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With Win at Saratoga, Asmussen Moves Past Baird for Record

Steve Asmussen entered Saturday with 13 chances to pass Dale Baird to become the winningest North American trainer of all time. He needed just one.

With his first starter on the day, Asmussen moved into sole possession of first place with a win from first-time-starter Stellar Tap (Tapit) in the fifth race at Saratoga, a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds. It was the 9,446th win in a career that began quietly in 1986 at Ruidoso Downs in a race worth $2,600.

The win came for Winchell Thoroughbreds, who owns the colt along with L and N Racing LLC. Perhaps no owners have had a greater impact on Asmussen's career than the Winchells, who break their babies at the Texas training center owned by Asmussen's parents, Keith and Marilyn, and have supplied Asmussen with a number of top horses, including Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}). Ricardo Santana, Jr. was the winning rider.

“I know how much this means to me and everyone in the family as well as the barn,” Asmussen said. “And it unfolded and happened on Whitney Day at Saratoga with a 2-year-old who came through Mom and Dad's program in Laredo that is owned by the Winchells. God is great and continues to bless us.”

“Congratulations to Steve on a well deserved accomplishment,” Ron Winchell said. “He has earned every bit of it. His attention to detail is remarkable and reflective in the results. The attention to detail, coupled with a near photographic memory, makes him a lethal competitor.”

Asmussen is the younger brother of Cash Asmussen, who enjoyed a standout career as a jockey, primarily in Europe, and grew up alongside his brother learning the business from their parents.

“To say congratulations does not sound like enough,” he said. “So I will live showing you my love and respect, as a brother, as a man, as a horseman. That is a start to saying how proud I am for you.”

Minutes after the race, Asmussen was still emotional, thanking not just his family but a sport that has given him so much.

“We are so blessed to be in horse racing,” he said. “Thanks to the amazing horses we have had and thanks for everything we have learned from every single one of them. They've made the Asmussen family possible. What an amazing sport to be in. I've said this before, it's amazing what a horse can do to make you feel good about yourself. What a blessing.”

Asmussen was born in Gettysburg, South Dakota, but grew up in Texas. His parents did a little bit of everything in racing but are best known for running a training center in Laredo, where they have prepared numerous top horses for the races. Growing up in a racing family and learning from top horsepeople in his parents, he was born to be a horse trainer. From an early age, he worked for his parents, who, Asmussen says, had a work ethic that is unmatched. Asmussen has always credited them with giving him the foundation he needed to be successful.

“They did things with a passion,” he said. “They always supported me and Cash and that made all of this possible. I've said it before and it's the truth, we are simply an extension of my mom and dad. I plan on continuing on doing things the way they taught us and with the same amount of passion and effort.

“Anybody who has ever been around my father knows he is the greatest horsemen there is. I was blessed to be in a position where I was able to witness this on a daily basis. They demanded work from me. You show up and you take care of what you are supposed to take care of. Don't do anything you can't sign your name to and always pay attention to every detail. None of it was easy but everyone was passionate and you did everything you did as hard as you could all the time and not some of the time. That's the way it ought to be.”

Asmussen started out as a jockey and rode 63 winners. In 1986, he went out on his own as a trainer and did not get off to a good start. He won just one race in 1986 and his stable earned all of $2,324. Asmussen didn't hit his stride until the late 90s. He won 120 races in 1999 and never looked back. His exploits include a single-season record 650 wins in 2009.

His operation, which has included Grade I winners, Horses of the Year and innumerable $5,000 claimers running at C-level tracks, became so potent over the years that it became apparent that Baird's record was well within his reach. Baird, who won the vast majority of his races at Waterford Park, now known as Mountaineer Park, died in 2007, the result of a car accident.

When asked what the Steve Asmussen of 1986 would say to the Asmussen of 2021, he replied: “I can't believe it took you so long. You can't imagine how much you want to do this and how much it is in you. Let's keep it up. We better not be done winning today. It's Whitney Day. We need to win.”

Considering that Asmussen is just 55 and that there are far fewer races available around the country now as there were only 10 years ago, he figures to put together a career win total that will never be matched. An upcoming goal might be 10,000 winners. He can also begin the chase to catch trainer Juan Suarez. Based in Peru, Suarez, as of Aug. 5, had 9,897 winners.

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Asmussen Breaks Baird’s Record, Becomes North America’s Winningest Trainer

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen broke the North American record for wins by a trainer, passing Dale Baird's record of 9,445 with Stellar Tap's win Saturday in the fifth race at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. With that win, Asmussen stands at 9,446 wins over his thirty-five-year career.

