Tag: Dale Baird

Another Milestone For Asmussen: 700 Career Wins At Oaklawn

Steve Asmussen became the second trainer to reach 700 career victories at Oaklawn when even-money favorite Swiftsure captured Saturday's seventh race at under Ricardo Santana Jr.

Asmussen entered the 2021 Oaklawn meeting that began Friday with 696 career victories at the Hot Springs, Ark., track. He saddled one winner Friday and added victories in Saturday's fourth race with favored Jalen Journey ($4.40) and sixth race, the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes, with favored Silver State ($3.80) before reaching the career milestone with Swiftsure ($4).

A two-time Eclipse Award winner (2008 and 2009) as the nation's outstanding trainer, Asmussen, 55, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016. He is seeking his record-tying 11th Oaklawn training title.

“Oaklawn's been unbelievably good to us,” Asmussen said. “I think it's propelled us to where we're at. The opportunity to run this quality of horse for a good amount of money – there's a lot of good people we work for to go out and continue to improve their stock. Everything feels like it's headed in the right direction.”

Asmussen started his first horse at Oaklawn in 1989 and saddled his first winner in Hot Springs Feb. 9, 1996 (Honest J). Asmussen recorded his first Oaklawn stakes victory the following day with Valid Expectations in the $50,000 Mountain Valley for 3-year-old sprinters. Valid Expectations, Asmussen's first nationally prominent runner, was ridden by older brother Cash Asmussen, an Eclipse Award-winning apprentice and champion jockey in France.

Steve Asmussen has at least one stakes victory every year in Hot Springs since 1996 and Silver State marked his Oaklawn-record 90thoverall. He set a single-season Oaklawn record for purse earnings in 2019 ($5,644,609). Asmussen, through Saturday, had started 3,408 horses in his Oaklawn career.

Some of Asmussen's top horses to run at Oaklawn include champions Curlin, Untapable, Gun Runner, Mitole and Midnight Bisou – all stakes winners in Hot Springs.

The late Bob Holthus is the only other trainer in Oaklawn history with 700 career victories. Holthus, a nine-time Oaklawn training champion, recorded more than 850 in Hot Springs.

“Am I second? Dang, I'm second in a lot of categories, aren't I?” Asmussen joked. “Second all-time in wins, second at Oaklawn in wins, second in money earned.”

Asmussen entered Sunday second in North American history career in purse earnings (more than $344 million), according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization, and second in career victories (9,159), including two with Curlin in the United Arab Emirates in 2008. Asmussen is projected to surpass the late Dale Baird (9,445) for career victories this fall. A former jockey, Asmussen had his first starter, and victory, in 1986.

“I promise you this,” Asmussen said. “I don't plan on stopping right on it (9,445), if that matters at all.”

Hall of Famer Henry Forrest (11) holds the record for most career Oaklawn training titles. Asmussen was Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. His 64 victories in 2019 is the second-highest single-season total in Oaklawn history.

Saturday's triple left Asmussen and Brad Cox (four victories) tied for the early lead in this year's Oaklawn standings. Both are finalists for an Eclipse Award as the country's outstanding trainer of 2020.

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Asmussen Reaches 9,000-Win Mark: ‘If It Wasn’t Important, They Wouldn’t Keep Stats’

Trainer Steve Asmussen became only the second trainer in thoroughbred racing history to win for the 9,000th time in his career, bringing home Troy Ounce in race two Friday night at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla.

“It's an awfully significant achievement,” said Asmussen. “I'm very proud, but as you know, it takes a tremendous effort from a lot of people who work for me. Will we celebrate? Heck, yeah! Every day from here on out.”

Asmussen needs 446 more victories to become the all-time winningest trainer in North American thoroughbred history. The current leader is the late Dale Baird, who went to the winner's circle 9,445 times in his career.

Asmussen had 433 wins last year and 400 the year before to put things into perspective. He has won more than 400 times in a year 10 times. His best year was 2009 when he won 650 races.

Asmussen runs multiple strings of horses at multiple tracks around the country, simultaneously. When asked how many people are employed under him he said, “I have no idea.”

Asmussen, a member of the National Racing Hall of Fame, won his first race in 1986 at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico as a 20-year-old. He said at that time he had no idea his career would blossom into what it has.

“Back then I was just worried about getting win number two,” he said. “That didn't come until the next year at Birmingham in Alabama.”

Since then Asmussen has started more than 43,000 horses in races. Now he has his eyes firmly focused on the No. 1 spot.

“It would be very significant to be the all-time winningest trainer,” Asmussen said. “Been thinking about that ever since they started keeping track of wins. That's why you send them out, to win. If it wasn't important, they wouldn't keep stats.”

When he started out, Asmussen was a jockey. He didn't quite win 9,000 however, growing too big to continue that career.

“I won 63 races in two and half years as a rider,” Asmussen said with a laugh. “We've been talking about this 9,000th win in the barn all week and wondering what a graphics map would look like if you marked all the places where horses have won.”

Jockey Stewart Elliott was in the saddle for Asmussen, booting home Troy Ounce for the win in the seven-furlong sprint on the dirt with $7,500 claiming rivals, all searching for their third career score. Troy Ounce, the betting favorite at 4-5 odds, won by three lengths and paid $3.60 to win, $2.60 to place and $2.20 to show. He covered the distance in 1:23.65 seconds over a fast track. The 4-year-old colt by Goldencents, out of the Eddington mare Lazaria Lass, earned $5,502 from the purse for owners L and N Racing of Tulsa, Okla.

Troy Ounce in the Remington Park winner's circle, with Stewart Elliott aboard

Troy Ounce improved his record to three wins from 18 starts and has now earned $86,472. He was bred in Kentucky by Martha Jane Mulholland and 3480 Equine.

