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Asmussen Hopes for Gun Runner Double on Saturday

A few weeks before the opening of the Saratoga meet, Steve Asmussen paid a visit to Lexington to see an old friend. The Hall of Fame conditioner stopped by Three Chimneys Farm, as he does regularly, to check in on Gun Runner.

“It's Three Chimneys,” Asmussen explained with a shrug from his barn at the Oklahoma earlier this week. “It's a beautiful place and Gun Runner deserves the adulation. He is a very special horse.”

A few hours after he made that statement, Asmussen's star filly Echo Zulu, of course a daughter of Gun Runner, earned her seventh career graded stakes victory in the GII Honorable Miss H. on Wednesday. The 'TDN Rising Star' and champion juvenile was gearing down at the wire as she won by 7 1/4 lengths.

The Asmussen and Winchell Thoroughbreds camp is hoping that win was just the start of a big weekend for their Horse of the Year-turned-sire sensation.

On Saturday, two sons of Gun Runner will sport the Winchell silks at Saratoga while facing graded stakes company. Gunite looks to get his second career Grade I victory in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt S. while Disarm returns to the track where he first saw the winner's circle for the GII Jim Dandy S.

Disarm has struggled to cross the wire first as a 3-year-old, but he put in solid efforts throughout the year when he was second in the GII Louisiana Derby, third in the GIII Lexington S. and fourth in the GI Kentucky Derby. He got his first win on the year over a sloppy track in the GIII Matt Winn S. on June 11.

“It was good to see him win,” said Asmussen. “He has run competitively, but has not been in the winner's circle since his maiden race, which was here in Saratoga last summer. With the fact that he has run at Saratoga and won, we're comfortable with how he'll handle the circumstances on the racetrack, but it's a very talented group for the Jim Dandy.”

As defining of a race for the 3-year-old crop as ever, the Jim Dandy drew the third, fourth and fifth-place finishers of this year's GI Kentucky Derby with Angel of Empire (Classic Empire), Disarm and Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), but they'll all have to face reigning juvenile champion and GI Belmont S. runner-up Forte (Violence). Disarm and Forte will stand together in the starting gate, drawing the first and second post positions, respectively, for Saturday's mile and an eighth contest.

The ever-consistent Gunite has always put in strong performances at the Spa. As a juvenile he was second there in the GII Saratoga Special S. and went on to dominate in the GI Hopeful S. Last year at three, he claimed the GII Amsterdam S. at odds of 7-1 and then finished second to Jack Christopher (Munnings) in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S.

Disarm breaks his maiden in Saratoga last summer | Sarah Andrew

This year, Gunite returns to Saratoga with a two-for-four record as a 4-year-old and is coming off a win in the June 3 Aristides S. at Churchill Downs.

The seven-horse Vanderbilt field includes Juddmonte's champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin), who bested Gunite earlier this year in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in February, but Asmussen is as confident as ever in his star sprinter.

“He's coming off probably his fastest race ever with his win at Churchill,” he said. “He gets to run against Elite Power again, but Gunite has seen the best and it doesn't bother him. He brings it all the time.”

Asmussen has always a big believer in Gunite and the grit the dark bay has shown throughout his career. He recalled how Gunite made the trip west for the Breeders' Cup in 2021 not to compete himself, but to help prepare Echo Zulu for her winning bid in the Juvenile Fillies.

“We took him to California because I didn't want to change Echo Zulu's workmate before the Breeders' Cup,” Asmussen explained. “For him to still be running at this level is so rare.”

Asmussen finds several similarities in these two sons of Gun Runner.

“As far as what their specialty is, that might separate them, but their similarities are their attitude and their approach to training,” he explained. “They're extremely hardy–their appetite, how they take pressure. It's a quality that I think they definitely get from Gun Runner.”

Saratoga seems to be a productive place for Gun Runner, who earned two Grade I victories there in 2017 in the Whitney S. and the Woodward S. In 2021, two of the top performers out of his first crop made a statement on closing weekend when Echo Zulu claimed the GI Spinaway S. and the next day, Gunite took home the Hopeful.

“How could you top that one?” Asmussen said with a laugh. “I don't think it's possible, but that actually did happen. You couldn't be a bigger Gun Runner fan than I am, but to see him come out setting records like he does is extremely special.”

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Saturday Insights: Prolific Siblings The Name Of The Game In Saturday Action

7th-SAR, $136K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 3:52 p.m.

