The victory by the Mike Repole-owned Stopchargingmaria gave trainer Todd Pletcher his 997th victory in a stakes. Coglianese Photography
With Stopchargingmaria’s victory in Saturday’s Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, Todd Pletcher is three stakes wins away from becoming only the second trainer to win 1,000 stakes.The first is Pletcher’s former boss, D. Wayne Lukas at 1,076.
Consider that Pletcher has 3,585 victories overall. That means 28 percent of his wins have come in stakes. Remarkable. I bet he has more wins in stakes than claiming races. (Gotta check this out. Will update when I’ve got answer.) Pletcher already has broken one of his mentor’s prior records, leading in career earnings $274 million to $269 million.
Here are the top five all-time stakes-winners, courtesy Equibase.
Name*starts*wins* earnings
D. Wayne Lukas*6,348*1,076*$179,577,905
Todd Pletcher*4,639*997*$185,831,643
Steve Asmussen*4,635*785*$96,467,703
Bill Mott*4,009*778*$136,227,144
Bobby Frankel*3,648*721*$159,013,341
