It has been announced that trainer Brian Brown and driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. have captured Jerry Kaltenbach Memorial Trophies for their 2018 seasons.
This is the first time that Brown has been honoured with a Kaltenbach training title. In 2018, Brown’s stable sent 104 youngsters postward in Ohio Sires Stakes legs, finals and consolations.
Brown’s hefty assortment of two- and three-year-old pacers and trotters — that he conditions in Delaware, Ohio during the spring and summer months and in south Florida during the winter — earned $1,075,850 from 18 wins, 20 seconds and ten third-place finishes. The honour is fitting for Brown, who was the runner-up to 2017 Kaltenbach-winning trainer Chris Beaver.
This year, it was New Jersey-based trainer Ron Burke that finished second among all Ohio Sires Stakes conditioners. Burke’s stable produced $953,150 in earnings from 78 starts, which resulted in 11 wins, 13 seconds and 12 thirds. Chris Beaver was third in the sires stakes training standings, as he 65 starts resulted in 10 first-place finishes, nine second-place efforts, and 14 thirds, good for $491,250 in purses.
Urbana, Ohio-based trainer Kimberly Daily finished fourth with $283,450 earned in Ohio Sires Stakes events (38 starts, seven wins, three second-place finishes, seven third-place efforts). Canadian conditioners Jason McGinnis and Robert McIntosh finished fifth and six, respectively, in the sires stakes’ final trainers’ tally. McGinnis sent 25 horses postward and notched seven wins, four seconds and a trio of thirds, which was good for earnings of $259,100. McIntosh pupils recorded four wins and a lone second-place finish from five starts, which resulted in a total of $207,500 in earnings.
Sixteen trainers had sires stakes contestants that posted earnings of $100,000 or more (six conditioners trained starters that earned $200,000 or higher).
Wrenn captured the 2018 Kaltenbach Award for leading driving in Ohio Sires Stakes competition for the second time in his career (he previously earned the honour in 2015). Wrenn notched $987,500 in sires stakes earnings via steering a total of 96 starters to 21 wins, 16 seconds and 12 third-place finishes.
North America’s leading driver and record setter Aaron Merriman finished second courtesy of 19 wins, 15 seconds and 16 thirds from 99 starts (which led to $963,900 in purse earnings). Last season’s Kaltenbach winner, Chris Page, finished third this year, as he steered his mounts to 16 wins, 18 seconds and ten thirds from 93 starts (they earned $937,100 in Ohio Sires Stakes events).
Dan Noble picked up fourth-place honours in the driver standings (15 wins, five seconds, 11 thirds from 67 starters that earned a total of $523,750 in purses), while Tony Hall’s 46 drives earned a total of $437,700 in purse earnings from six wins, three seconds and two thirds). Ryan Stahl was the only other driver to pilot the winners of more than $400,000 ($433,950), as his charges raced to seven wins, eight seconds and eight thirds from 60 overall starts.
Of the 73 drivers who participated in Ohio’s 2018 sires stakes events, 60 garnered at least one cheques. Seventeen pilots steered the winners of $100,000 or more, while a full 12 drove horses who earned $200,000 or more.
In the 30 years the Kaltenbachs have been awarded, David Miller leads all drivers with seven trophies. In the training ranks, Virgil Morgan Jr. has captured the title six times. Only two horsemen have won the Kaltenbachs in both the training and driving categories — Sam ‘Chip’ Noble, III and Dave Rankin.
The Jerry Kaltenbach Memorial Trophies were established in 1988 — named in honour of one of the Ohio Sires Stakes’ founding fathers — and are awarded annually to the driver and trainer who have earned the most dollars competing in Ohio Sires Stakes events.
(With files from the OSDF)