Trainer David Anderson stands alone in Fonner Park history after leading this year's trainer standings with 43 wins.
The Ashland native's ninth title broke a tie between himself, Marvin Johnson, and Tim Gleason, who all entered Fonner's 55th season tied for the record. Anderson gave his heartfelt acknowledgement to Johnson and Gleason's training careers.
"Both Tim and Marvin have been great friends and competitors over the years," Anderson said. "I've tried to emulate both trainers in not only the way they do things at the track, but in the way they purport themselves."
Anderson pointed out the mark might not be his for long.
"One of the other two, or eventually someone else may come along and win more, but at least I can say that I had it for awhile," Anderson said.
Marvin Johnson finished second on the season with 26 wins, while Milton Gaede visited the winner's circle 24 times.
Yuri Yaranga won his first riding title at Fonner Park as the native of Peru guided 58 horses to a win at the meet.
Beth Butler capped her biggest year at Fonner finishing second with 37 wins, while Damon Leeds won 34 races during the meet.
From a business standpoint Fonner Park Executive Vice-President and CEO Hugh Miner was very happy with Fonner's 55th season of racing.
"The meet was very successful," Miner said. "The weather cooperated with us, we had strong stables and a very good jockey colony this year that luckily had no mishaps on the track."
Miner was very happy with a strong performance this season in his track's mutuel handle.
"Going into the final weekend, we were up about 15 percent on the year," Miner said. "From January to this (last) weekend, that's about $1.2 million, and we had a nice last weekend with big crowds."
Miner was especially pleased with the crowds on Saturdays during the season, and why he felt Fonner had had such an outstanding year.
"We had some nice Saturdays, where the crowds were very big," Miner said. “With the good racing we offered this season, and the nice weather, and people just not traveling as much it worked out well for us this year."
FINAL TRAINER STANDINGS
Trainers Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% IM %
Anderson, Dave 197 43 31 26 .218 .507
Johnson, M.A. 141 26 24 18 .184 .482
Gaede, Milton 64 24 7 5 .375 .562
Hall, Steve 58 16 18 5 .275 .672
Compton,James 79 15 10 14 .189 .493
Donlin, Larry 57 14 6 6 .245 .456
Rushton, Temple 83 12 8 10 .144 .361
Roberts, Brian 53 11 7 5 .207 .433
Veerhusen, Kim 85 10 12 10 .117 .376
Larue, C. Steve 50 8 9 6 .160 .460
Ecoffey, G.W. 78 8 9 11 .102 .358
Linsey, Arthur 18 7 3 2 .388 .666
Kirby, Mike 19 7 5 1 .368 .684
Hemmer, Terrell 21 7 6 2 .333 .714
Hoffman, Robert 34 7 3 3 .205 .382
Moore, Merel 65 7 13 15 .107 .538
Coughlin, Dan 23 6 3 2 .260 .478
Staroscik, Larry 28 6 4 4 .214 .500
Bolinger, Mike 40 6 3 3 .150 .300
Martinez, Kelli 44 6 6 8 .136 .454
FINAL JOCKEY STANDINGS
Jockeys Mounts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% IM%
Yaranga, Yuri 254 58 38 32 .228 .503
Butler, Beth 173 37 18 17 .213 .416
Leeds, Damon 203 34 36 27 .167 .477
Delorme, Larren 238 27 30 31 .113 .369
Fackler, Chris 218 24 17 31 .110 .330
Herber, Don 202 23 23 21 . 113 .331
Frazier, Don 146 21 21 15 .143 .390
Ranilla, Luis 218 21 31 23 .096 .344
Ponce, Jesus 128 20 20 17 .156 .445
Martinez, A. 223 20 34 32 .089 .385
Ziegler, Mike 164 19 16 28 .115 .384
Luark, Mike 158 12 19 20 .075 .322
Sensenbach, Lee 108 7 13 20 .064 .370
Houghton, T.D. 20 4 2 4 .200 .500
Williams, Dylan 19 3 3 2 .157 .421
Carkeek, Jerry 25 3 4 3 .120 .400
Lopez, David 54 3 7 4 .055 .259
Arroyo,Wilfredo 80 3 6 7 .037 .200
Espindola, A.P. 57 2 3 5 .035 .175
Young, Scott 2 1 0 1 .500 1.000
