The Oaklawn Park live racing season wrapped up last Saturday, and it delivered with strong numbers across the board, with over $56-million in purses distributed over 621 races, the track announced Monday evening.
With an average of 10 races a day, and a daily purse distribution of $903,338, the racing remained competitive with an average of 9.32 starters per race. The average daily handle surpassed $6.73-million while the meet handle reached well north of $417-million. Participation from horsemen remained strong, too, as 2,030 individual horses made at least one start with the group totaling 5,788 jumps between them. Eighty jockeys and 186 trainers competed at the venue this year.
The 2024-25 leaders were a salty group as Steve Asmussen and End Zone Athletics Inc. (Karl Broberg) tied for the leading owner title with 14 wins each. D.J. Stable LLC, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and CJ Stables led all owners with purse earnings of $1,168,000.
Steve Asmussen stood alone in the trainer rankings as he collected his record-extending 14th Oaklawn title by winning 46 races, good for purses totaling over $5-million. Francisco Arrieta claimed his second riding title–his first outright–by winning 65 races.
The number of trainers and jockeys to earn over $1-million during the season rose, tallying 13 of the former and 16 of the latter. Of the noteworthy milestones reached during the racing calendar, Arrieta earned his 1,000th career victory; Keith Asmussen secured 100 Oaklawn victories; trainer Jinks Fires reached 1,500 career wins; trainer Tom Van Berg earned win 300; jockey Walter De La Cruz hit 1,400 career wins; and Ricardo Santana Jr. joined the 2,000 win fraternity, among others.
“It's incredible what we accomplished this season,” said Wayne Smith, general manager of Oaklawn. “Even after losing four Saturdays to weather, we ended up just 10 races shy of last year. That kind of resilience shows the passion of our horsemen, the dedication of our team, and the unwavering support of our fans. It really was something special.”
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