As we mentioned here on Wednesday, the annual Fall meet at Keeneland begins on Friday.

We previously talked about which jockeys to focus on during this boutique, 17 race-day meet.

Today we’ll take a look at which trainers have fared well in the past at the Lexington track:

Brad Cox Won the training title at the recently concluded Churchill Downs September meet, where he Won 16 races from 44 starters for 36%. 

Ken McPeek was next (at Churchill) way back with six Winners. Greg Foley had a nice meet with five Wins from 14 starters for a percentage of 36%.

The nature of the trainers ranks at the Keeneland fall meet will, obviously, be a lot different than at Churchill in September.

Cox also was the Winner of the Keeneland fall meet last year with 11 Wins, but it was no runaway as big guns like Todd Pletcher and Wesley Ward were close behind with 10 Wins.

Pletcher’s Win percentage was 28% and Ward’s Win percentage was 33%. Graham Motion was also in the mix with the leaders in Win percentage with 5 Wins from 18 starters for 28%.

Other trainers in addition to Cox, Pletcher, Ward, McPeek, and Foley who could be expected to finish in the Keeneland fall top 10 include Mike Maker, Steve Asmussen, and Brendan Walsh.

Chad Brown, meanwhile, was not as successful as one might expect at last year’s Keeneland fall meet. His horses had 3 Wins from 17 starters for a disappointing 18%.

Brown does send good horses to Keeneland but for the most part his A team stays in New York.

From a handicapping standpoint, aside from Brown, some of the other trainers who had disappointing seasons at the Keeneland fall meet in 2022 included Mark Casse (2-for-22), Ian Wilkes (2-for-30), Rusty Arnold (1-for-26), Joe Sharp (1-for-18), and D. Wayne Lukas (0-for-20).

Hopefully these insights helped because in a competitive meet such as this one, when you’re comparing a couple of equally talented horses, any edge you can derive can make a difference.

Best of luck playing Keeneland.