Preakness | Horse Racing Free Tips

Asmussen, Closing In On All-Time Training Record, Will Saddle Three In Preakness

Steve Asmussen last week became only the second trainer to win 9,000 races, the landmark win coming on Troy Ounce in the second race at Oklahoma City's Remington Park. That left him 446 victories — since whittled to 437 heading into Friday's racing — shy of becoming the sport's all-time winningest trainer, with the late Dale Baird accruing 9,445 in a career spanning 1961-2007.

Only 15 of Asmussen's wins have come at Pimlico Race Course, but they've accounted for 11 graded stakes and more than $3.3 million in purses, including Preakness (G1) victories in 2007 with two-time Horse of the Year Curlin and two years later with the filly and 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Asmussen's Pimlico wins have come out of 57 starters after going 0 for 10 from 1998 through 2006.

Now Asmussen will try to win the Preakness for the third time with a trio of horses: George Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds' Max Player, Winchell Thoroughbreds' Pneumatic and Calumet Farm's Excession.

Asmussen also plans to run Winchell Thoroughbreds' Tenfold in the Pimlico Special (G3), a race he won last year after finishing a close third in the 2018 Preakness to eventual Triple Crown winner Justify. Asmussen has nominated horses to other stakes at Pimlico and expects to again be a presence at Old Hilltop.

“We think we will have a lot of live action for the weekend, and I expect a couple of winners to add to the total,” said Asmussen, the 2017 and 2018 winner of Pimlico's $50,000 bonus to the trainer whose horses earn the most points racing in the Preakness festival's stakes. “At this stage, we're just blessed with some extremely talented horses and it is an important event for us. Preakness weekend has always been a big deal to us, and we've been fortunate to have fastest-enough horses to run in the races they offer.”

Max Player officially entered the Preakness picture on Wednesday, two days after a sparkling workout of 1:00 1/5 at Churchill Downs, the fastest of 21 works that day at the distance. While Asmussen is well-known for putting a significant work into his horses 12 days before a race, he is not a trainer who drills his horses or goes in expecting an extremely fast work. So when his horses do that, handicappers have learned to pay extra attention.

“He's an extremely impressive horse and I think he's doing really well,” Asmussen said. “His work Monday was excellent. His gallop-out was huge. He came out of it in very good shape, went back to the track with a whole lot of energy. Very exciting horse at the right time.

Hall sent Max Player to Steve Asmussen a couple of weeks before the Kentucky Derby (G1), in which he closed from well back to be fifth. The colt had previously been trained by New York-based Linda Rice, including winning Aqueduct's Withers (G3) and finishing third in the Belmont (G1) and Travers Stakes (G1), both won by Derby runner-up Tiz the Law.

“We've secured Paco Lopez to ride him,” Asmussen said. “We're hoping he's able to stay a little closer, not give himself a margin that is impossible to overcome with the Preakness being a little shorter than the Derby. But he is doing really well. He's a very clean-legged, good-moving horse with a great attitude.”

Excession hasn't raced since he was second by a fast-closing three-quarters of a length at 82-1 odds in Oaklawn Park's Rebel Stakes (G2). That March 14 race was won by Nadal, who before being injured was one of the top choices for the Kentucky Derby.

A son of Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags, Excession will be ridden by Sheldon Russell, won of Maryland's leading riders.

“He needed some time after the Rebel,” Asmussen said of Excession. “He's been working well recently. His race against Nadal was very impressive. Just a weird year that he's allowed him to take a break and come back” and still make a Triple Crown race.

Pneumatic won Monmouth Park's TVG.com Pegasus Stakes in his last start to run his record to 3 for 5, with a fourth in the Belmont Stakes. Asmussen also is shooting for a third victory in the $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3), including a repeat with Tenfold. That son of Curlin loves Pimlico, having finished a close third in the foggy running of the 2018 Preakness Stakes won by Triple Crown hero Justify.

Like Pneumatic, Tenfold is owned by Asmussen's long-time client Winchell Thoroughbreds.

Joe Bravo, who was aboard for the Pegasus, will be back on Pneumatic for the Preakness, Asmussen said. “We feel great about how he's doing, knowing that this is by far the toughest race he's ever been in.

“I believe it's quite obvious there are some extremely talented 3-year-olds left that are doing very well. It ought to be a great race. Pneumatic, coming off his lifetime best, deserves the opportunity.”

Tenfold has ground out $1.1 million the hard way, winning last year's Pimlico Special and Saratoga's Jim Dandy (G2) in 2018 while earning many more checks by finishing second, third and fourth in 19 career races. When he returns to Pimlico, Tenfold will be attempting to win for the first time since the 2019 Special 10 races ago.

