Laurel Park: Alternative trainer stats through March 21

Miss Inclusive won the Maryland Racing Media Stakes for trainer John Servis. Photo by Laurie Asseo.

by Frank Vespe

With a four-win Sunday at Laurel Park, Claudio Gonzalez both snapped a losing streak that had reached 20 races and propelled himself to the top of our trainer ratings for the meet through March 21.

Gonzalez, with a score of 310.93, narrowly edges Hugh McMahon, who held steady in second place with a score of 307.50.

Our ratings number combines wins, win percentage, earnings per start, and $2 wagering return on investment. It thus values trainers who win frequently in big races, as well as those who can hit with a solid percentage of runners at square odds. The top trainer in each category receives 100 points, and thus a trainer who led a colony in all four categories would earn a perfect score of 400.

We applied this metric to every trainer at Laurel Park who has made at least 20 starts and won at least once. That left off a number of trainers with multiple wins, most notably John Servis, who led the rankings in the last period, through March 7. Servis, who has been enjoying a terrific meet at Laurel with seven wins and earnings per start of more than $25,000, has made only 19 starts to date — one fewer than the cutoff.

That leaves the top of the heap to Gonzalez, who also leads the colony in wins with 24, 10 more than his nearest competitor. Gonzalez also has the third-best win percentage (23.76 percent) and fifth-highest earnings per start at $6,827. His big Sunday allowed him to rise from third to first.

McMahon held down second place in the ratings once again. McMahon is third in the colony in wins with 13, and his 26 percent strike rate at Laurel is second only to Dale Capuano (30 percent). McMahon also has the second-highest wagering return on investment at Laurel, returning bettors $3.10 for each $2 win wager on his horses.

With three wins in the last couple of weeks, including V. I. P. Code’s 36-1 stunner in the Private Terms Stakes on March 17, trainer Phil Schoenthal leaped all the way from 22nd in our ratings two weeks ago to third with a score of 296.49. Schoenthal’s $3.40 wagering ROI is tops at the track. He is also third in earnings per start, at $7,457, and tied for fourth in win percentage (21.88 percent).

Those three are followed by Dale Capuano (278.54) and Tim Keefe (260.32). Capuano has the highest win percentage at the track at 30 percent with 12 wins from 40 starts, while Keefe leads all qualifying trainers in earnings per start at $7,899.

The rankings include all races run through March 21, 2018.

LAUREL PARK TRAINER RANKINGS