// BEGIN editorial data
var i = 0;
var Top10Trainers_2003 = new Array();
Top10Trainers_2003.ID = "Top10Trainers_2003";
Top10Trainers_2003.ID_WB = 4499803;
Top10Trainers_2003.sPubDate = "2/16/2008 6:36:51 AM GMT";
Top10Trainers_2003.navsectionID = "3032807"
Top10Trainers_2003.appFmt = 2;
Top10Trainers_2003.appWidth = 624;
Top10Trainers_2003.appHeader = "
";
Top10Trainers_2003.appFooter = "Source: NBCSports.com, NTRA and Equibase Co.";
Top10Trainers_2003.appBG = "bgcolor=cccccc|";
Top10Trainers_2003.appNavStyle = 3;
Top10Trainers_2003.navCols = 3;
Top10Trainers_2003.sNavLinkStyle = "font-family:verdana;font-size:11;line-height: 13px;color:993300;";
Top10Trainers_2003.appLayout = 1;
Top10Trainers_2003.copyMargin = 9;
Top10Trainers_2003.copyBorder = 0;
Top10Trainers_2003.headlineStyle = "font-family:verdana;font-size:16;color:993300;font-weight:bold;";
Top10Trainers_2003.sBulletStyle = "color:000000;";
Top10Trainers_2003.sBodyFont = "font-family:verdana;font-size:11;";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","","","","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","Steve Asmussen","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/steve_asmussen.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Getty Images file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: Nov. 18, 1965 in Gettysburg, S.D.
Residence: Arlington, Texas
Personal: Asmussen – the biggest former jockey you’ll ever meet – is the son of former jockey Keith and trainer Marilyn, who operate El Primero Training Center in Laredo, Texas and brother of European riding champion turned trainer, Cash Asmussen, who won the 1979 Eclipse Award as North America's top apprentice jockey. This up-and-comer knows the game from the ground up, having started to muck stalls and walk horses for his parents at the age of 5. He rode professionally for three years before becoming too big and turning to training both quarter horses and thoroughbreds in 1986. A stable of well-to-do Texans, including Bill Heiligbrodt, Nelson Bunker Hunt, the Ackerley Brothers and James Cassels and Bob Zollars, is providing him with a steady stream talented racehorses and he figures to be a force on the national scene for many years to come. Asmussen and wife Julie have three children.
Lifetime record: 10,185 starts; 2,044 wins; 1,714 seconds, 1,442 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $46,676,732
Career highlights: Has steadily improved his stock since going out on his own in 1986 and now deserves a spot among the nation’s elite. Led the nation in victories in 2002 with 407, becoming just the third trainer to break the 400-win barrier. Has captured training titles at Sam Houston Race Park, Lone Star Park, Remington Park, Retama Park, Churchill Downs and the Fair Grounds. Won seven races on one card at Lone Star Park on July 14, 2002.
Best horses: Valid Expectations, Dreams Gallore, Cashier's Dream, Fifty Stars, Private Emblem, Snuck In, Easyfromthegitgo, Lady Tak and Posse. ";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","Bob Baffert","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/bob_baffert.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Getty Images file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: Jan. 13, 1953, in Nogalez, Ariz.
Residence: Arcadia, Calif.
Personal: Married TV reporter Jill Moss in August 2002; has three sons, Taylor, Canyon and Forest, and a daughter, Savannah, from a previous marriage. Grew up on an Arizona cattle and chicken farm near the Mexico border, where he learned to ride and care for horses from his father. With Steve Haskin, he wrote his autobiography, “Dirt Road to the Derby,” in 1999.
Lifetime record: 6,052 starts; 1,317 wins; 984 seconds, 876 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $97,058,095
Career highlights: After a brief and forgettable career as a quarter horse jockey nicknamed the “Baffler,” Baffert turned to training the equine dragsters. He conditioned 1986 world champion quarter horse Gold Coast Express before switching to thoroughbreds in the late 1980s at the behest of owner Mike Pegram. He has gone on to win the Eclipse Award for top trainer three straight years, from 1997 through 1999, and capture numerous training titles. He also has been the dominant trainer on the Triple Crown circuit since saddling his first horse in the classics in 1996, winning eight of them with Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Point Given and War Emblem. He also has three Breeders’ Cup winners – 1992 Sprint winner Thirty Slews, 1998 Juvenile Fillies winner Silverbulletday and 2002 Juvenile winner Vindication. He has proved himself a shrewd judge of horseflesh, obtaining top runners like Silver Charm for modest prices. Now he handles some of the best-bred horses around for clients like the Thoroughbred Corp., Jim \"Mattress Mac\" McIngvale and software magnate Satish Sanan.