The son of trainers Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, the Hall of Famer started his career as a jockey at age 16, switching to training after growing too large for riding professionally. As a trainer, he won his first race with Victory's Halo at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico in 1986, getting his first stakes race victory with Scout Command in the Bessemer Stakes at the Birmingham Race Course the following year. Asmussen's first Grade 1 win came in 1999 with Dreams Gallore in the Mother Goose at Belmont Park.

The trainer steadily grew his stable over the first decade of his career, logging his first 100-win season in 1995. In 2009, Asmussen posted the single-season win record of 650, also winning the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer that year. With a stable that spans multiple racetracks, the Texas native has won races at all levels, from Saratoga to Lone Star Park to Ellis Park and beyond.

In addition to the record as North America's all-time winningest trainer, Asmussen has won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer twice (2008, 2009); two of the three Triple Crown classics, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes; and six Breeders' Cup races, including two wins in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016.

“How fitting to do this with a 2-year-old owned by the Winchells and who came through Mom and Dad's farm in Laredo and on Whitney Day? I was definitely blessed,” Asmussen said after the race. “To be surrounded by people you love and who love you, and you have a common goal, it's impossible to put into words what horse racing means to me and my whole family and to all the employees. They're family and they know so and are treated as such.”

“I'm very proud of where I came from and don't ever want to forget it. It makes you who you are. I love to be able to share this with my parents,” the Hall of Fame trainer told the NYRA Press Office.

With this record-breaking win, Asmussen moves into the top spot all-time, ahead of Dale Baird, who passed away in 2007. The first trainer to win 7,000, then 8,000, and finally 9,000 wins, Baird's 9,445 victories came primarily at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia, where the trainer owned a farm. Behind Baird, third all-time, is Jerry Hollendorfer with 7,694 wins.

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Asmussen Equals Baird’s All-Time Record With Win No. 9,445

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen tied the late Dale Baird as North America's winningest thoroughbred trainer as long-time client Mike McCarty's 4-year-old colt Shanghai's Dream captured the sixth race Friday at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky.

The victory was the 9,445th (out of 45,905 starts) for Asmussen in a career that officially began with a ninth-place finish by Track Ambassador in a $2,100 maiden race at Ruidoso Downs on June 5, 1986.

Earlier in the afternoon, Asmussen won Saratoga's fourth race as Jalen Journey romped by 8 1/2 lengths. Jalen Journey and Shanghai's Dream were the only two horses the barn ran Friday. They have three in at Ellis Park on Saturday, along with six at Saratoga, two at Louisiana Downs and three at Monmouth Park.

Asmussen watched the Ellis Park simulcast from Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York, surrounded by his family and a media gaggle, as Shanghai's Dream rallied from last of five under Rafael Bejarano for the landmark-matching triumph to beat 43-1 shot Orient Magic by three-quarters of a length.

Steve Asmussen watched the historic win from Saratoga

“That's how I feel about it, it was meant to be,” Asmussen, a four-time Ellis Park leading trainer, said by phone. “Unbelievably significant win to me and the family. To be able to share the lead-up, getting close, all of the unbelievable support I've had and the well wishes, to be able to get to 9,445 — which we've strived for quite some time — to be surrounded by family, what could be better?

“We had a winner in the fourth race at Saratoga to get one away. And then obviously the only other horse today ties the record, and we have several chances tomorrow to stand alone, so to speak.”

Including at Ellis Park.

Shanghai's Dream gets the job done under Rafael Bejarano, giving Steve Asmussen career win No. 9,445

Asmussen is running second-choice Archidust in Saturday's Ellis finale, the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Sprint and Stillchargingmaria in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks as Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Weekend kicks off. He also has a horse running in a non-stakes race on the undercard.

“We have two good chances in the stakes, so we'll see what we can do,” Asmussen said.

On Sunday, the last of his five Ellis entrants is Henley's Joy in the $125,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Cup.

Darren Fleming, who is overseeing Asmussen's Ellis operation this summer, has worked for the trainer since 1994. He says his long-time boss and friend — Asmussen named one of his sons Darren for Fleming — is just making good on a vow made even before then.

“We were talking at lunch and he said he wanted to be the best,” said Fleming, who was working in the Louisiana Downs racing office at the time, before he began working for Asmussen. “He was going to be the best and win the most ever.”

And Fleming thought?

