Columbus, OH – Trainer Brian Brown captured his first Kaltenbach training title in 2018, sending 104 youngsters postward in the 2018 Ohio Sires Stakes (OSS) legs, finals and consolations.

Ohio Kaltenbach Memorial Award winning trainer of the year, Brian Brown. USTA Photo.

Brown’s hefty assortment of 2- and 3-year-old pacers and trotters—which he conditions at Delaware, OH during the spring and summer months and in south Florida during the wintertime—earned $1,075,850 from 18 wins, 20 seconds and ten third-place finishes. It was fitting for Brown, who was the runner-up to 2017 Kaltenbach-winning trainer Chris Beaver.

This year, it was New Jersey-based trainer Ronnie Burke who finished second among all OSS conditioners, with $953,150 in earnings from 78 starters with 11 wins, 13 seconds and 12 thirds. Chris Beaver was third in the OSS training standings, with 65 starters who finished first ten times, along with 9 second-place and 14 third-place finishers, who earned $491,250.

Urbana, OH-based trainer Kimberly Daily finished fourth with $283,450 earned in OSS events from 38 starters, seven winners, three second-place finishers and seven third-place check getters. Canadian conditioners Jason McGinnis and Robert McIntosh were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the OSS final trainers’ tally. McGinnis sent 25 horses postward with seven wins, four seconds and a trio of thirds for earnings of $259,100, while McIntosh had four wins and one second in five starts for earnings of $207,500.

Sixteen trainers had OSS contestants who posted earnings of $100,000 or more with six conditioners training winners who earned $200,000 or higher.

Driver Ronnie Wrenn captured the 2018 Kaltenbach Award for leading driver. Conrad Photo.

Ronnie Wrenn, Jr., captured the 2018 Kaltenbach Award for leading driving in OSS competition for the second time in his career, having earned the honor in 2015. Wrenn, Jr., notched $987,500 in OSS earnings from steering 96 starters to 21 wins, 16 seconds and 12 third-place finishes.

North America’s leading driver and record-setter Aaron Merriman finished second with 19 wins, 15 seconds and 16 thirds in 99 starts with earnings of $963,900 for his efforts. Last year’s Kaltenbach winner, Chris Page, finished third this year with 16 wins, 18 seconds and ten thirds from 93 starters who earned $937,100 in OSS events.

Danny Noble picked up fourth-place honors in the OSS driver standings, with 15 wins, five seconds and 11 thirds from 67 starters who earned $523,750, while Tony Hall’s mounts earned $437,700 from six wins, three seconds and two thirds in 46 tries. Ryan Stahl was the only other driver to pilot the winners of more than $400,000 with $433,950 earned from seven wins, eight seconds and eight thirds in 60 starts.

Of the 73 drivers who participated in the 2018 OSS events, 60 garnered at least one check with 17 driving the winners of $100,000 or more, while a full 12 drove horses who earned $200,000 or more.

In the 30 years the Kaltenbachs have been awarded, David Miller leads all drivers with seven trophies. In the training ranks, Virgil Morgan, Jr., has captured the title six times. Only two horsemen have won the Kaltenbachs in both the training and driving categories—Sam “Chip” Noble, III and Dave Rankin.

The Jerry Kaltenbach Memorial Trophies were established in 1988—named in honor of one of the Ohio Sires Stakes’ founding fathers—and are awarded annually to the driver and trainer who have earned the most dollars competing in OSS events.

Kaltenbach Memorial Award Winners 1988 -2018

Driver                    Earnings        Year         Trainer                    Earnings

Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.   $987,500         2018         Brian Brown             $1,075,850

Chris Page              $849,100        2017         Chris Beaver             $782,200
Chris Page              $1,482,300     2016         Jim Dailey                 $908,300
Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.   $858,350        2015         Martin Wollam           $490,500
Chris Page              $743,650        2014         Ron Burke                $428,750
Dan Noble              $416,500        2013         Jim Dailey                $319,850
Kayne Kauffman     $204,268        2012         Martin Wollam           $205,413
Ryan Stahl             $300,532        2011         Martin Wollam           $149,997
Ryan Stahl             $219,647        2010         Jim Arledge Jr.           $160,240
Dan Noble              $238,173        2009         Jim Dailey                 $247,380
Sam Noble III         $255,500        2008         Jim Dailey                 $205,400
Ryan Stahl             $383,311        2007          Michael Medors         $209,025
Brett Miller             $584,800        2006          Virgil Morgan Jr.        $332,700
Brett Miller             $667,800        2005          Virgil Morgan Jr.        $416,600
Brett Miller             $629,140        2004          Virgil Morgan Jr.        $310,255
David Hawk            $399,011        2003          Virgil Morgan Jr.        $318,167
Brett Miller             $565,802        2002          Michael Medors          $315,369
David Hawk            $655,600        2001          Michael Medors          $283,225
David Hawk            $643,650        2000          Virgil Morgan Jr.        $266,225
David Hawk            $459,100        1999          Virgil Morgan Jr.        $213,495
David Miller            $543,869        1998          Sam Noble III           $174,257
David Miller            $463,002        1997          Jeff Cox                    $138,597
David Miller            $401,277        1996          Jim Arledge Jr.          $140,437
David Miller            $466,335        1995          Tom Brinkerhoff        $162,605
David Miller            $537,739        1994          Ron Potter                $132,431
David Miller            $339,179        1993          Sam Noble III           $164,139
David Miller            $288,852        1992          Doug Hinklin             $194,168
Ray Paver Jr.          $293,334        1991          Debbie Paver            $154,726
Dave Rankin           $264,384        1990          Dave Rankin             $172,972
Sam Noble III         $223,955        1989          Steve Brannan          $156,136
Joe Adamsky           $185,303       1988          Beth Dailey               $135,230