The 2012 Remington Park Thoroughbred Season came to a close on Dec. 9 with the leading horsemen in the categories of jockey, trainer, and owner the same as they've been for a number of years.
Cliff Berry secured his 15th jockey title at the Oklahoma City track, Steve Asmussen his ninth training title, and Danny Caldwell his fourth owner title.
Berry secured his 15th Pat Steinberg Award during Sunday's Springboard Mile card. The Jones, Okla. resident won two races on the final program of the season to end with 72 wins. Berry has won three consecutive Steinberg Awards, denoting the leading rider for the Thoroughbred season. The honor is named after the late rider who dominated the early years of Remington Park racing before his passing in 1993.
Luis Quinonez was second with 67 wins while Lindey Wade was third with 51 victories.
Asmussen clinched his ninth Chuck Taliaferro Award as leading trainer at Remington, days before the final afternoon of racing had taken place. He ended the season with 47 wins.
Asmussen, from Arlington, Texas, has won six consecutive training titles at the track dating to the 2007 season. He won his very first seasonal training title at Remington Park in 1991. Asmussen's career has flourished since, becoming a national operation with horses competing simultaneously at many tracks across North America. This fall he was inducted into the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame at Remington Park.
Donnie Von Hemel was second in the trainer standings with 27 wins with Chris Hartman third at 26.
The Chuck Taliaferro Award is named in honor of one of the early training stars in Remington Park history who had a long and successful career nationally before returning to his home state of Oklahoma once Remington Park opened. Taliaferro sat atop the local trainer standings twice before passing in 1994.
Asmussen led all trainers with $1,064,400 in earnings and was the only trainer to top the million mark. Von Hemel was next with $938,106 while Hartman was third with $591,737.
The Ran Ricks, Jr. Award for leading owner went to Caldwell of Poteau, Okla. who visited the winner's circle 21 times. This is his third consecutive leading owner title and his fourth since 2008.
Caldwell runs an operation that is strong in the claiming department, often purchasing runners out of races then immediately moving them up in class while gaining victory. He claimed Fifth Date, an 8-year-old Oklahoma-bred for $18,000 on Aug. 25, then won the $156,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup just two starts later with the gelding.
Caldwell's horses are primarily trained at Remington Park by Federico Villafranco.
Black Hawk Stable of Elk City, Okla. was second in the owner standings with 13 wins while the Richter Family Trust of Perkins, Okla. and Clark Brewster of Tulsa, Okla. shared third-place with 11.
The Richter Family Trust led the way for earning by owners with $511,790.
Live racing at Remington Park now goes on hiatus until March 8, 2013 when the American Quarter Horse & Mixed-breed Season begins. The 2013 Thoroughbred Season will get underway Aug. 16.