Best horses: Has trained seven Eclipse Award champions: Vindication, 2002 2-year-old colt; War Emblem, 2002 3-year-old; Point Given, 2001 Horse of the Year and 3-year-old; Silver Charm, 1997 3-year-old; Real Quiet, 1998 3-year-old; Silverbulletday, 2-year-old filly in 1998 and 3-year-old filly in 1999; and Chilukki, 2-year-old filly in 1999. Other top horses, include Captain Steve, Cavonnier, Congaree, General Challenge, Habibti, Indian Charlie and Tout Charmant.";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","Neil Drysdale","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/neil_drysdale.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "Timothy D. Easley", "AP file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: Dec. 11, 1947, in Haselmere, Surrey, England
Residence: Playa Del Rey, Calif.
Personal: Drysdale, the son of a British cavalry officer, is an erudite former English teacher with a dry wit and flair for sarcasm. He also is a stickler for detail who will always put the welfare of the horse first. He scratched A.P. Indy from the 1992 Kentucky Derby on the morning of the race after the colt developed a minor bruise. Drysdale is single.
Lifetime record: 5,417 starts; 1,073 wins; 825 seconds, 796 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $68,029,448
Career highlights: After working with show horses following a brief teaching career, Drysdale earned his stripes in the farm league. He spent two years working with John Hartigan at Tartan Farms in Ocala, Fla., and then traveled to South America to work with horses in Argentina and manage a stud farm in Venezuela. He returned to the United States in the late 1960s and worked as an assistant trainer for Roger Laurin and, for four years, Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham, from whom he said he learned \"patience and planning.” Drysdale went out on his own in 1974, working initially as a private trainer for Corbin Robertson's Saron Stable. He opened a public stable in 1983 and has trained for a select coterie of clients ever since. The trainer of five Eclipse Award winners, Drysdale won the Kentucky Derby in his first try with Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000, the same year he was elected to the Racing Hall of Fame.
Best horses: A.P. Indy, Bold n' Determined, Fiji, French Deputy, Fusaichi Pegasus, Gorgeous, Hollywood Wildcat, Prized, Tasso and Rahy.";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","Bobby Frankel","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/bobby_frankel.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "Ed Reinke", "AP file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: July 9, 1941, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Residence: Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Personal: The native New Yorker grew up near Belmont Park and developed into a sharp handicapper before embarking on a racetrack career as a hot walker at Belmont and Aqueduct. Formerly known as the “king of the claimers” for his proficiency with racing’s proletariat early in his career, he’s now simply “the king,” having demonstrated a command over every facet of the game. He recently married his wife, Bonita, and has a daughter, Bethany
Lifetime record: 14,562 starts; 2,974 wins; 2,438 seconds, 2,044 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $155,436,128
Career highlights: When he turned to training in New York in 1966, Frankel quickly demonstrated an ability early on to turn other people’s problems into gold, developing such former platers as Baitman, Pataha Prince, Barometer and Lakeside Trail into stakes winners. He moved to California in 1972 and began upgrading his stable with horses for owners such as Ed Gann, Jerry Moss, Bert Firestone and Stavros Niarchos. A major turning point came in 1990, when Saudi Prince Khalid Abdullah selected him through computer analysis and sent him some of his Juddmonte Farms horses. Frankel’s list of achievements includes membership in racing's Hall of Fame; four Eclipse Awards for outstanding trainer, in 1993, 2000, 2001 and 2002, five champions, and dozens of training titles at Hollywood Park, Del Mar, Santa Anita, Oak Tree and Saratoga. He is well on his way to shattering the records for annual earnings and wins in Grade 1 stakes races in 2003. Owns two Breeders’ Cup victories – Squirtle Squirt in the 2001 Spring and Starine in the 2002 Filly and Mare Turf – and filled one of the few gaps in his resume by winning a Triple Crown race with Empire Maker in the 2003 Belmont Stakes.
Best horses: Al Mamoon, Aptitude, Beat Hollow, Bertrando, Chester House, Chiselling, Dushyantor, Exbourne, Flute, Honest Lady, Keeper Hill, Marquetry, Mazel Trick, Medaglia d’Oro, Pay the Butler, Possibly Perfect, Ryafan, Senure, Skimming, Spanish Fern, Starine, Tates Creek, Theatrical, Timboroa, Toussaud, Wandesta, Wickerr and You. ";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","H. Allen Jerkens","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/allenjerkens04_hr.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "horsephotos.com", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: April 21, 1929, in Islip, N.Y.
Residence: Bellerose Terrace, N.Y.
Personal: Jerkens grew up around horses, as his father ran riding academy on Long Island. He rode steeplechase horses before taking out trainer's license in 1950. He got some early lessons from one of the best trainers ever to throw a saddle on a horse: Hall of Famer James F. \"Sunny Jim\" Fitzsimmons. Jerkens and his wife, Elizabeth, have three sons and one daughter. Two of his sons, Steven and Jimmy, followed in their father’s footsteps. Jimmy, his father’s longtime assistant, went out on his own in the fall of 1997.