“Hmm. Me, too,” he said with a laugh. “We were kids back then. But he had that goal, and he usually got done what he said he was going to get done… I don't think he's changed much. He was exactly the same when he was young. Like everything mattered, was regimented, wanted it done this way. He had the same ideas back then. I think he honed them a lot and improved a lot.”

Asmussen remembers that conversation in the early 1990s, saying, “Darren told his wife, 'He'll do it or he'll die trying.' I didn't know if that was a compliment or not.”

Fleming reflects that it was probably around 5,000 wins that he started thinking Asmussen could surpass Baird. “When the numbers got up there, and you thought it was attainable,” he said. “Then every year it got closer.”

After the race, Fleming said: “It's nice that it happened in Kentucky. I mean, he's done a lot of good here and it's been good to him.”

What did Asmussen say when they spoke by phone immediately after the race? “He said, 'Now I can go to Disneyland,'” Fleming reported.

Longtime assistant Darren Fleming holds the sign commemorating Steve Asmussen's record-tying win

Asmussen said it was fitting that his long-time assistant saddled the horse that matched the mark, given how much he relies on key assistants such as Fleming and Scott Blasi.

“The significance of it is that we do this collectively, and we do it as hard as we can at every level,” said Asmussen, the all-time winningest trainer at Churchill Downs. “I think that is extremely important. For anybody to think it's easy to win races at lesser places ought to try it – jump right in. Growing up running horses in south Texas, starting out in New Mexico at mixed meets, I honestly believe that being tied with Dale Baird and reaching 9,445 is so significant to me because I realize how hard it is to win any horse race.

“We'll celebrate this as a family for quite some time. It's a wonderful feeling to achieve this, and to be surrounded by people that love you.”

Turf writer Jennie Rees interviewed Asmussen when he was 11 wins shy of Dale Baird. Watch below:

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Amussen Ties Baird, Has 14 in Saturday

With a perfect two-for-two day Friday, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen picked up career wins 9,444 and 9,445. That moved him into a tie with Dale Baird, the King of Waterford Park, for the most wins of all-time by a North American-based trainer.

Asmussen began his day with a win at Saratoga, taking home the honors in the fourth race with Jalen Journey (With Distinction), who was sent off at 3-1 in the allowance/optional claimer. About 1 hour and 45 minutes later and about 940 miles southwest of Saratoga, the trainer drew even with Baird when Shanghai's Dream (Shanghai Bobby) won a $30,000 claimer at Ellis Park. The colt was 2-1 and closed from last to win by three-quarters of a length under Rafael Bejarano.

“That's how I feel about it, it was meant to be,” Asmussen told the Ellis notes team. “Unbelievably significant win to me and the family. To be able to share the lead-up, getting close, all of the unbelievable support I've had and the well wishes, to be able to get to 9,445-which we've strived for quite some time—to be surrounded by family, what could be better?”

Asmussen spent the day in Saratoga and these were his only two starters on the afternoon. Barring what would be nothing less than an extraordinarily bad day from one of the sport's most consistent barns, the record will fall on Saturday. Asmussen has 14 horses entered on the day in 13 races at four tracks.

He may, however, have to wait until later in the day to get the record. His first entrant is Under the Gun (Gun Runner) in the first at Saratoga, but the horse is entered for main track only. His next starters will come in the fifth at Saratoga, where he has two entered. The race is a seven-furlong maiden special weight for 2-year-olds and his starters are Vodka Mardini (Bernardini) and Stellar Tap (Tapit). Both are first-time starters. Stellar Tap is 5-1 in the morning line and Vodka Mardini is 8-1.

From there, it will get very busy. He will send out Classical Romance (Classic Empire) in a maiden special weight race at Monmouth for 2-year-old fillies. Next up will be the first at Louisiana Downs, where the Asmussen-trained Policy Limit (Bradester) is the 2-1 favorite in the line in the $5,000 claimer. From 4 pm (ET) on, he will have nine starters, one at Louisiana Downs, three at Saratoga, three at Ellis Park and two more at Monmouth Park. His starters include Silver State (Hard Spun), who will take a six-race winning streak into the GI Whitney S. at Saratoga.

When the record falls, it will come in Asmussen's 36th year as a trainer. He started slowly, going just 1-for-15 in his first year, 1986. His first winner of his career came with in a July 19, 1986 race at Ruidoso Downs that had a purse of $2,600. His father, Keith, was aboard that day for the win.

Baird's career ended in 2007 when he died in an automobile accident. Asmussen still trails Peruvian-trainer Juan Suarez, who, as of Aug. 5, had 9,897 winners.

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