Charles Town: Latest trainer stats through March 6

Bound to Windsor, here winning the West Virginia Triple Crown Nutrition Breeders Classic. Photo by Coady Photography.

by Frank Vespe

Trainer Ronney Brown hit the ground running in 2018, and he hasn’t slowed down.

Brown, who leads the Charles Town trainer colony with 19 wins thus far in 2018 — nine more than any other trainer — also leads our alternative trainer rankings with a score of 265.75. That gives him a razor-thin margin over Kevin Patterson in second; he has a score of 263.81.

Brown was third in our first bi-weekly rankings, while Patterson was second. Javier Contreras, leader the first time through, has dropped to third.

Our system takes into account wins, win percentage, earnings per start, and wagering return on investment. The trainer leading the colony in each category receives a score of 100 for that category, with other conditioners getting a percentage of that. That would give a trainer leading in all categories a perfect score of 400.

In brief, the rating system rewards those who win often and in the biggest races. We applied the stats to every trainer at Charles Town who’s made at least 15 starts and won at least one race.

Brown has won with six of 20 starters in the last couple of weeks to extend his wins lead over Jeff Runco, in second place, to nine. Brown is also third in the colony in win percentage, scoring at a 24 percent clip.

Patterson, just behind Brown in second, leads the colony in win percentage. He’s won with six of 16 starters, good for a strike rate of 37.5 percent. Patterson also leads the colony with $4,899 in earnings per start, just ahead of James W. Casey ($4,575).

The rest of the top five includes Javier Contreras — who led our rankings two weeks back — and the father-son duo of James W. and John A. Casey.

Contreras, with a score of 243.02, does not lead the colony in any of the four categories but is in the top five in each. He is tied for fourth with six wins and second with a 26.09 percent strike rate. He is third with $3,914 in earnings per start, and his $3.00 return per $2.00 win wager is fourth in the colony.

James Casey (220.75) scores highly in three categories. He is third in the colony with seven wins, and his 20 percent strike rate is good for fourth. And he is second in earnings per start. John Casey (219.47) leads the colony in wagering return on investment; his ROI is $4.84 per $2 win wager.

The report covers racing action through March 6, 2018.