 1.19 | 95.01 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 1103 |
7 | Flavien Prat | USA | 66 | 93 | 1.10 | 93.07 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1074 |
Irad Ortiz Jr | USA | 81 | 123 | 1.02 | 95.19 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 1074 | |
Rafael Bejarano | USA | 65 | 92 | 1.08 | 93.69 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1074 | |
10 | Joe Bravo | USA | 58 | 82 | 1.12 | 92.49 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 1073 |
The three Eclipse nominations - Castellano, Smith and Jose Ortiz - all made the top five most successful performers in Graded competition, with Castellano well clear. The stats indicate that Frenchman Geroux could be forgiven if he felt a little hard done by after not receiving a nomination.
TOP TEN TRAINERS
Rank | Name | Modal country | Rnrs | Runs | IV | tRPR | G1s | G2s | G3s | Pts |
1 | Chad C Brown | USA | 78 | 199 | 1.46 | 100.22 | 12 | 12 | 17 | 1120 |
2 | Todd Pletcher | USA | 79 | 190 | 1.16 | 98.96 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 1088 |
3 | Bob Baffert | USA | 36 | 87 | 1.38 | 95.70 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 1073 |
4 | Mark Casse | USA | 47 | 112 | 1.22 | 95.41 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 1060 |
5 | Jerry Hollendorfer | USA | 32 | 84 | 1.10 | 93.82 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 1037 |
6 | William Mott | USA | 31 | 74 | 1.01 | 92.01 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1015 |
7 | H Graham Motion | USA | 33 | 72 | 1.16 | 90.68 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 1013 |
8 | Kiaran McLaughlin | USA | 22 | 54 | 1.06 | 91.37 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1012 |
9 | Philip D'Amato | USA | 34 | 73 | 0.99 | 91.55 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1009 |
10 | Steven Asmussen | USA | 37 | 88 | 0.86 | 92.23 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1007 |
Again, the nominations (Brown, Baffert and Casse) all made the top five (top four in this case), but the case for Brown is undeniable. The most notable omission is obviously Pletcher, who clearly had yet another fine season but lacked a true standout performer.
TOP TEN OWNERS
Rank | Name | Modal country | Rnrs | Runs | IV | tRPR | G1s | G2s | G3s | Pts |
1 | Coolmore Partners | USA | 27 | 43 | 1.09 | 86.34 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 1054 |
2 | Stonestreet Stables | USA | 10 | 31 | 0.99 | 84.88 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1026 |
3 | Gary Barber Et Al | USA | 23 | 55 | 0.93 | 85.71 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1025 |
3 | Klaravich Stables Inc & William H Lawrence | USA | 16 | 44 | 0.96 | 85.27 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1025 |
5 | John C Oxley | USA | 12 | 31 | 1.00 | 84.53 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1024 |
6 | WinStar Farm Et Al | USA | 10 | 33 | 0.97 | 84.69 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1021 |
7 | Reddam Racing LLC | USA | 17 | 48 | 0.88 | 85.72 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1018 |
8 | Hronis Racing LLC | USA | 11 | 36 | 0.89 | 85.16 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1014 |
9 | Godolphin | USA | 21 | 39 | 0.87 | 85.10 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1011 |
Kenneth L & Sarah K Ramsey | USA | 24 | 48 | 0.88 | 84.95 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1011 |
Here the TRC rankings bare little resemblance to the Eclipse nominations, only one of whom actually made the ten (the Ramseys). The other two, Juddmonte and Spendthrift Farm, earn their chances through the exploits of one or two outstanding runners (Arrogate and Flintshire in the case of Juddmonte, Beholder for Spendthrift), but none of the three owners was prolific in Graded racing generally.
It is interesting that the overall world #1, Coolmore Partners, are powerful enough here to extend their dominance to the U.S. scene, helped to no small extent by a number of Aidan O’Brien raiders, led by Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Highland Reel.
and here are the stallion standings for good measure ...
TOP TEN SIRES
Rank | Name | Modal country | Rnrs | Runs | IV | tRPR | G1s | G2s | G3s | Pts |
1 | Tapit | USA | 55 | 131 | 1.18 | 94.53 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 1105 |
2 | Curlin | USA | 26 | 66 | 1.04 | 91.43 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 1066 |
3 | Medaglia D'oro | USA | 31 | 67 | 1.08 | 90.72 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1063 |
4 | Candy Ride | USA | 25 | 64 | 1.10 | 89.90 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1057 |
5 | Uncle Mo | USA | 33 | 82 | 1.01 | 90.37 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1054 |
6 | Bernardini | USA | 37 | 82 | 0.92 | 90.83 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1052 |
7 | City Zip | USA | 21 | 59 | 1.12 | 88.64 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 1047 |
8 | Kitten's Joy | USA | 31 | 66 | 1.05 | 88.09 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1036 |
9 | Giant's Causeway | USA | 21 | 56 | 0.84 | 88.77 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1027 |
10 | Scat Daddy | USA | 28 | 62 | 0.88 | 88.14 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1024 |
No real surprises here. There’s no Eclipse Award for outstanding stallion, but if there was it would surely go to Tapit, who is out on his own for Graded results in 2016 (and just about every other measure). Curlin, sire of Exaggerator, just edged out Medaglia d’Oro, whose standout was Songbird, in the battle for second, with Uncle Mo, in fifth, sire of Kentucky Derby hero Nyquist and worthy of all the superlatives at the end of just his second season.