Leading off a group of well-related maiden colts at the Spa, DORNOCH (Good Magic), the full-brother to this year's GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage, finally gets to debut after failing to draw in as a main-track only entry last week. A $325,000 Keeneland September yearling, the Danny Gargan trainee recorded a four-furlong work from the gate in :46 2/5 July 22, the best of 119 at the distance. The dam, herself a stakes-winning and graded-stakes placed 'TDN Rising Star', is a half to GISW Finnegans Wake (Powerscourt {GB}). Jockey Luis Saez gets aboard for owners West Paces Racing LLC, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC and Two Eights Racing.

Drawn furthest outside of the bunch, Act of Mutiny (Quality Road), a homebred for W.S. Farish, is a half to MGSW and young sire Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags) along with GSW/GISP Eagle (Candy Ride {Arg}) and MGSW Royal Flag (Candy Ride {Arg}).

One of the few starters with any experience, Lambo (Uncle Mo) finished a distant second as the favorite at Ellis Park June 22–his first start since bringing $950,000 at the OBS March Sale earlier this year. This colt's second dam is champion 2-year-old filly Storm Song (Summer Squall), also the second dam of MG1SW Order of St George (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Tyler Gaffalione retains the mount for trainer Steve Asmussen. TJCIS PPS

1st-DMR, $82K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 5:00 p.m.

A China Horse Club-bred colt, Heartland (Justify) claims MGISW and champion 2-year-old colt Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile) as his half-brother. Picked up by his breeder in partnership with Siena Farm and Winstar Farm for $575,000 at last year's Keeneland September Sale, the chestnut posted a best-of-74 work from the gate July 14, covering the distance in :46 2/5 for trainer Bob Baffert. TJCIS PPS

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Summer Breezes: West Point Represented On Either Coast

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at both Saratoga and Del Mar and at Ellis Park, which attract its fair share of high-priced offspring from a variety of top national outfits.

Summer Breezes highlights debuting 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. To follow are the horses entered for Saturday at Saratoga and Del Mar. Qualifying horses entered for the cards cancelled at Ellis Park July 28 and 29 will appear July 31 and August 1, respectively:

Saturday, July 29, 2023
Saratoga 1, $136k, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:10 p.m. ET
Horse (Sire), Sale, Price ($), Breeze
Carson's Run (Cupid), OBSAPR, 170,000, :10.1
Consignor: Randy Miles, agent
Buyer: West Point Thoroughbreds, L.E.B., agent
Corruption (Medaglia d'Oro), OBSAPR, 220,000, :10.1
Consignor: Kings Equine, Agent for Spendthrift Farm LLC
Buyer: Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners
Moonlight (Audible), OBSAPR, 285,000, :21
Consignor: Eddie Woods, agent
Buyer: Town & Country Racing LLC

Del Mar 1, 2yo, $82k, 5 1/2f, 5:00 p.m. ET
Flight Way (Not This Time), OBSAPR, 140,000, :10.1
Consignor: Wavertree Stables Inc (Ciaran Dunne), agent
Buyer: Dennis O'Neill, agent for Fortune Racing
Invincible (Uncle Mo), FTMMAY, 375,000, see below
Consignor: Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds, agent
Buyer: Steve Rothblum, agent for Mark Davis
Slider (Jimmy Creed), OBSAPR, 240,000, :9.4
Consignor: Marcial Galan, agent
Buyer: West Point Thoroughbreds, L.E.B., agent

Del Mar 5, $82k, 2yo, f, 1mT, 7:00 p.m. ET
Wok Don't Run (Runhappy), OBSAPR, 85,000, :10.2
Consignor: Grade One Investments, agent
Buyer: Zap Murphy for California Racing Partners/Ciaglia

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Good Magic Filly Takes King to ‘Top End of the Game’ at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga

Last fall, his homebred filly Slammed (Marking) took Brad King to the Breeders' Cup, and in just over a week, another filly will bring the Texan to Saratoga for the first time when he offers a yearling daughter of red-hot sire Good Magic as hip 32 with the Legacy Bloodstock consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale.

“We've pinhooked off and on for probably 10-15 years,” King said. “But this is our first one that we are taking up there. When we bought her, that was the plan the whole time, we were trying to look for a young stallion that would be on the upper end and we just got really lucky with Good Magic. She has the pedigree to get in up there, for sure.”

