Having surpassed Dale Baird on August 7, 2021, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen is already the leading trainer in the history of North American Thoroughbred racing, and he enters this racing week with 9,997 career wins.
“The record was on my mind, to be the winningest,” Asmussen admitted. “That's never over. A milestone like 10,000 will feel like when Curlin became the first North American racehorse to go over $10 million (in earnings). You'll always be the first to ever hit that digit.”
At the age of 57 and with his operation going as strong as ever, it's tough to envision Asmussen's record ever being broken.
“You would find it hard to believe, but there is the outside possibility that it could happen,” Asmussen said. “As hard as it is to win the next one, I am in awe of it (reaching 10,000). Getting races to 'go' is hard enough, let alone actually winning one. A friend of mine told me that 10,000 wins calculates to a win a day for 27 straight years. A lot of credit goes to the consistency and quality of my help. Assistants like Scott Blasi and Darren Fleming.”
Asmussen was born in Gettysburg, South Dakota, but he's called Laredo, Texas home since the age of two.
“I was hoping I could do it (reach the milestone) at Sam Houston, but it's impossible to time that,” he said. “My mom (Marilyn) wants to be there for it and she follows my racing better than I do. How do you even know? There is also a chance that my son Keith could win it for us at Oaklawn. If that happened, it would be like divine intervention. If I had to predict, I think it will happen either Friday or Saturday of this week and I've got nice horses in, so it will be fun.”
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