Lifetime record: 15,727 starts; 3,498 wins; 2,503 seconds, 2,189 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $82,308,632
Career highlights: Jerkens has been one of the most respected trainers on the East Coast for decades. He is known as the “giant killer” for good reason, having beaten Secretariat twice (with Onion in the 1973 Whitney and Prove Out in the 1973 Woodward); Kelso three times (with Beau Purple), Buckpasser (with Handsome Boy in the 1967 Brooklyn Handicap) and Skip Away and Gentlemen (with Wagon Limit in the 1997 Jockey Club Gold Cup). He was elected to Hall of Fame in 1975 at age 45, at that time the youngest trainer so honored, and won the Won Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer in 1973. He also conditioned Sky Beauty, Eclipse Award-winning older female in 1994.
Best horses: Aptostar, Banker's Gold, Belong to Me, Caress, Classy Mirage, Devil His Due, Dice Dancer, Dixie Flag, Fortitude, Group Plan, Kelly Kip, Limit Out, Miss Iron Smoke, Missy's Mirage, November Snow, Poker Night, Radiant Megan Royal Indy, Sensitive Prince, Sky Beauty, Virginia Rapids and Wagon Limit. ";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","Scott Lake","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/scott_lake.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "NTRA file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: June 29, 1965 in Harrisburg, Pa.
Residence: Philadelphia, Pa., and Maryland
Personal: The son of a Harrisburg police officer who once shared a hospital room with a horse trainer and, as soon as he got out, bought a horse. Lake, who was 12 at the time, fell in love with the game and began walking hots. He began training full time in 1991 with one horse. Lake is single and has one daughter, Emily
Lifetime record: 9,569 starts; 2,190 wins; 1,685 seconds, 1,357 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $34,834,952
Career highlights: Lake is known as a high-percentage claiming trainer and is a perennial winner at the Claiming Crown – the championship day for claiming horses. But in recent years has been adding quality to his expanding stable and is becoming a regular presence in stakes races as well. Nearly won his first Breeders’ Cup race with his first starter in the 2002 Sprint with 49-1 shot Thunderello, who hung on for second. He won 407 races in 2001, becoming just the second trainer (after Jack Van Berg) to win more than 400 races in a year. Spit Polish, A Lot of Mary and B Flat Major
Has 15-20 horses in training for Richard Englander
Best horses: A Lot of Mary, B Flat Major, French Teacher, Ms Well, Ozilda's Karen, Ryon’s King, Ruskin, The Maccabee, Spit Polish, Thunderello and Watchman's Warning; Ms Well. ";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","D. Wayne Lukas","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/d_wayne_lukas.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Getty Images file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: Sept. 2, 1935, in Antigo, Wis.
Residence: Glendora, Calif.
Personal: The second of three children born to Czechoslovakian immigrants, Lukas grew up on a 10-acre farm in a small farming community. He majored in physical education at the University of Wisconsin, where he also received a Master's Degree in Education. After college, he worked as an assistant basketball coach for the University of Wisconsin for two years and for nine years as head coach of a high school basketball team before turning to training horses. He conditioned quarter horses in South Dakota and Southern California before switching to thoroughbreds in 1978. Lukas’ wife, Laura, is a quarter horse trainer. He has a son, Jeff, from a previous marriage who was nearly killed when he was trampled by a Lukas-trained horse, Tabasco Cat, in 1994 while working as his father’s assistant.
Lifetime record: 23,247 starts; 4,221 wins; 3,454 seconds, 2,954 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $244,018,465
Career highlights: By many measures, Lukas is the most successful thoroughbred trainer of all time. The Hall of Fame trainer is racing’s all-time money leaders. He has trained 21 Eclipse Award champions, including Horse of the Year winners Lady's Secret (1986), Criminal Type (1990) and Charismatic (1999), saddled winners of more than 500 graded stakes races and has won more than 4,000 races from over 22,000 starts. He was the nation’s leading trainer by earnings every year but two from 1983 through 1999, including an unprecedented 10 straight years. From 1994 to 1996, Lukas won an unprecedented six consecutive Triple Crown races with three different horses: Tabasco Cat, Thunder Gulch and Timber Country. In hall he has won 13 Triple Crown races, equaling the feat of the great trainer “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons. He also has saddled 17 Breeders’ Cup winners, making him the most successful trainer in the history of that event.
Best horses: Capote, Carson City, Cat Thief, Charismatic, Criminal Type, Day Trader, Editor’s Note, Farma Way, Flanders, Grindstone, Gulch, Lady’s Secret, Life’s Magic, Open Mind, Orientate, Sacahuista, Serena’s Song, Spain, Steinlen, Success Express, Surfside, Tabasco Cat, Tank’s Prospect, Thunder Gulch, Twilight Ridge, Winning Colors.";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","Richard Mandella","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/richard_mandella_001.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "Reed Saxon", "AP file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: Nov. 5, 1950, in Altadena, Calif.
