Graded Stakes Earnings & Saturday Recap

About this time every year, there's always one whack-job (or as I prefer, dedicated horse racing fan) who goes through each of the graded stakes races for juveniles and compiles a list of Graded Stakes Earnings (GSE) in anticipation for next May's Kentucky Derby. And then all hell breaks loose and every amateur handicapper, fan, and pundit releases their official "Top 10" list. Or maybe its a "Derby Dozen." Or a "Bakers Dozen." Rarely you'll find one or two who rank 1-20. This year I'll be the guy who compiles the list...

However, before I present that, I'd like to take a quick look at Saturday's races -

Saturday, December 6

With most of 2008's finest horses having already been retired or shelved until next spring, the pickings have been slim in trying to find top fields.

Hollywood Park did an admirable job of compiling pretty nice fields for the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup and the Grade 3 Native Diver Handicap. In the Turf Cup, favorite Champs Elysees closed quickly and decisively to beat a pretty bland field of turf marathoners. Actually, this field was marred by mediocrity and only one of the eight entrants had won their previous start. While Champs Elysees comes from a spectacular family (full brother to Banks Hill, Cacique, Intercontinental, & Dansili, as well as a half to Heat Haze), I've just never found myself to be impressed with him. It does look as if he's turned a corner on the turf, and if he stays in training next year the sky may be the limit against a pretty depleted division. How long until the sons of English Channel hit the track? In the Native Diver, I was very impressed with Slew's Tizzy. An absolute enigma of late, I'm really hoping that he's finally turned that corner and is poised for a huge 2009. He broke a 9 race losing streak in September, and looked very strong down the lane in this race. Also have to be impressed with Coolmore's Ball Four. He missed 18 months, and now he's back to the graded level at 7 years old - you don't see that too often.

But without further adieu, here are those GSEs. Note that only American races for males (25 total) were included...

