Far and wide, nobody wins more races than Broberg

In just six years as a trainer, Karl Broberg has made a substantial impact on racing. He led all trainers in wins in North America for the second year in a row in 2015, and for the new year, he has divisions of his stable at five different tracks in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas.

Broberg through Tuesday had racked up 419 wins in 2015. The second-leading trainer in wins was Todd Pletcher with 266. Broberg had 1,384 starters through Tuesday, with the stable earning $6,207,684. The wins and earnings marks were career highs for Broberg, who in 2014 won 325 races for stable earnings of $5,472,808.

For the 45-year-old Broberg, the achievement of leading all trainers in wins for two straight years is not that far removed from his initial training win. It came on Nov. 7, 2009, at Retama Park. Since then, the objective has been to top the win charts.

“That was a goal for us from Day 1,” Broberg said. “The big horse is going to come around once in a while, but obviously that was not going to be the focal point. We were going to have a lot of claiming horses and a lot of them lower level. The operation’s goal from Day 1 was to see if we could lead the nation in wins at some point. We realized it.”

Aside from firepower in the form of a large number of competitive horses, it also takes personal drive to put up the numbers Broberg achieved in 2015. At present, he is overseeing divisions of his stable at Delta Downs, Fair Grounds, Oaklawn, Sam Houston Race Park, and Sunland.

“You have to be 100 percent committed to it,” Broberg said. “And you have to have a ton of great staff.”

Broberg also continuously sets goals, with one long-range objective to surpass Steve Asmussen’s record for training wins in a year in North America. It is 650, set in 2009.

“I don’t know how Asmussen did it,” Broberg said. “We’ve got a long ways go. We are eventually shooting for 651.”

Broberg, like Asmussen, is a resident of Arlington, Texas. Broberg was born in Chicago and grew up going to Arlington Park with his father. He first owned horses before turning to training as a profession. Broberg also operates a small specialty advertising business he founded before his racing ventures. It is based in Texas.

Broberg’s memorable 2015 got off to something of a rocky start last January when he lost the best horse in his barn, Heitai. The sprinter, who has surpassed $1 million in earnings, was transferred to another trainer.

“It motivated you real quick, [losing] the one horse responsible for 10 percent of the earnings for the whole stable,” said Broberg.

But the year wound up holding many high points for Broberg. He won training titles at Delta Downs, Lone Star Park, Evangeline Downs, Louisiana Downs, and Remington Park.

Broberg’s top trainees included Diva’s Diamond, the runner-up to champion Untapable in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap who last summer successfully defended her title in the Iowa Distaff. Quick Dagger won four of five starts for Broberg, among them the $75,000 Turf Express at Evangeline by a head after a dogfight with Heitai. The five-furlong race run on firm turf went in a blazing 55.29 seconds.

“That was a big win,” said Broberg.

Broberg said another high point was winning his first Remington training title on Dec. 13. He said his family moved to Oklahoma when he was a teenager, and as a young man, he made regular trips from his home in Tulsa, Okla., to the races at Remington, located in Oklahoma City.

For the new year, Broberg is branching out. He has set up shop at Sunland for the first time and will be sending a full division of horses to Prairie Meadows.

“We’re looking forward to Prairie Meadows this spring,” Broberg said. “We put a toe in the water last year and plan to make it a focal point this year.”

Broberg also has Diva’s Diamond on deck for the Grade 3, $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 30 at Sam Houston, while recent Fair Grounds stakes winner Taylors Angiel is eyeing the track’s Groovy Stakes.