Through 39 days of the scheduled 55-day season, perennial champions Ricardo Santana Jr. and Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen lead Oaklawn Park's jockey and trainer standings, respectively, while newcomer Mike Sisk, of M and M Racing, is the leading owner for the 2018 live racing meet.
Santana, seeking his sixth consecutive local riding title, has 43 victories, 14 more than runner-up David Cabrera. He rode three winners Sunday, including two for Asmussen, to move closer to two career milestones.
Santana won the third race on Mucho Macho Dan ($19.20) for trainer John E. Cox, the fourth race aboard Cumber ($8) for Asmussen and the eighth aboard favored Tenfold ($3.20), an unbeaten 3-year-old Curlin colt, for Asmussen.
According to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization, Santana has 981 career North American victories, including 386 at Oaklawn.
Asmussen has 27 victories this meet, three more than runner-up Robertino Diodoro. He has collected eight Oaklawn training titles since 2007.
The Hall of Famer has 7,963 career victories in North America to rank second all time, according to Equibase, including 566 at Oaklawn. Asmussen recorded his 7,000th career North American victory on April 1, 2015, at Oaklawn.
Asmussen said Saturday he planned to enter Mia Mischief, runner-up in the $125,000 Dixie Belle Stakes Jan. 20, in Saturday's $150,000 Purple Martin Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 6 furlongs. Asmussen won last year's Purple Martin with Golden Mischief via a race-related disqualification.
Post positions were to be drawn Wednesday for the stakes race. The Purple Martin closed with 38 nominations.
Sisk, whose primary trainer is Diodoro, has 19 victories, nine more than four-time defending champion Danny Caldwell.
Sports on 03/22/2018