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Hieronymus Announces Retirement From Keeneland

G.D. Hieronymus, who has served as Keeneland’s Eclipse Award-winning Director of Broadcast Services since 2000, has announced his retirement effective Feb. 1, 2021. Hieronymus will continue to work during Keeneland’s Spring and Fall race meets and on special projects for the track and its industry and philanthropic partners.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this institution for the past 20 years,” Hieronymus said. “Keeneland’s Broadcast Services is synonymous with excellence. We have raised the bar for our industry and I am proud of this legacy. I’m grateful to my amazing crew and the countless relationships I have made throughout my career and I’m excited to continue my work with the Keeneland team while also expanding my work in the industry.”

“On behalf of the entire Keeneland family, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to G.D. for his leadership, passion and commitment to Keeneland and the Thoroughbred industry,” Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason said. “While G.D. has always celebrated the rich history of our sport, he continues to pave the way for innovations that strengthen racing. We wish G.D. all the best in his retirement and look forward to his continued collaborations with Keeneland.”

Joining the Keeneland team in July 2000 as the Director of Broadcast Services after 19 years at Hammond Communications, Hieronymus celebrated many groundbreaking achievements and award-winning productions, including:

Development of the first high definition control room at a Thoroughbred race track in North America.
Seven-time recipient of the International Simulcast Award.
2004 Eclipse Award recipient for Local Television Achievement.
Directing award-winning commercials and features for Keeneland, Thoroughbred farms and other industry partners.
Serving as director of photography for the Kentucky Derby Museum film “The Greatest Race,” which continues to be featured today.
Winner of the 2012 Charles W. Engelhard Award from the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association for outstanding service and coverage in media for the Thoroughbred industry.

In addition to his continued collaboration with Keeneland, G.D. looks forward to spending more time with his wife, Laura, and daughters, Kelly and Lindsay.

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Ned Toffey Talks Into Mischief, Authentic, Monomoy Girl and More On Writers’ Room

Business is booming at Spendthrift Farm. The once-defunct stallion station has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in the past decade, thanks in large part to a superstar stallion, a deep-pocketed owner and the steady hand of an experienced general manager. Ned Toffey has seen it all since B. Wayne Hughes purchased Spendthrift in 2004, and he joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Toffey talked about the explosive growth of the farm, what makes Into Mischief special, likely Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief), the future of recent Spendthrift purchases Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Got Stormy (Get Stormy) and much more.

“Once we did some renovations here at Spendthrift, we brought Malibu Moon over and really thought that was going to be our flagship horse. And all the while there was this little son of Harlan’s Holiday we bought for $180,000,” Toffey recalled when asked about Into Mischief. “The first couple of years he was here, he was a very tough sell. One of the programs that we did, ‘Share the Upside’, was actually designed to help sell seasons to Into Mischief. But it turned out to be the opposite. Into Mischief made the program. He gave us credibility and has given us the confidence to start to go after other top horses. He’s done so much. He drives traffic to the farm. We’ll be fortunate if we can ever have another one as good as him. People give us a lot of credit for having ‘made’ Into Mischief. We’re happy to take that credit, but I think the credit goes to Into Mischief.”

Spendthrift made major waves at last week’s Fasig-Tipton November ‘Night of the Stars’, shelling out $9.5 million for champion topper Monomoy Girl, $4.2 million for MGISW Bast (Uncle Mo) and $2.75 million for MGISW Got Stormy.

“We wanted to have some marquee mares to breed Into Mischief, Authentic and even some of the stallions that came in within the last year as well,” Toffey explained. “We generally will move our own mares out of the way if we have clients that really need to get their mares bred. So oftentimes some of the mares that we start out planning to breed to some of these stallions, end up getting bred to somebody else. This year we wanted to have some mares that we just felt were really strong. We may not breed a lot to Into Mischief. Mr. Hughes usually likes to collect the stud fee and make room for our clients. But now we’ve got a handful of mares that will certainly need to go to Into Mischief, Authentic and the likes of those.”

Asked about the reasoning for retiring Authentic as a 3-year-old while bringing Monomoy Girl and Got Stormy back to the racetrack in 2021 as 6-year-olds, Toffey offered, “You’re talking about a little different price point. We were wide open in terms of what we might do, but his racing career just went so well and Bob [Baffert] said, ‘He’s done so much. He’s done everything that he really can.’ And our primary business is breeding. That’s what drives things here and the stallion complex is the epicenter of Spendthrift. That is our primary focus and everything we do revolves around that. He’s such a sound, talented horse, it was very tempting to go on and run next year, but again, this is such a central part of what we do, we felt like it was time for him to come and start his career here.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers debated which Eclipse categories are still to be decided, appreciated strong 2-year-old performances from the weekend and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, broke down the latest developments in the indictments surrounding Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Sistercharlie Set to Continue Brown’s Ballston Spa Dominance

Trainer Chad Brown has won the last three runnings of the GII Ballston Spa S. and five of the last eight and he’s likely to add to those totals when he sends out champion Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) Saturday afternoon at Saratoga.

Never worse than fourth in her 15 career appearances, the Peter Brant colorbearer defeated her favored stablemate Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) in defense of her title in the GI Diana S. about this time last year and became the first in history to win the GI Beverly D. S. in consecutive seasons in her next outing. A measured winner of the GI Flower Bowl S. Oct. 6, she was last seen finishing third in her GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf repeat attempt Nov. 2. Brant won the 2018 Ballston Spa with Quidura (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}).

One year Sistercharlie’s senior is the 7-year-old Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind), a 17-time winner and third to the Brown-trained Significant Form (Creative Cause) in last year’s Ballston Spa. The Florida-bred has won five of her six most recent starts, including the GI E. P. Taylor S. at her Woodbine base in October and was three-for-three over the winter in Florida, winning Gulfstream’s GIII Suwannee River S. Feb. 8 and the GIII Hillsborough S. at Tampa Mar. 7.

Call Me Love (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), already a multiple group winner in Italy, gave an excellent account of herself when runner-up to Rushing Fall in the GIII Beaugay S. on her U.S. debut June 3, but was a disappointing fifth when a well-backed 5-4 second choice in the GII New York S. June 27.

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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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