Killer Bs: Brown, Baffert, Broberg Enjoy Top Seasons

In a 2017 season in which he sent out a classic winner and a pair of Breeders' Cup winners, trainer Chad Brown finished as the top trainer by purse earnings in North America for a second straight year, according to final statistics released Jan. 2 by Equibase.

The 2016 Eclipse Award winner as outstanding trainer, Brown secured his first classic win in 2017 when Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence's Cloud Computing scored in the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course. Brown figures to have a top 3-year-old next season; he sent out e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Stonestreet Stables' Good Magic to a victory in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), which marked the first victory in that race for Brown.

The other 2017 Breeders' Cup win for the trainer came with e Five Racing Thoroughbreds' Rushing Fall in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).

Brown sent out the winners of 213 races from 820 starts for earnings of $26,202,164 in 2017. His 2017 results again included an impressive record on turf, where he led all other trainers for the sixth consecutive year with a record of 145 wins from 546 starts on grass and earnings of $16,556,297.

While Brown finished as leading trainer by North American earnings, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert was the leading North American-based trainer by earnings at $27,312,912 when Dubai World Cup Day is considered. Adding the Dubai races means Baffert picks up the earnings from Arrogate 's victory in the Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1).

Thanks in large part to Arrogate's wins in the $10 million Dubai World Cup and $12 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park, Baffert—who had nearly 500 fewer starts than Brown this season—earned an average of $86,708 per start in 2017.

Brown led the way in graded stakes victories in 2017 with 47 while Baffert ranked second at 31. Including Dubai, Baffert ranked first in earnings from graded stakes wins at $24,755,795.

Todd Pletcher, who has led the North American earnings list 10 times, finished second for the second year in a row with his horses having won 253 races from 1,053 starts for earnings of $22,444,161. 

Completing the list of top 10 trainers by North American earnings in 2017 were Baffert at $21,112,912, Steve Asmussen $19,650,969, Mark Casse $17,420,165, Mike Maker $10,988,867, Jerry Hollendorfer $9,542,402, Bill Mott $9,238,920, Brad Cox $8,833,028, and Doug O'Neill $7,966,843.

In the category of leading trainer by North American wins, Karl Broberg finished atop those standings for the fourth straight year. In 2017 Broberg won 412 races from 1,846 starts for purse earnings of $6,282,578. His 412 wins in 2017 follow a 2016 season where his horses won 367 races. In 2015 Broberg won 420 races after taking 325 in 2014.