There were 13 graded stakes races across North America last week from coast to coast, resulting in lots of activity on the 2024 Equibase earnings leaderboard.

Rattle N Roll scored a 105 Equibase Speed Figure in his three-quarter length victory in the Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare last Friday at Churchill Downs for trainer Ken McPeek with Brian Hernandez Jr. in the irons. The 4-year-old son of Connect earned his first win of 2024 in the Clark after he finished third in the Lukas Classic Stakes in his only other start this year, and ends his 5-year-old campaign with $409,500 in earnings. McPeek and Hernandez Jr. have been a familiar duo in the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs in 2024, winning the Longines Kentucky Oaks with Thorpedo Anna, Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve with Mystik Dan and now the Clark Stakes with Rattle N Roll. McPeek became the first trainer in history to win all three of those graded stakes races in a single season, and he ranks seventh on Equibase’s 2024 earnings leaderboard among trainers in North America.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s Godolphin swept the Stars of Tomorrow II Day at Churchill last Saturday, winning the Golden Rod Stakes with Good Cheer and the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes with First Resort who both earned 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks and Road to the Kentucky Derby, respectively. After an undefeated 2-year-old season winning four races by a combined 32 ½ lengths, Good Cheer is 13^th in earnings on the 2-year-old Equibase standings with $457,630, and second on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks rankings with 20 points. First Resort is 19^th in the Equibase standings with $338,671 in earnings and is seventh in the Road to the Kentucky Derby chart with 10 points. Godolphin, a six-time Eclipse Award recipient for Outstanding Owner, leads Equibase’s 2024 owner standings with 98 wins and $19,754,341 in earnings this year, including two Breeders’ Cup wins.

Sacred Wish and Velazquez win the Matriarch. (BENOIT photo)

Sacred Wish cracked the top 100 in the standings and is now 92^nd after her win in the Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar on Sunday for trainer George Weaver with John Velazquez aboard. Sacred Wish held off heavily favored Gina Romantica to take the Matriarch by a neck at odds of 12.80-1 to give Hall of Fame rider Velazquez his second graded stakes win on Sunday’s card “where the turf meets the surf.” John Velazquez had just three mounts during Del Mar’s Bing Crosby meet and finished with two wins and a third. Velazquez is currently eighth on the 2024 Equibase jockey leaderboard with 97 wins and $16,384,528 in earnings.

Flavien Prat extended his lead over Irad Ortiz Jr. in Equibase’s jockey standings to nearly $5 million; however, the third- through fifth-ranked jockeys all had over a million dollars in earnings last week. Luis Saez (ranked fifth) had nine wins from 51 mounts and $1,171,385 in earnings and clinched his third Churchill Downs jockey title in the process. Saez was aboard both Good Cheer in the Golden Rod Stakes and First Resort in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and ended the Churchill Downs fall meet with 42 wins, 20 more than Tyler Gaffalione who finished second. Gaffalione (ranked third on the North American leaderboard) had seven wins from 42 mounts with $1,056,294 in earnings including a win on Thanksgiving Day in the Falls City Stakes at Churchill Downs aboard Loved for trainer Brendan Walsh. Jose Ortiz (ranked fourth) won at an impressive 41% clip last week with 13 wins from 32 starts and bankrolled $1,023,330 in earnings.

Chad Brown, who sits atop Equibase’s trainer earnings leaderboard, had a quiet week with just one win from nine starts, and that helped second-ranked Steve Asmussen cut into Brown’s lead by over a million in earnings after Asmussen scored 15 wins totaling $1,301,726 last week. Asmussen traveled out west to New Mexico where he had three stakes wins at Zia Park last Monday, all three winners ridden by Jose Ortiz. Asmussen is currently second in the Equibase trainer standings by earnings with $27,983,775 and first by wins with 381.

Other notable performances include Formidable Man who won the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar for trainer Michael McCarthy, Mi Hermano Ramon who won the Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar (scoring the highest Equibase Speed Figure of a 120 across North America last week) and Clock Tower who won the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at Del Mar for trainer Wesley Ward with Velazquez in the saddle.