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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