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Monday, January 02, 2006Contact: John Cooney
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2005 rankings of trainers, jockeys, owners and horses

Todd Pletcher, John Velazquez and Michael Gill once again head the individual lists of the top 100 trainers, jockeys and owners respectively by North American earnings in 2005, according to final statistics released today by Equibase Company LLC, the Thoroughbred industry’s Official database for racing information. All three topped their respective categories in 2004.

Saint Liam led all Thoroughbreds with 2005 North American earnings of $3,696,960. Following Saint Liam was Flower Alley with $2,435,200.

The year-end compilations, distributed each year by Equibase, include results from Thoroughbred racing in North America only. The top 100 North American leaders in each category are accessible through http://www.equibase.com.

In 2005, Todd Pletcher saddled 257 winners from 1,039 starters to establish a new North American single-season earnings record for trainers with $20,867,842. The previous record-holder, Robert Frankel, finished second with earnings of $14,122,807 from 128 wins and 581 starters.

Rounding out the list of top 10 trainers were: Steven Asmussen, $13,302,283 (474 wins/2,227 starts); Richard Dutrow, Jr., $9,797,126 (151/575); Doug O’Neill, $9,476,801 (158/893); William Mott, $9,355,603 (138/631); Scott Lake, $8,983,267 (417/1,796); Nicholas Zito, $8,199,368 (86/462); Bob Baffert, $5,991,799 (94/467); and Jeff Mullins, $5,679,989 (118/496).

John Velazquez headed the 2005 North American leading jockeys’ list with earnings of $20,799,923. Velazquez rode the winners of 250 races from 1,147 mounts. Edgar Prado finished second with 299 victories from 1,460 mounts and earnings of $18,615,366.

Completing the list of top 10 jockeys by earnings were: Jerry Bailey, $18,297,384 (169/654); Rafael Bejarano, $14,427,541 (263/1,346); Garrett Gomez, $14,221,321 (245/1,295); Javier Castellano, $12,507,012 (206/1,158); Patrick Valenzuela, $11,794,244 (202/1,011); Victor Espinoza, $11,454,776 (192/1,106); Cornelio Velazquez, $11,430,591 (216/1,456); and Ramon Dominguez, $10,767,955 (312/1,221).

For the third consecutive year, Michael Gill topped the North American leading owners’ list in 2005 with earnings of $6,397,180. His color-bearers won 351 of 1,870 races. Runner-up was Melnyk Racing Stables, Inc., whose runners won 89 of 417 starts and $5,875,007.

Completing the list of top 10 owners by earnings were: Live Oak Plantation, $4,904,171 (60/252); Stronach Stables, $4,383,153 (113/466); Robert Bone, $3,913,264 (156/588); Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren, Jr., $3,773,375 (7/23); Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. Moss, $3,325,480 (37/179); Phipps Stable, $3,289,390 (26/97); Robert and Beverly Lewis, $3,250,422 (46/264); and Buckram Oak Farm, $3,180,059 (44/263).

In addition to the official North American racing leaders’ lists available on http://www.equibase.com, Equibase also provides a second set of leaders’ lists that includes the results of the Dubai World Cup and the nine races of the World Series Racing Championship contested outside North America.

Equibase Company is a partnership between The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and serves as the Thoroughbred industry’s Official database for racing information. In addition to year-end rankings of the top trainers, jockeys, owners and horses, the Company’s web site, http://www.equibase.com, features daily rankings of the top 100 by category for the current year as well as an ever-increasing menu of racing information and handicapping products for handicappers of every skill level.