News
Deaton Wins First Training Title
Mark Deaton earned his first Hoosier Park training title Saturday, July 11 as the 16th season of Standardbred racing came to a close at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino. Deaton scored 39 wins throughout the 80-day race meet to top Ron Burke, who finished second with 38 wins.
A native of southern Ohio, the Deaton Stable has fared well at Hoosier Park over the past seven years, turning in his best performance in 2008 with a top five finish. He has 30-40 horses in training at all times, spreading his stable out between Hoosier Park’s backstretch and nearby Crimson Lane Farm training center.
“I kept the racehorses at Hoosier Park and we have 10 babies, so I kept them at Crimson Lane during the meet,” said Deaton. “I raced a lot of horses here this year, so that combined with good owners and good help made the difference.”
Although Deaton has a mixture of horses under his care, his real concentration is the claiming ranks.
“I like the claimers,” said Deaton. “I like the action, and I like to race.”
Deaton has more than 1,000 career training wins. In addition to his title at Hoosier Park, he has also garnered top billing at Lebanon Raceway and won the title at Indiana Downs last fall. He’s also been second a few times in the standings at Northfield Park.
“I’m very fortunate to have a good group of people working for me,” said Deaton. “We are pretty much a team. They’ve worked for me a long time and we are pretty much like a family.” Deaton heads to Indiana Downs for the remainder of the 2009 racing season in Indiana.
