Scott Lake becomes sixth trainer to reach 6,000 wins
Scott Lake became the sixth trainer in Thoroughbred history to win 6,000 races Monday when the Pennsylvania-bred 3-year-old filly I’m the Talent won her debut in the fifth race at Parx Racing.
The other members of the 6,000 club are the late Dale Baird (9,445 wins), Steve Asmussen (8,404), Jerry Hollendorfer (7,596), the late Jack Van Berg (6,523), and King Leatherbury (6,501).
“I had a flight to Ocala today, but I canceled it because I absolutely loved this filly,” Lake said. “And then I got to the track and all of the people kept coming up to me. I was feeling the pressure. I thought, ‘I should have gotten on the plane.’
“When you look at the guys ahead of me, Van Berg and Asmussen, this really means the world to me. It is for the owners who have been with me all these years and for my help, who have always been at my side.”
Lake, the son of a police officer, grew up in Harrisburg, Pa. He went to work at nearby Penn National in his teens and started training in 1987 at age 22. His stable took off in 1999 after he shifted to Philadelphia Park, now Parx Racing.
Lake won 400 races or more seven times between 2001 and 2008. He led North American horsemen by wins in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2006 and was the second-winningest trainer behind Steve Asmussen six times between 2002 and 2009.
In 2006, Lake won 528 races, becoming only the second trainer in history to reach the 500 mark in a single year.
Lake, 54, cut back the size of his operation in 2010. The stable had gotten too big and he was having financial problems after his accountant stole more than $1 million from him.
Lake said at one point he had 287 horses in training at seven different racetracks. He currently has about 70 horses that this summer will be split between Parx and Delaware Park.
Lake is the all-time winningest trainer at Parx and won seven consecutive training titles at Delaware Park from 2002 to 2008. He tied for the top spot again in 2017.
Lake has had 28,149 starters in his career and has a lifetime win average of 21 percent. So far this year he is clicking at 19 percent with 39 wins from 205 starters.
Lake actually has 6,017 career wins but 17 came with Arabians at Delaware Park.
"I was training for Richard Englander and he had Arabians with Scott Hansen,” Lake said. “When he took those horses from Hansen, he said 'I've got a big favor to ask,' and I knew he wanted me to take the Arabians.
"My two Grade 1 wins are both with Arabians."
Lake’s best Thoroughbreds include Thunderello, runner-up in the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Sprint; Shake You Down, winner of the Grade 2 True North, Grade 3 Smile Sprint, and Grade 3 Count Fleet; My Cousin Matt, winner of the Grade 2 General George; Leave It to Beezer, winner of the Grade 3 Salvator Mile and Grade 3 Baltimore Breeders’ Cup; Don Six, winner of the Grade 3 Gravesend; and True to Tradition, winner of the Grade 2 Nearctic.
Lake claimed True to Tradition, Leave it to Beezer, My Cousin Matt, and Shake You Down.