“Solid horse. Right now it's not easy to find lucrative purses for horses that need to run as far as he does,” Asmussen said. “The Pimlico Special was probably equal to his Jim Dandy victory. He's a Grade 2 winner of a million dollars. He's a pretty damn good horse.”

In his last two starts, Tenfold shipped to California for a third in Santa Anita's Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) then second in the Charles Town Classic (G2). “He's huge,” Asmussen said at Churchill Downs. “I don't think the tight turns of the Charles Town Classic suited him. But this year's calendar has made finding a suitable spot for most horses difficult.”

Pneumatic and Tenfold will ship in from Saratoga, where their training is being overseen by Asmussen chief assistant Scott Blasi.

Asmussen currently is the meet-leading trainer at Churchill Downs (where he became the all-time win leader in June), Lone Star Park, Remington Park and Louisiana Downs. The record-breaking and goal-oriented horseman isn't shy about acknowledging he wants to be racing's all-time win leader.

“I read it or I heard it somewhere that if they don't want it to be important, then why do they keep count?” he said with a laugh. “Right now, after reaching a goal as significant as 9,000 wins, you feel a great amount of gratitude for the opportunities that we've been given and the effort that all the help has put into it to get it done.”

At his current strike rate, Asmussen figures to be the sport's all-time win leader within 1 1/2 years. Then what?

“The open-ended, unanswered question of what's next, then every victory you lift your arms and say, 'new world record,'” he said cheerfully. “Every one you win, if you get fortunate enough to get to it, and afterward, you're the only one who ever did it.”

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Mr. Big News ‘Really Strong’ In Final Work For Preakness Stakes

Allied Racing Stable's Kentucky Derby (Grade I) third-place finisher Mr. Big News finalized his major preparation for the $1 million Preakness Stakes (GI) on Saturday, Oct. 3 with a half-mile move in :50.40 Friday morning at Churchill Downs.

Mr. Big News, a last minute entry in the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, worked with regular exercise rider Tony Camacho in the saddle through splits of :13.20 and :25.40 with a five-furlong gallop out of 1:03.20, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols.

“He left the pole really strong, which is how he was working before the Derby,” trainer Bret Calhoun said. “We only wanted an easy work and I told Tony to go in :49 or :50 and gallop out well. He's been fit after just running in the Derby and it's been very promising how strong he's acting in his works after the race.”

Mr. Big News, a bay colt by Giant's Causeway, earned an automatic spot into the Preakness by winning Oaklawn's $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes on April 11. The two-time winner is scheduled to ship to Pimlico on Tuesday.

Chester Thomas' Allied Racing Stable will attempt to get one of their other stable stars, Mr. Money, back on track Saturday in the $100,000 Ack Ack (GIII). Mr. Money, who is co-owned by Spendthrift Farm, is a four-time Grade III winner but has not won since July 2019.

“The good news is we know how much he likes this track at Churchill,” Calhoun said. “He had some things not go his way so far this year. I don't think he liked the surface at Oaklawn (in the April 11 Oaklawn Mile) and race at Keeneland (a 6 ½-furlong allowance on July 12) didn't really suit him either.”

The complete field for the Ack Ack in order of post position (with jockey, trainer and morning line oddsd): Warrior's Charge (Florent Geroux, Brad Cox, 9-5); Bourbon Calling (Brian Hernandez Jr., Ian Wilkes, 12-1); Proverb (Adam Beschizza, Richard Baltas, 30-1); American Anthem (James Graham, Mike Maker, 5-1); Mr. Money (Gabriel Saez, Calhoun, 6-1); Pioneer Spirit (David Cohen, Robertino Diodoro, 12-1); Alkhaatam (Declan Cannon, Danny Peitz, 20-1); Ebben (Corey Lanerie, Steve Margolis, 5-1); Bankit (Ricardo Santana Jr., Steve Asmussen, 10-1); Thirstforlife (Chris Landeros, Wes Hawley, 30-1); Dinar (Rafael Bejarano, Cherie DeVaux, 30-1); Home Base (Joe Rocco Jr., Mike Tomlinson, 30-1); and Everfast (Julien Leparoux, Jack Sisterson 10-1).

Saturday's Ack Ack is carded as Race 9 with a post time of 4:53 p.m. (all times Eastern). The 10-race program has a first post of 12:45 p.m. The Ack Ack could serve as a prep for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile (GI), which will be run six weeks later on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

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Kevin Attard Joins TDN Writers’ Room

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more successful claim in the past decade than Blue Heaven Farm’s Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind). Plucked for $16,000 from Jorge Navarro of all people in February of 2017 at Gulfstream, the now 7-year-old mare has taken trainer Kevin Attard on the ride of a lifetime, and scored her greatest triumph yet with a victory in Saturday’s GI Woodbine Mile S., becoming a multimillionaire in the process. Wednesday, Attard joined the TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to tell he and Starship Jubilee’s rags-to-riches story.