Residence: Bradbury, Calif.
Personal: Mandella is known for his unfailing patience and dry wit. The son of a blacksmith in Beaumont, Calif., Mandella broke and galloped horses for three years at Connie Ring's nearby Three Rings Ranch during high school, then worked at Farrell Jones' Riverside Ranch in California and more than a year as an assistant for Lefty Nickerson in New York before taking a private job for Texan Roger Braugh in 1974. He opened a public stable in California in 1976. Mandella and his wife, Randi, have a son Gary, who also is a trainer, and a daughter, Andrea
Lifetime record: 9,117 starts; 1,619 wins; 1,434 seconds, 1,347 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $90,032,963
Career highlights: Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001, Mandella has been a major player on the tough Southern California circuit for many years, winning training titles at Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Oak Tree. He has conditioned Horse of the Year and turf champion Kotashaan as well as 2-year-old filly champion Phone Chatter. Mandella won an amazing six straight million-dollar races in Southern California from the 1996 Hollywood Gold Cup through the 1998 Santa Anita Handicap. That streak included Dare and Go snapping Cigar's 16-race victory streak in the 1996 Pacific Classic and a one-two-three finish by Siphon, Sandpit and Gentlemen in the 1997 Santa Anita Handicap
Best horses: Advancing Star, Afternoon Deelites, Atticus, Bad N Big, Corrazona, Dare and Go, Devil's Orchid, Dixie Union, Gentlemen, Golden Treat, Kotashaan, Lazy Lode, Leger Cat, Lexicon, Likeable Style, Malek, Phone Chatter, Puerto Madero, Siphon, Soul of the Matter, Super May, Talloires, The Hague, Virginie and Wild Rush.";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","Bill Mott","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/bill_mott.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Getty Images file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: July 29, 1953, in Mobridge, S.D.
Residence: Garden City, N.Y.
Personal: Mott was winning races at an age when many of his rivals had paper routes. He saddled his first horse -- the aptly named mare My Assets, who he bought for $320 – at the age of 15 and ran her at unrecognized meetings in South Dakota. He won the South Dakota Futurity with his second horse, Kosmic Tour, before graduating from high school. Went to finishing school at the knee of another great Midwest horseman, Hall of Famer Jack Van Berg, before going out on his own in 1978. Mott is married, and he and his wife Tina Marie have two sons, Brady Thomas and Riley Tucker, and a daughter, Olivia
Lifetime record: 14,612 starts; 3,146 wins; 2,417 seconds, 2,014 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $127,858,711
Career highlights: Mott was inducted into Racing Hall of Fame in 1998 at age 45, becoming the youngest trainer ever to be so honored. He has trained five champions – including the great Cigar -- and won back-to-back Eclipse Awards as top trainer in 1995 and 1996. He has won dozens of training titles in New York and at Churchill Downs.
Best horses: Ajina, Chief Honcho, Cigar, Escena, Fraise, Geri, Heatherten, Paradise Creek, Royal Anthem, Sefa’s Beauty, Taylor’s Special, Theatrical and Wekiva Springs.";
Top10Trainers_2003[i++] = new Array("","Todd Pletcher","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/migrated_media/HorseRacingApps/todd_pletcher.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "Tim Roske", "AP file", "158", "118", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Top10Trainers_2003[i-1].body = "Born: June 26, 1967 in Dallas, Texas
Residence: Garden City, N.Y.
Personal: Pletcher came up in the business, learning the ropes from his father, Jake, who trained horses throughout the Midwest. He attended the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program and then worked as an assistant for trainer D. Wayne Lukas from 1989 to 1996, helping condition many of Lukas’ top horses based on the East Coast, including 1995 Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch. Pletcher is married and he and his wife, Tracy, have two sons, Payton and Kyle.
Lifetime record: 4,388 starts; 867 wins; 713 seconds, 537 thirds
Mounts’ earnings: $47,058,872
Career highlights: Since going out on his own in 1996, he has excelled like no other former Lukas assistant. He wins often in top 2- and 3-year-old races and his horses generally hit the ground running, often winning their first starts. He’s particularly deadly at Saratoga – where he won back-to-back training titles in 2002 and 2003, shattering the record for wins during the later with 35. He also has won numerous training titles on the NYRA circuit and has become a force to be reckoned with on the Triple Crown trail, as evidenced by the four starters he saddled in the 2000 Kentucky Derby.
Best horses: Archers Bay, Balto Star, Graeme Hall, Impeachment, Invisible Ink, Left Bank, Lucky Livi, Marley Vale, More Than Ready, Stu’s Choice and Trippe.";
// END editorial data