Asmussen went into Friday needing two wins to hit the 9,000 mark. His 8,999th victory came in the seventh race at Churchill Downs when first-time starter Stayin' Out Late, a son of leading sire Tapit, won a 2-year-old maiden race under Ricardo Santana Jr. for Three Chimneys Farm and Harrell Ventures. He was one of 10 Asmussen runners competing at three different tracks on Friday.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Sept. 19 with nine races beginning at 7:07 p.m. CT.

The post Asmussen Reaches 9,000-Win Mark: ‘If It Wasn’t Important, They Wouldn’t Keep Stats’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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9,445 Career Wins Next Milestone On Asmussen’s Radar

Hall of Fame horseman Steve Asmussen surpassed South Louisville native Dale Romans as the all-time leading trainer in Churchill Downs history when 4-year-old filly Drop Dead Gorgeous cruised to an 8 1/2-length victory in Friday's opener for win No. 738 beneath the historic Twin Spires.

“We've had our eye on this target for a long time,” Asmussen said. “If anyone knows American horse racing, they know what Churchill Downs means to the sport. This is a very significant honor. I know the people who have been in this spot before, and been here consistently, and for us to have won the most races is a very proud accomplishment.”

Romans was the record-holder since Nov. 12, 2017 when he surpassed Hall of Famer Bill Mott, who was Churchill Downs' all-time leader for more than 31 years.

“It means so much to me,” Asmussen said. “I don't know of anyone who's fondest and earliest memories of horse racing isn't the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs. I grew up in South Texas and, as a kid, you tried to keep track of the national racing scene. We've spent a lot of time and had a tremendous amount of support to even put us in this position we are in today.

Commemorating Steve Asmussen becoming all-time leading trainer at Churchill Downs (Coady Photography)

“Horses do things for you that you aren't capable of doing on your own. In sports, you see that certain elevation of different individuals. In our sport, the horse gives the individual those elevations. Valid Expectations raised me to a level where I could compete in graded stakes races on a national level. I made numerous mistakes with him but his attitude and ability overcame it.”

Asmussen is rapidly closing on another significant career milestone. At the start of Saturday, Asmussen had 8,869 career wins, which ranked second and was 576 victories behind all-time North American win-leader Dale Baird's 9,445.

“If they don't want me to care, they need to quit keeping track,” Asmussen joked.

If Asmussen follows his trends from the last three years, he could surpass Baird's record by next Spring.

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Asmussen Becomes All-Time Leading Trainer at Churchill

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen surpassed Dale Romans as the winningest trainer in the history of Churchill Downs Friday, sending out Drop Dead Gorgeous (Strong Mandate) to win the opening race on the program. The victory was his 738th at the historic Louisville oval.

“If anyone knows American horse racing, they know what Churchill Downs means to the sport,” Asmussen said. “This is a very significant honor. I know the people who have been in this spot before, and been here consistently, and for us to have won the most races is a very proud accomplishment.” (Click for a winner’s circle interview)

Asmussen registered a quick-fire double in race two with first-time starter Hulen (Tapiture), a horse bred in Texas by his father Keith Asmussen, a former jockey and trainer, and raced by long-time clients Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt. The winner is out of a mare by Valid Expectations, who Asmussen trained for the Ackerley Brothers to win the 1996 GIII Derby Trial S. in Louisville.

Born in Gettysburg, South Dakota, Nov. 18, 1965, Asmussen took out his first trainer’s license in 1986 and saddled his first winner at Ruidoso Downs that July. His first Churchill winner came during the Spring meeting of 1993 when Snake Eyes took a $41,420 allowance on the turf beneath Pat Day as the 2-1 favorite. Asmussen first brought a string of horses to Churchill for the 1996 Fall meet and has called the track home since the fall of 1997. The first of his record 22 local training titles came at the 2001 Fall meet.

A two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer, Asmussen conditioned two winners of the GI Preakness S. in the span of three seasons, each with horses acquired privately and raced by Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables in separate partnerships. Curlin (Smart Strike) turned the tables on 2007 GI Kentucky Derby hero Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}) in that year’s Preakness S. before giving the trainer the first of seven Breeders’ Cup victories in the 2007 GI Classic at Monmouth Park. Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d’Oro) was purchased privately off her towering victory in the 2009 GI Kentucky Oaks, and returned on two weeks’ rest to beat the boys at Old Hilltop. Curlin was named Horse of the Year in 2007 and in 2008 after adding the G1 Dubai World Cup, and Rachel Alexandra made it three straight HOY titles for Asmussen in 2009. Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) capped a Horse of the Year campaign in the 2017 Classic. Asmussen was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga in 2016.

Among the other top horses conditioned by Asmussen are the Heiligbrodt-owned champion sprinter and Horse of the Year finalist Mitole (Eskendereya), Eclipse Award winner Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), Oaks winners Untapable (Tapit) and Summerly (Summer Squall)–both owned by the Winchell family–and GI Belmont S. hero Creator (Tapit). While he has yet to win the GI Kentucky Derby, Asmussen has sent out the runner-up twice with Nehro (Mineshaft, 2011); and Lookin At Lee (Lookin At Lucky, 2017). His 79 local stakes winners are second only to fellow Hall of Famer Bill Mott’s 95.

Asmussen also is a nine-time winner of the national training title in races won (2002, ’04-05, ’07-11 and ’13), including a record 650 wins in 2009. On Feb. 7, 2004, he won a North American record 10 races, including three stakes, from 16 starters at five racetracks (Delta Downs, Fair Grounds, Oaklawn Park, Sam Houston Race Park and Sunland Park).

Entering Friday’s action, Asmussen ranks second in career victories with 8,867, trailing Dale Baird (9,445) by 578 winners.

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