1. Midshipman (Suroor/-)...$1,350,200
2. Square Eddie (O'Neill/Bejarano)...$736,000
3. Big Drama (Fawkes/Coa)...$450,000
4. Vineyard Haven (Suroor/-)...$405,000
5. Street Hero (Cho/Solis)...$393,000 ***OFF DERBY TRAIL - RETIRED***
6. Terrain (Stall/Theriot)...$344,830
7. West Side Bernie (Breen/Trujillo)...$210,760
8. Run Away and Hide (Werner/Albarado)...$193,429 ***OFF DERBY TRAIL - RETIRED***
9. Azul Leon (O'Neill/Bejarano)...$173,600
10. Charitable Man (McLaughlin/Garcia)...$150,000
11. Bittel Road (T) (Pletcher/M. Smith)...$144,000
12. Old Fashioned (Jones/Dominguez)...$120,000
13. Break Water Edison (Kimmel/Garcia)...$115,200
14. Munnings (Pletcher/Velazquez)...$105,000
15. Pioneerof the Nile (Mott/Desormeaux)...$103,250
16. Beethoven (Ward/Borel)...$99,994
17. Screen Your Friend (Flint/Borel)...$99,981
18. Elusive Bluff (T) (Guillot/M. Baze)...$95,580
19. Silent Valor (Pletcher/Velazquez)...$95,000
20. Desert Party (Harty/Prado)...$91,667
21. Cribnote (Violette/Maragh)...$90,000
22. Capt. Candyman Can (Wilkes/Leparoux)...$84,445
23. Stimulus Plan (Casse/Desormeaux)...$82,500
24. Coronet of a Baron (Harty/Nakatani)...$80,000
25. Mr. Rod (T) (Hendricks/Sutherland)...$69,300
26. Retap (Asmussen/Bridgmohan)...$64,600
27. Jack o' Lantern (Matlow/Enriquez)...$63,700 ***OFF DERBY TRAIL - INJURED***
28. Officer Ipod (A. Dutrow/Bravo)...$60,000
29. Flying Pegasus (Nicks/Velasquez)...$50,000
30. Driving Snow (GB) (T) (Miller/Albarado)...$40,000
30. Atomic Rain (Breen/Prado)...$40,000
32. Jose Adan (Suroor/-)...$37,900
33. Hello Broadway (Tagg/Coa)...$35,700
34. Believe in Hope (Ellis/Talamo)...$35,000
35. Garden District (f) (Pletcher/Velazquez)...$33,364
36. Lyin' Heart (Asmussen/Bridgmohan)...$33,002
37. Giant Oak (Block/Razo)...$32,256
38. Show Me the Cash (B. Brown/Castellano)...$31,860
39. Friesan Fire (Jones/Thompson)...$30,925
40. Gone Astray (McGaughey/Gomez)...$27,500
41. Deposer (Ire) (Best/Velasquez)...$25,000
42. Monty's Best (Baker/Albarado)...$21,553
43. Making Dreams (W. Solis/Valdivia)...$21,200
44. Advice (Pletcher/Douglas)...$20,845
45. Ninth Client (T) (Lukas/Leparoux)...$20,000
45. American Dance (Pletcher/Gomez)...$20,000
47. Zion (Asmussen/Bridgmohan)...$19,434
48. Gresham (J. Baker/Lanerie)...$18,188
49. Charlie's Moment (W. Solis/Court)...$18,000
50. Rereadthefootnotes (McLaughlin/Trujillo)...$16,500
51. Segal (Asmussen/Bridgmohan)...$16,126
52. Relatively Randy (T) (Donk/Velasquez)...$15,930
53. Reynaldothewizard (Harty/Leparoux)...$15,000
53. Southern Exchange (De Gannes/Gomez)...$15,000
53. Del Conte (Baffert/Espinoza)...$15,000
53. Majestic Blue (McLaughlin/Albarado)...$15,000
57. Girolamo (McLaughlin/Garcia)...$14,100
58. Fassnacht (Harrington/Rosario)...$12,720
59. Star of David (Asmussen/Bridgmohan)...$12,456
60. Royal Vindication (Hough/Castellano)...$11,850
61. Dream of Kaylee (Hess/Desormeaux)...$11,682
62. Just Like Biscuit (Moore/Borel)...$11,011
63. Ventana (Baffert/Smith)...$10,600
64. Vaquero (T) (Leahy/Hernandez Jr.)...$10,000
64. Idol Maker (Pletcher/Coa)...$10,000
66. Dueling Alex (Gambolatti/Marquez)...$9,750
67. Kelly Leak (Machowsky/Espinoza)...$9,000
67. Arashi Cat (Mullins/Potts)...$9,000
67. Bourbon Bay (T) (Drysdale/Bejarano)...$9,000
67. Hype (T) (Pletcher/M. Baze)...$9,000
71. Merkel (Asmussen/Bridgmohan)...$8,341
72. Theregoesjojo (McPeek/Albarado)...$8,063
73. Phosphorescent (Romans/Albarado)...$7,500
73. Join in the Dance (Pletcher/Velazquez)...$7,500
73. Notonthesamepage (Ward/Trujillo)...$7,500
76. Medaglia d'Onore (Sanders/Hill)...$7,255
77. Seismometer (Yakteen/Talamo)...$6,360
78. Hold Me Back (Mott/Velazquez)...$6,000
79. My Dominick James (Rivelli/Thornton)...$5,685
80. Proud Jefe (Amoss/Prado)...$5,500
81. Duke of Homberg (GB) (T) (Pelletan/Prado)...$5,465
82. Essenceofthemoon (Salzman/Camacho)...$5,004
83. Stormalory (Mott/Desoreamux)...$4,838
84. Brave Victory (Zito/Desormeaux)...$4,833
85. Pynaformer (T) (Kelly/Samyn)...$4,779
86. Wild Proof (Perkins/Lezcano)...$4,500
87. Tire Kicker (Hennig/Dominguez)...$3,555
88. Herr Mozart (T) (Mott/Maragh)...$3,186
89. Fu Peg He Rat (Sise/T. Baze)...$3,000
90. Tar Beach (McPeek/Mena)...$2,940
91. Kensei (Asmussen/Bridgmohan)...$2,500
91. High Mesa (Jones/Saez)...$2,500
93. Turbo Call (W. Solis/J. Garcia)...$2,120
94. Backbackbackgone (Miller/Bejarano)...$2,000
94. Rip Rap (Levine/Lezcano)...$2,000
94. Awesome Mich (Hennig/Castro)...$2,000
94. Insurgence (T) (Casse/Rosario)...$2,000
98. Jazzandthemagician (Romans/Mena)...$1,680
98. Coal Baron (Carroll/Albarado)...$1,680
98. Big Surf (Pletcher/Castanon)...$1,680
101. Cognito (Asmussen/Bridgmohan)...$1,666
102. General Quarters (McCarthy/Troilo)...$1,645
102. Silver Bayer (Ward/Castanon)...$1,645
104. A.P. Cardinal (Gambolati/Hill)...$1,600
105. His Greatness (Salazar/Solis)...$1,500
105. Ready Racer (Flint/Borel)...$1,500
105. Schleprock (Gulick/Karlsson)...$1,500
105. Investor (Byrne/Emigh)...$1,500
105. Malibu Maverick (Werner/Ferrer)...$1,500
105. My Man Moran (Quinn/Graham)...$1,500
111. Prince Charming (J. Jerkens/Lezcano)...$1,185
111. Forty Thieves (Klesaris/Velasquez)...$1,185
113. Mine All Mine (f) (Ward/Castanon)...$1,180
114. Sir Bubba (Napier/Thorwarth)...$1,000
115. Unsung Song (Hamm/Velasquez)...$750
116. Casey's On Call (Catalano/Baird)...$111
116. Chilliness (Tomlinson/Theriot)...$111

(T) = majority of GSEs earned on turf
(f) = filly

Well that's it - all 117 of them. Oh, and for those interested, they've combined to earn $7,094,530 in GSEs...

Now, GSE earners by trainer (those with more than 1) -

Todd Pletcher (10)
Steve Asmussen (8)
Kiaran McLaughlin (4)
William Mott (4)
Eoin Harty (3)
Saeed bin Suroor (3)
Larry Jones (3)
Walther Solis (3)
Wesley Ward (3)
Bob Baffert (2)
Kelly Breen (2)
Mark Casse (2)
Bernie Flint (2)
Cam Gambolati (2)
Mark Hennig (2)
Ken McPeek (2)
Doug O'Neill (2)
Dale Romans (2)
Ronny Werner (2)

And By Sire

Sky Mesa (6)
A.P. Indy (4)
Lion Heart (4)
More Than Ready (4)
Fusaichi Pegasus (3)
Read the Footnotes (3)
Unbridled's Song (3)
Vindication (3)
Bernstein (2)
Dixie Union (2)
Dynaformer (2)
Empire Maker (2)
Five Star Day (2)
Giant's Causeway (2)
Harlan's Holiday (2)
Lemon Drop Kid (2)
Malibu Moon (2)
Medaglia d'Oro (2)
Montbrook (2)
Mr. Greeley (2)
Sligo Bay (Ire) (2)
Smart Strike (2)
Speightstown (2)
Storm Cat (2)
Street Cry (Ire) (2)
Thunder Gulch (2)