“We were just looking for horses to bring back to Woodbine at the time,” Attard recalled of he and dad Tino Attard’s thought process back in 2017. “At Gulfstream, it’s really tough to claim, you’re always kind of shaking for horses that look legit on paper and have good form to them. So we had gotten out-shook a lot of times with a couple of claims we had put in. She had come across on form like she had some potential, had run some decent enough races, seemed like she was appreciating stretching out a bit. So we took a chance and we were lucky enough to win the shake that day. And the rest is history.”

Now with 19 wins in 38 starts and hardly any duds in her past performances, it’s clear that Starship Jubilee has something special about her. Attard tried to pinpoint what it is that makes the mare so consistent.

“She’s just a very competitive horse,” he said. “Even in the morning, she’s not an easy filly to train in the sense that when she wants to go, you have to have a good exercise rider on her. And Ricardo Pilgrim, who’s been galloping her, has done a great job with her here at Woodbine. So we’ve been fortunate with that. She’s very feisty, has a lot of sass and attitude about her, and is not a typical mare that you can just hug or cuddle up to. She’s got some fire and if you’re not on your toes, she’ll bite you. She could kick you. She’s really a handful when she wants to be, and I think that translates onto the racetrack. She just brings that attitude with her to the track. Whether it’s competing against the fillies and mares or the boys, she’s just ready to lay it down and give her best.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers reacted to the development of the first guilty pleas stemming from March’s FBI indictments and debated the wisdom of restrictive new whip rules. Then, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, they discussed Tiz the Law (Constitution) skipping the GI Preakness S. to train up to the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Max Player to Preakness

George Hall and SportsBLX Thoroughbreds Corp.’s Max Player (Honor Code) will contest the Oct. 3 GI Preakness S. at Pimlico.

“I’m very excited because I haven’t been in the Preakness yet,” said Hall, who won the 2011 Belmont with 24-1 shot Ruler On Ice. “After the Kentucky Derby, he looked like he wanted to keep running. Steve watched him closely, and he was in great shape. He’s galloped well. He’s breezed well. We felt the horse was at the peak of his game and is ready to run.”

Winner of the GIII Withers S. for Linda Rice in February, Max Player finished third in the June 20 GI Belmont S before filling the same position in the GI Travers S. Aug. 8. Transferred to Steve Asmussen, he was fifth in his latest start in the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby. Asmussen previously won the Preakness with Curlin (Smart Strike) in 2007 and again in 2009 with the filly Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d’Oro).

“I really feel like we will be competitive,” said Hall. “If you look at the Belmont S., where we were third, he didn’t have such a great trip. We got really caught behind a lot of horses and had to move around a lot and still wound up being third because he came on so strong at the end. In the Travers, he again came on strong to be third. It’s no shame to lose to Tiz the Law, as everybody knows. We feel like he’s a really good horse. When we started to look at the Preakness, I think the view is that he’s in perfectly good health. He’s in good shape, and he needs to develop. Reviewing the Kentucky Derby, he really came out of the gate slow [from post 1] and was far behind in the first jump. If we can get a little better trip out of the gate, maybe get a better post position and not fall so far behind and give him so much work to do at the end, we think that we can be competitive.”

According to Hall, jockey Paco Lopez will partner the colt for the first time in the Preakness.

“Obviously, we want to stay in the race, but we have to be careful because he is going to be a closer, no matter what,” said Hall. “I’m sure Steve will give Paco the correct instructions.”

Looking farther down the road, Hall added, “He had a long layoff before the Belmont, but then he’s had a robust campaign since,” Hall said. “What’s most important to us is that he stays healthy and has a good 4-year-old and, hopefully, 5-year-old career. We didn’t really think there was negative toward running in the Preakness that would affect his long-term prospects as a 4-year-old. We’re pretty excited about what he’s going to do be doing in the future, too.”

Hall bred Max Player through his K & G Stables, named for his children Katherine and George, with the colt raised on his Annestes Farm in Versailles, Ky. Hall owns 86% of Max Player, with SportBLX Thoroughbreds owning the other 14%. Co-founded by Hall and Joe De Perio, SportBLX Thoroughbreds offers micro-shares in racehorses. More micro-shares in Max Player, which will come out of his majority interest, likely will be available for purchase next week, Hall said.

Asmussen will also run Monmouth Park’s Pegasus S. winner Pneumatic (Uncle Mo) in the Preakness. Joe Bravo will have the mount.

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