Owners Klaravich Stables-Lawrence Top Earnings List

With Bricks and Mortar paving the way, Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence finished as the 2019 leading owner in North America by earnings according to statistics released by Equibase Company based on results for races in North America.

With Bricks and Mortar leading the way by earning $6,723,650 in 2019—leading all horses in North American earnings and setting a record for single-season earnings derived from turf racing in North America—the partnership of Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence finished with $8,178,845 in earnings.

The partnership earned the top spot in purse earnings this season with 17 wins from just 41 starts, well ahead of runner-up Calumet Farm's $6,551,311 in purse earnings. Consider that Calumet Farm had 655 starts in 2019—fifth most in North America—and the Klaravich-Lawrence earnings title is that much more impressive. The partnership averaged nearly $200,000 a start ($199,484) in 2019.

Bricks and Mortar won five races in 2019 that offered a purse of $1 million or more: the $1 million Arlington Million XXXVII Stakes (G1T) at Arlington International Race Course, the $1 million Manhattan Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park, the $1 million Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) at Churchill Downs, the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park, and the $6,708,329 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) at Gulfstream Park.

Other top runners for Klaravich-Lawrence in 2019 include Sword Dancer Stakes (G1T) winner Annals of Time and Pan American Stakes (G2T) winner Focus Group.

On his own, Klarman's Klaravich Stables ranked sixth with nearly $5 million in earnings ($4,968,082) in 66 wins from 243 races.

The top season marked a fine conclusion to the owners' partnership, which after 15 years has been winding down with plans to sell their few remaining horses. Klarman hopes to expand and Lawrence plans to downsize.

"It's all good between us," Lawrence told BloodHorse after the 2019 Breeders' Cup Turf. "We went from buying 20 horses a year to 50 and Seth wanted to get even more, and I wanted to cut back. I've spent a lot of time at the racetrack but I'm trying to do some things that are more important to my wife and when you have a stable with 200 races a year, it's hard to do. We'll keep rooting for each other's horses, but it was time.

It was a successful partnership and there was no controversy. This will be our last race and we'll go out on a great note with a (likely) Horse of the Year and Breeders' Cup winner. People say an athlete should go out on top. We're not athletes but we're going out on top."

The partners ended up running one more horse together following the Breeders' Cup: Frontier Market, who finished third in the Artie Schiller Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack Nov. 9.

Runner-up Calumet Farm registered 68 wins from its 655 starts to surpass $6.5 million in earnings. Top runners included grade 2 winner Channel Cat and grade 3 winners English Bee, Lexitonian, Bandua, and Coachwhip. In 2019 Bravazo led the stable in earnings with $706,000.

Rounding out the top 10 owners by 2019 North American earnings were third-place Gary Barber, $6,040,187 (69/331); Hronis Racing, $5,632,611(52/234); Godolphin, $5,153,502 (80/409); seventh-place Joseph E. Besecker, $4,963,858 (199/774); Ron Paolucci Racing, $4,857,990 (192/799); Peter Brant, $4,353,615 (30/81); and End Zone Athletics, $4,261,622 (280/1,073).

These statistics do not count earnings when in partnership with others.

Karl Broberg's End Zone Athletics finished as the leading owner by wins for a second straight year, reaching a total of 280 in 2019. That win total was well ahead of runner-up Joseph Besecker at 199. End Zone Athletics also led all owners in starts with 1,073.

Leading the way for End Zone Athletics in 2019 was Dale's Lil Sis, who closed out the year with four straight wins, including a victory in the Lookout Stakes at Delta Downs.

When including earnings from Dubai World Cup Day with North American earnings, Godolphin finished as leading owner for the second consecutive year with 84 wins from 423 starts and earnings of $18,428,502.