With just about two weekend to go in this year’s annual “Summer Fest” at Ellis Park, the race for the “Trainer’s Title” really, truthfully, honestly couldn’t be much tighter.

After this weekend’s affairs, trainer Steve Asmussen edged in front of Brad Cox in the amount of purses won by a whopping $410.  That’s right.  Four hundred. Ten dollars.

Right now, Asmussen’s horses have earned a total of $418,142, while Cox’s horses have bankrolled $418,002.

Actually, Cox holds a one race win advantage over Asmussen, with 15 winner’s circle pictures compared to 14. And, one could argue — with merit — that Cox has had the better met.  After all, Cox has saddled a total of 40 horses this meet, while Asmussen and assistants have sent a total of 88 to the post.

But, when all is said and done, it truly is the amount of purses earned that means the most.  Or, it is what spends the best.

Here’s a closer look at the Trainers’ List so far through this meet:

1 Steven M. Asmussen 88 — 14 17 12 $418,142 16% 49%
2 Brad H. Cox 40 — 15 7 2 $418,002 38% 60%
3 Ian R. Wilkes 35 — 5 8 5 $202,789 14% 51%
4 Kenneth G. McPeek 32 — 6 5 5 $171,280 19% 50%
5 Jack C. Van Berg 26 — 9 6 0 $148,359 35% 58%
6 Dale L. Romans 30 — 4 3 3 $141,007 13% 33%
7 William B. Bradley 37 — 6 5 7 $131,933 16% 49%
8 William H. Fires 29 — 5 3 2 $118,287 17% 34%
9 Chris A. Hartman 18 — 5 4 1 $107,366 28% 56%
10 Ron Moquett 31 — 4 6 5 $98,585 13% 48%
11 Gregory D. Foley 17 — 5 0 4 $85,197 29% 53%
12 J. R. Caldwell 31 — 6 5 6 $83,585 19% 55%
13 Bernard S. Flint 15 — 3 3 6 $73,000 20% 80%
14 George R. Arnold, II 13 — 2 1 3 $71,348 15% 46%
15 Neil J. Howard 9 — 2 2 0 $70,930 22% 44%
16 Victoria H. Oliver 18 — 2 2 0 $70,452 11% 22%
17 Philip A. Sims 7 — 2 1 1 $64,912 29% 57%
18 Brendan P. Walsh 14 — 1 3 2 $62,738 7% 43%
19 Ben Colebrook 23 — 3 0 2 $59,188 13% 22%
20 John A. Hancock 46 — 3 2 2 $57,833 7% 15%
21 Michael J. Maker 17 — 3 2 1 $57,779 18% 35%
22 Thomas M. Amoss 11 — 2 2 2 $55,510 18% 55%
23 Joe Sharp 16 — 2 3 0 $54,341 13% 31%
24 Eddie Kenneally 11 — 2 0 0 $53,657 18% 18%
25 Jose G. Castanon 18 — 3 2 3 $52,694 17% 44%