‘His Next Win, He Goes By Me’: Keith Asmussen Chasing Hall Of Fame Father’s Riding Milestone

Hall of Fame trainer and North American all-time wins leader Steve Asmussen will be chasing more milestones during the 2023-2024 Oaklawn meeting that opens Friday.

Asmussen is also being chased by his son.

Jockey Keith Asmussen has 63 career victories, matching his father's career riding total in 1982-1984, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization.

The passing of the whip could come quickly since Keith Asmussen is named on 13 horses Friday and Saturday at Oaklawn, including 10, fittingly, trained by his father.

“That's funny as hell,” Steve Asmussen said. “We're tied. His next win, he goes by me.”

Steve Asmussen turned to training after he became too heavy to ride. Keith Asmussen, 25, launched his full-time riding career in late 2022 after earning a master's degree in professional accounting earlier in the year from the University of Texas' McCombs School of Business.

Keith Asmussen has 56 victories this year. He rode six winners in 2020 and one in 2022 before his breakout performance last season at Oaklawn. Asmussen rode 25 winners to finish ninth in the standings and now looks to one up the man who has strongly supported his riding career.

“I'll pass him,” Keith Asmussen said with a laugh.

Keith Asmussen's post-Oaklawn highlights included a November to remember. He rode Private Creed for the first time and guided the millionaire turf standout to a Nov. 9 allowance victory at Churchill Downs and recorded his biggest career victory aboard Ryvit in the $300,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes Nov. 20 at Mahoning Valley. Both horses are trained by Steve Asmussen.

“(Private Creed) is by far the best horse I've ever been on and I had been around the horse since he was a 2-year-old, when I was still galloping, before I was even riding,” Keith Asmussen said.

Keith Asmussen won three races last season at Oaklawn aboard Ryvit, including the $150,000 Bachelor Stakes, and is scheduled to ride him in Saturday's $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes.

“Obviously, very excited,” Keith Asmussen said. “I think the horse is doing very well. Looking forward to the opportunity.”

The Bachelor was Keith Asmussen's first career Oaklawn stakes victory.

During the 2022-2023 Oaklawn meeting, Steve Asmussen became the first trainer to reach 10,000 career North American victories and surpassed the late Bob Holthus to become Oaklawn's all-time winningest trainer. Steve Asmussen (995) is now poised to reach 1,000 career victories as a trainer and owner at Oaklawn. He has 876 victories as a trainer and 119 as an owner.

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Steve Asmussen-Trained Otto The Conqueror Favored Over Eight Rivals For Springboard Mile

The $300,000 Springboard Mile, Remington Park's top stakes event for 2-year-olds, drew a field of nine. A trio of runners are barely separated for morning-line favoritism in the headliner on Friday, Dec. 15.

The Springboard Mile is a qualifying points race for the 2024 Kentucky Derby and headlines a 10-race program with five other stakes races. The Dec. 15 card will start at 5pm-Central.

Otto The Conqueror is the slight morning-line favorite at 5-2 odds from the barn of horse racing's all-time leading trainer, Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. The 2-year-old colt by Street Sense from the Shackleford mare Dream It Is has won two consecutive races at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Both wins came at seven furlongs with the last over a sloppy surface on Oct. 29. In that allowance event, Otto The Conqueror defeated Honor Marie by four lengths. Honor Marie went on to win the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill on Nov. 25.

Owned by Three Chimneys Farm of Midway, Ky., Otto The Conqueror will be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione who was up in the Oct. 29 allowance triumph.

Raging Torrent will ship to Remington Park from Southern California and is expected to arrive on Monday, Dec. 11. Trainer Doug O'Neill has already won the Kentucky Derby twice – with Nyquist in 2016 and with I'll Have Another in 2012. Raging Torrent is the second-choice in the morning-line odds at 3-1 and has been entered to go with a blinkers off equipment change.

Owned by Great Friends Stables and Mark Davis, Raging Torrent broke his maiden at first asking in July at Del Mar near San Diego. O'Neill immediately entered him in his first graded stakes race, the Grade 3, $200,000 Best Pal Stakes, in which he finished third, beaten 8-3/4 lengths. That didn't deter O'Neill's and his owners' confidence in the colt. Raging Torrent came back to race in two Grade 1s – the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity and the American Pharoah. He finished fourth in both of those, adding blinkers in the latter race. Jockey Antonio Fresu is the only rider to handle Raging Torrent to this point and will come in to ride him in the Springboard as well.

Glengarry will travel to Oklahoma City from Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. to make his Springboard attempt. He is the third-choice in the morning-line at 7-2 odds. Undefeated through three starts, Glengarry is owned by Iowa residents Aaron Kennedy and Toby Joseph and trainer Doug Anderson. He broke his maiden by 5-3/4 lengths at first asking on Aug. 28 at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. Glengarry followed up the first race with an even more impressive victory by 12-3/4 lengths on Sept. 30 in the $100,000 Iowa Cradle Stakes.

Jockey Ken Tohill was in the saddle for the first two wins. His third trip to the winner's circle was only by a half-length but may have been his most impressive thus far. It came at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., against open company in the $200,000 Bowman Mill Stakes with jockey Luis Saez taking over for Tohill. In three starts, Glengarry has earned $177,501 from his three wins, both tops in the Springboard field. Saez will keep the mount on Glengarry.