The filly is out of graded stakes winner Devious Intent (Dixie Union), who is a half-sister to millionaire Pioneer Spirit (Malibu Moon). King purchased the bay for $150,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

“We like to pick horses that are really powerful and there is a lot of substance to them,” King said of the weanling's appeal. “The horses that we keep and run are the same way. That's just kind of what we do. When we saw her as a foal, we were like that's the kind that we want right there.”

Of the filly's six-figure price tag, King admitted, “We did stretch a little bit last year. We had had a good year at the races and we had a good sale year last year.”

Since purchasing the filly last November, her sire has been hitting on all cylinders on the racetrack. In addition to GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage, Good Magic has also been represented recently by stakes winners Scotland, How Did He Do That, Reincarnate, and Miss New York, as well as 'TDN Rising Star' and $2-million OBS March graduate Muth.

“That part couldn't have worked out any better,” King said of the sire's hot streak. “Every weekend there are three new wins. They just keep coming. And that's just dumb luck there. That's what a lot of this game is, you've just got to get lucky every now and then.”

King has been happy with what he has seen from the filly over the winter.

“Luckily, she has basically kept the same great shape and just grown up,” he said. “For a Good Magic, she is big enough. They are not the biggest horses, but she is definitely big enough.”

King traditionally has plenty of company when his horses make it to the winner's circle, owning most of his runners in partnerships.

“I love it when they come in and have instant success because then they are in the business forever,” he said.

But hip 32 is a rare one that King owns all on his own.

“Usually, I have partners on all of my horses,” he explained. “I just didn't have anybody who was really asking to get in, so we just bought that one ourselves. The only reason she is going to the sale is because we do own her by ourselves. If we had owned her as a group, we probably would have just kept her and run her. But I definitely don't need to own her by myself.”

King, who is the owner of Clear Vu Auto Glass in Lubbock, Texas, followed his father into the racing game.

“When Texas got pari-mutuel racing in the mid-80s, my dad got in it here in Texas,” King recalled. “We bought a few mares at that time. We had never owned a horse before that. I was probably 14 or 15 at that time. And I got immersed into it quickly from that point.”

From a limited stable, King has enjoyed plenty of success recently on the racetrack. In addition to Slammed, who earned her way into the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint with a win in the GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. last fall at Keeneland, he is also co-owner of Flying Connection (Nyquist), who took her owners to the GI Kentucky Oaks this year thanks to a win in the Sunland Oaks; and Olivia Twist (Mshawish), who was third in the GIII Fantasy S. at Oaklawn in April.

“We have probably eight to 10 in training,” King said. “We are a small stable for sure. And I've got about 15 mares between Kentucky and New Mexico.”

The broodmare band includes Hennesey Smash (Roll Hennessy Roll), dam of Slammed, as well as stakes winner and graded placed Smash Ticket (Midnight Lute) and multiple stakes winner Roll on Diabolical (Diabolical). The 14-year-old mare produced a colt by City of Light this year and was bred back to superstar Flightline.

Smash Ticket joined the band this year and was bred to Jackie's Warrior.

The recently retired Slammed, meanwhile, will be offered at auction this November.

“At the end of the day, you have to treat it like a business,” King said of the decision to sell the graded stakes winner. “And that's probably the smart thing to do. I don't have any mares who are worth what she is. And it's not just her–then you have to breed her the way she needs to be bred and it's just a three-year process of that much more [in] stud fees and all of that. And some of the partners that are in her are not into the breeding that much. I have a sister to her and we still have her dam.”

Asked if the trip Slammed took him and his partners on last year made him eager to increase his stable's numbers, King said, “It gives you a taste for the top end of the game, that's for sure. And you definitely strive to stay at that. With Slammed, it was extra special just because she was a homebred and New Mexico-bred and I had had her her whole life. I had her dam and her granddam. So it was extra special because we had had the family for so long.”

Bringing a yearling to Fasig-Tipton's boutique Saratoga sale can offer King that same racetrack experience in the sales ring.

“You know you are playing at the top end of the game when you make it to Saratoga, that's for sure,” King said.

He added, “Going up there to the sale will be the first time I've ever been to Saratoga. I've been to nearly all of the other tracks, but not to that one, so that will be fun. We were in Del Mar for a week last week. And I thought, you can get used to going to Del Mar for a week and Saratoga for a week. That's the life.”

The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale will be held Aug. 7 and 8 with bidding beginning each day at 6:30 p.m.

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