Todd Pletcher, John Velasquez and Michael Gill head the individual lists of the top 100 trainers, jockeys and owners respectively by North American earnings in 2004, according to final statistics released today by Equibase Company LLC, the Thoroughbred industry’s Official database for racing information.

Smarty Jones topped all Thoroughbreds with 2004 North American earnings of $7,563,535, Following Smarty Jones was Ghostzapper with $2,590,000.

The year-end compilations, distributed each year by Equibase, include all Thoroughbred racing in North America. The top 100 North American leaders in each category are accessible through http://www.equibase.com, as is a second set of “international” leader lists that includes the results of the 10 races of the World Series Racing Championship contested outside North America.

Inclusion of these international earnings does not affect the leader in each of the four categories.

In 2004, Todd Pletcher saddled 240 winners from 948 starters for earnings of $17,511,923. Robert Frankel finished second with earnings of $15,605,911 from 135 wins and 491 starters.

Rounding out the list of top 10 trainers were: Steven Asmussen, $14,004,202 (555 wins/2,293 starts); John Servis, $8,922,686 (68/284); Bob Baffert, $7,627,913 (105/562); Richard Dutrow, Jr., $7,576,986 (166/603); Scott Lake, $7,420,036 (374/1,688); Dale Romans, $7,081,653 (109/580); Doug O’Neill, $7,004,827 (170/938); and Nicholas Zito, $6,967,792 (86/452).

John Velasquez ended Jerry Bailey’s run of three consecutive jockey earnings titles in 2004 with earnings of $22,248,661. Velasquez was aboard 335 winners from 1,327 mounts. Edgar Prado finished second with 281 victories from 1,445 mounts and earnings of $18,342,106.

Completing the list of top 10 jockeys by earnings were: Victor Espinosa, $15,933,757 (240/1,336); Stewart Elliott, $14,533,061 (262/1,363); Jerry Bailey, $14,503,844 (148/641); Javier Castellano, $13,038,943 (212/1,283); Corey Nakatani, $12,466,557 (220/1,080); Rafael Bejarano, $12,210,087 (455/1,922); Ramon Dominguez, $11,506,889 (383/1,353); and Cornelio Velasquez, $11,098,689 (240/1,593).

For the second consecutive year, Michael Gill topped the North American leading owner’s list in 2004 with earnings of $10,835,561. His color-bearers won 487 of 2,885 races. Runner-up was Someday Farm, whose runners won 7 of 12 starts and $7,584,305.

Completing the list of top 10 owners by earnings were: Stronach Stables, $7,193,867 (109/507); Ken and Sarah Ramsey, $5,855,964 (84/361); Sam-Son Farms, $4,830,939 (47/260); Eugene and Laura Melnyk, $4,447,689 (93/453); Juddmonte Farms, Inc., $3,454,794 (35/113); Gary Tanaka, $3,112,187 (21/136); Robert and Beverly Lewis, $3,069,130 (50/263); and Robert Bone, $3,015,251 (113/353).

Equibase Company is a partnership between The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and serves as the Thoroughbred industry’s Official database for racing information. In addition to year-end rankings of the top trainers, jockeys, owners and horses, the Company’s web site, http://www.equibase.com, features daily rankings of the top 100 by category for the current year as well as an ever-increasing menu of racing information and handicapping products for handicappers of every skill level.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Equibase leader lists are published as a service to the industry and, as in past years, Canadian earnings in 2004 were counted on par with American earnings. Last month, The Jockey Club and Equibase Company completed the software modifications necessary to begin converting Canadian earnings into their equivalent amount in U.S. funds beginning Jan. 1, 2005. Two press releases focusing on the conversion of Canadian earnings are accessible at http://www.jockeyclub.com.