Magic Grant is the top local stakes winner in the Springboard by virtue of his score in the $75,000 Clever Trevor Stakes at Remington Park on Oct. 27. Trained by Eddie Milligan, Jr., the colt broke his maiden in winning the Clever Trevor. Richard Eramia keeps the mount on Magic Grant who is 8-1 in the morning-line.

The Springboard Mile field, by post position and program order, with trainer, jockey and morning-line odds:

  1. Fidget: Brad Cox, Marcelino Pedroza, Jr., 8-1
  2. My Buddy Mel: Danny Pish, Jermaine Bridgmohan, 20-1
  3. Gettysburg Address: Brad Cox, Flavien Prat, 6-1
  4. Magic Grant: Eddie Milligan, Jr., Richard Eramia, 8-1
  5. Glengarry: Doug Anderson, Luis Saez, 7-2
  6. Raging Torrent: Doug O'Neill, Antonio Fresu, 3-1
  7. Rhino Runner: Sean Williams, Stewart Elliott, 20-1
  8. Otto The Conqueror: Steve Asmussen, Tyler Gaffalione, 5-2
  9. Third Street: Shawn Davis, Jose Alvarez, 20-1

The Springboard Mile is the 10th and final race on the Dec. 15 card that has stakes races for the final six events. Stakes action prior to the Springboard Mile includes:

Race 5 – $50,000 Useeit Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile, OK-breds.

Race 6 – $50,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile, OK-breds.

Race 7 – $75,000 Trapeze Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile.

Race 8 – $75,000 She's All In Stakes, fillies and mare, 3 and older, 1 mile-70 yards

Race 9 – 475,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial, 3 and older, 1 mile-70 yards.

Remington Park racing continues this week, Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 7-9, with the first race at 7:07pm-Central.

Remington Park has provided more than $340 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park is home to the Springboard Mile, a Kentucky Derby points-qualifying race, on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Parking and admission are always free. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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Group 1 Winner Sibelius Aiming For Mr. Prospector Repeat

Jun Park and Delia Nash's Sibelius, who capped a three-race win streak in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in March, is being pointed to a return to where it all began in the $125,000 Mr. Prospector (G3) Dec. 23 at Gulfstream Park.

“That's the target right now,” trainer Jerry O'Dwyer said of the 5-year-old Sibelius, who has posted four timed works since mid-November on the main track at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.

In his most recent, Sibelius went five furlongs in 1:01.90 Dec. 3, second-fastest of six horses on the day.

“We brought him back down here a couple months back, six weeks anyway, gave him a bit of a freshening and put him back on the work tab,” O'Dwyer said. “I'm pretty happy with him. He's doing well. He's been breezing away and we're going to aim him for the Mr. Prospector.”

Sibelius, a gelded son of Not This Time, became a stakes winner last fall in the Lite the Fuse at Pimlico Race Course, then ran fourth in the Phoenix (G2) at Keeneland and second in the Bet on Sunshine at Churchill Downs before his 2 ¼-length triumph in the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector over subsequent Grade 3 winner Dean Delivers.

“He kind of announced himself in the race last year and then he kept peaking after that, that's for sure,” O'Dwyer said. “We're hoping we can do the same. Like any horse, you're learning from him as much as they're learning from you. If we can get him to peak at the right time again, we'll be more than happy.”

Sibelius kicked off 2023 with a stakes-record victory in the Pelican at Tampa Bay Downs before heading overseas for the Golden Shaheen. Sibelius and jockey Ryan Moore rallied up the rail to move past leaders Hopkins and Gunite in the stretch and hold off defending champion Switzerland to win by a nose. It was the third graded win for O'Dwyer, who also won the 2019 Remsen (G2) with Shotski.

Since the Golden Shaheen Sibelius has raced three times, finishing fourth in the June 30 Aristides, seventh in the July 29 Bing Crosby (G1) at Del Mar and fifth in his return to the Phoenix Oct. 6, where he was beaten six lengths by subsequent Cigar Mile (G2) winner Hoist the Gold.

“He's a very straightforward horse,” O'Dwyer said. “We're going to try to repeat what we did last year by going to the Mr. Prospector and then probably to Tampa and then hopefully back to Dubai, where he flourished. Those are the three spots we have picked out right now.”

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Ohio Stallion Season Auction To Take Place December 14-15

The Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners is pleased to announce its annual “Select Stallion Season Auction,” Dec. 14-15 with previews Dec. 12-13.

The link to the catalog can be found here.

This year the OTBO is featuring a super group of select stallions specifically chosen from some of the best farms in the country. The OTBO picked these farms for the outstanding quality of their stallions combined with the absolute professional manner that each farm demonstrates when working with all our successful bidders.

The OTBO wants the experience to be a winning one for everyone involved. Bidders are encourages to look at the listings and make plans accordingly. Please also note that in many cases there is access to additional seasons if you would like to really take advantage of some great options.

Thank you to all these great farms and bidders. Your tremendous support allows the OTBO to provide needed help and services to as many horse people as possible throughout the areas it serves.

For more information please contact the OTBO at (330) 356-8350 or visit otbo.com.

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