Inside the Numbers: The 2014 Season in Review

Noble Moon (above) started off the 2014 graded stakes schedule with a win in the Jerome Stakes on Jan. 4 and Bettys Bambino won the last graded stakes of the season when taking the Daytona Stakes on Dec. 28. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
From California Chrome’s Triple Crown trail run to Shared Belief returning to dominance in the fall and the 2-year-olds building hopes that next year will end the Triple Crown drought, 2014 had something for all racing fans.
Relive some of the best moments of 2014 with the 2014 Inside the Numbers Year in Review for fun facts about the past 12 months.
2 – The number of Triple Crown race winners we had, with California Chrome winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and Tonalist winning the Belmont Stakes.
3 – The number of Breeders’ Cup winners Chad Brown had in 2014, leading all trainers at this year’s event. Brown won the Turf Sprint with Bobby’s Kitten, the Filly and Mare Turf with Dayatthespa, and the Juvenile Fillies Turf with Lady Eli. Overall, Brown has five career wins at the Breeders’ Cup.
4 – The number of graded stakes 2013 Horse of the Year Wise Dan won in 2014. He won all four of his starts this year during a shortened season due to colic and an injury.
6 – Graded stakes wins by Untapable in 2014, to lead all horses by graded stakes victories. Her wins were headlined by the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Kentucky Oaks.
UNTAPABLE WINNING THE KENTUCKY OAKS

9 – The number of graded stakes starts made by Kaigun, Parranda, Prayer for Relief and Vicar’s In Trouble to lead the “North American graded stakes starts” list.
10 - The number of winners from the early 2015 Kentucky Derby prep races. None of the 2-year-old males have won more than one prep race this Kentucky Derby season.
10 – Ken and Sarah Ramsey won 10 graded stakes races in 2014, the most of any owner. This is their second consecutive year at the top of the list after winning 17 graded stakes in 2013. Juddmonte was second in the rankings with nine graded stakes wins.
11 – Most wins by any horse U.S.-based horse in 2014. Stakes-placed Handsup Moneydown made 15 starts in 2014, winning 11 of them and hitting the board in the other four for season earnings of $251,430. His last start of the year was in the Wild and Wonderful Stakes where he finished third to Pants On Fire.
14 – Breeders’ Cup Classic runners who are returning to racing in 2014. None of the horses in the Classic field retired after the race.
18 – Number of horses on the top 20 North America earnings list who are planning on coming back in 2015. Those 20 include the top five finishers of the Breeders’ Cup Classic and five other 2013 Breeders' Cup winners.
30 – Number of graded stakes races John Velazquez won in 2014, the most of any jockey in the United States. He’s led that category the last five years, starting in 2010, when he won 31 graded stakes.
JOHN VELAZQUEZ WINNING THE BREEDERS' CUP TURF

31 – The most starts made by any U.S.-raced horse with Miss Prim taking the title. The now-6-year-old mare won two of her 2014 starts and finished on the board three other times. Twenty-nine horses made 25 or more starts in 2014.
40 – Number of graded stakes races Todd Pletcher won in 2014 to lead all trainers in graded stakes wins. Included in that total were nine Grade 1 victories, four of which came in Kentucky Derby prep races (Danza and Constitution for the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Daredevil and Carpe Diem for the 2015 Kentucky Derby).
110 – The number of Grade 1 races run in the United States in 2014. The Prioress and Princess Rooney were downgraded to Grade 2 in 2014 while the La Troienne was upgraded to Grade 1.
219 – The number of races Midwest Thoroughbreds won for $5,704,723 in earnings. Of the 219 wins, seven were stakes victories with the highlight win of their year coming in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Work All Week.
324 – The number of races Russell Baze won in 2014 to lead all North American jockeys.

325 – Number of races trainer Karl Broberg won in 2014 for earnings of $5,472,808. He had a win rate of 26 percent and his horses hit the board 59 percent of the time.
455 – Graded stakes races in 2014, two fewer than were graded in 2013. In 2015, there will be 463 graded stakes races.
713 – Total number of graded and ungraded stakes races with a purse of $75,000 or more run in 2014.
22,000 – Number of registered Thoroughbred foals The Jockey Club projected would be born in North America in 2014, a 4.3% decrease from projected 2013 foal crop of 23,000.
$438,968 – Average earnings per start of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern in 2014. He only had two off-the-board finishes this year with six wins in 10 starts.
$1,572,480 – The amount of money it took for Quality Road to lock in the Leading First-Crop Sire title by North American earnings (according to the Blood-Horse Leading Sire list), beating out 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver by $25,357. Lookin At Lucky, who won the 2010 Preakness Stakes, led all freshman sires by winners with 29 and tied Super Saver for the top ranking by stakes winners with four.
$3,000,000 – The price a weanling filly by Tapit and out of Serena’s Cat sold for at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. The half-sister [same mother, different father] to Honor Code set a record price for a weanling sold at public auction in North America and ultimately was bought by John and Leslie Malone’s Bridlewood Farm. The former weanling record was set in 2006 when Globe Equine Management paid $2.7 million for Amour Malheureux, who won four races in Japan.

$4,389,680 – The amount of money it took to be the leading North American money earner this year. Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern is the highest earner this year with California Chrome $381,880 behind in second. Untapable sits in third with $2,808,600 in earnings.
$16,807,001 – The cumulative earnings of all of Tapit’s foals in 2014 (according to the Blood-Horse Leading Sire list), shattering the former record of $14,358,570 set by Smart Strike in 2007. His leading runners were Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable and Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, with those two combining for $4,756,850 of his earnings. Tapiture was his other runner who earned over $1-million this year, bringing in $1,247,222. With his 2014 success, Tapit’s stud fee doubled from $150,000 in 2014 to $300,000 in 2015.
$25,056,464 – The amount of purse money Javier Castellano won in 2014. Castellano rode 1,365 horses last year and won 315 races, the second-most wins of any North American jockey in 2013.