Steve Asmussen | Horse Racing Free Tips

$100,000 Trainer Bonus Returns For Pimlico’s Preakness Weekend

For the fourth consecutive year, the Maryland Jockey Club is offering the $100,000 Sentient Jet Trainer Bonus to horsemen that accumulate the most points during stakes races over Preakness weekend, Oct. 1-3 at Pimlico Race Course.

Led by the 145th running of the Preakness Stakes (G1), presented this year as the final jewel in a refashioned Triple Crown and a “Win and You”re In” qualifier for the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), a total of 15 Thoroughbred stakes, nine graded, worth $3.35 million will be contested over three days.

Trainers who run a minimum of five horses in the 15 stakes races during Preakness weekend will be eligible for bonus money, with $50,000 going to the trainer with the most points, $25,000 for second, $12,000 for third, $7,000 for fourth, $4,000 for fifth and $2,000 for sixth.

Points are accumulated for finishing first (10 points), second (seven), third (five) and fourth (three) and by having a starter (one) in each of Pimlico's Thoroughbred stakes.

Preakness weekend stakes action begins Thursday, Oct. 1 with the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3), $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint and $100,000 The Very One. The historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) highlights a Friday, Oct. 2 card that also serves as Claiming Crown Preview Day.

Joining the $1 million Preakness this year is the 96th running of the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan for 3-year-old fillies. They are supported by the $250,000 Dinner Party (G2), $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3), $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3), $150,000 Gallorette (G3), $150,000 Laurel Futurity, $150,000 Selima, $100,000 Skipat, $100,000 James W. Murphy, $100,000 Hilltop and $100,000 The Very One.

Nominations for all 15 Thoroughbred stakes close Thursday, Sept. 17.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen captured the $50,000 prize in both 2017 and 2018 but finished second to Brad Cox in 2019. Cox led the way with 36 points last year, three more than Asmussen, including running third and fourth, respectively, with Owendale and Warrior's Charge in the Preakness, Cox's Triple Crown race debut.

Cox won the Miss Preakness with eventual champion Covfefe in track-record time of 1:07.70 for six furlongs and the Allaire duPont Distaff (G3) with Mylady Curlin, and was second with Ulele in the Black-Eyed Susan. Asmussen picked up wins in the Pimlico Special with Tenfold and Maryland Sprint (G3) with New York Central, and was fifth in the Preakness with Laughing Fox.

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Mr. Big News ‘Definitely’ Aiming For Preakness; Pegasus Winner Pneumatic Training Forwardly At Saratoga

Trainer Bret Calhoun termed Allied Racing's Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Mr. Big News “probable” for the Preakness Stakes but that a final decision likely will be made after the colt works later this week.

“Right now he came out of the Derby well; we're definitely pointing that direction,” Calhoun said at Churchill.

Mr. Big News rallied from 10th to finish third in the Kentucky Derby, 3 1/4 total lengths behind victorious Authentic and two lengths behind heavy favorite Tiz the Law. The Giant's Causeway colt earned a free spot in the Preakness Stakes by virtue of winning Oaklawn Park's $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes at 46-1 odds, almost identical to his Derby odds. In between those races, Mr. Big News was sixth in Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes won by Preakness candidate Art Collector.

Calhoun said the Preakness decision will be almost solely made on “just how he's doing,” not on the other horses showing up.

“I want him to be coming into the Derby just like he came into the Derby,” he said. “If he's going that good, we'll run. Who else is running really doesn't have a big bearing. We're getting to the end of the 3-year-old races, so my options are either run him there, go to the turf or back off. I really don't want to run him against older horses at this point in time. So if he's doing really, really well, like he was coming into the Derby, we'll definitely run in the Preakness.”

Of the Derby, Calhoun said, “At the three-eighths pole I got pretty excited. I thought he might win the whole thing. I knew they were going pretty fast in front him, and I thought they might back up to him. He was moving pretty good to them. But the 1-2 finishers are very, very good horses and when they straightened up, they went on and we didn't close the gap very much from there.”

Two years after they finished a very close third in the Preakness with Tenfold, owner Ron Winchell and trainer Steve Asmussen will be back in the 1 3/16-mile classic with Pneumatic. Tenfold closed out of a fog that obscured the view of much of the 2018 Preakness, coming up three-quarters of a length shy of Kentucky Derby winner Justify, who went on to take the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown.

Pneumatic worked five-eighths of a mile Sunday over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track in 1:01 2/5. The Uncle Mo colt will remain there with assistant trainer Scott Blasi until shipping to Pimlico.

“He's training really well,” Asmussen said. “Obviously we were encouraged with his Pegasus. We thought it was his strongest race to date. It appears the Derby participants have come out in good order, and the Preakness ought to be a great race.”

Pneumatic won his first two starts at Oaklawn Park, then was third in Churchill Downs' Matt Winn Stakes (G2) won by the highly regarded Maxfield. After a fourth in the revamped Belmont Stakes, eight weeks later he captured Monmouth Park's Aug. 15 Pegasus. Now he'll have seven weeks before the Preakness.

“We made a conscious decision, because of how well he ran in the Pegasus from the timing after the Belmont to the Pegasus, to try to follow a similar plan that he responded to,” Asmussen said, “(having) nothing but respect for how good of a race it's going to be.”

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Still Embattled In Civil Suit, Ahmed Zayat Files For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Listing String Of Racing Creditors

Ahmed Zayat, best known in horse racing as the owner of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah through his Zayat Stables, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 8. Paperwork filed in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey lists a long string of trainers, veterinarians, transport companies, and others as creditors for expenses totaling tens of millions of dollars.

Unlike Chapter 13 or 11 bankruptcy, Chapter 7 does not involve the filing of a repayment plan. Rather, a bankruptcy trustee is appointed to gather and sell assets and pay creditors when possible. Some of the debtor's property may be exempt, but anything nonexempt will be liquidated.

A lengthy list of creditors attached to the filing revealed a number of horse trainers owed amounts in the six figures, among them Bob Baffert, who is owed $227,884.17, Brad Cox ($194,836.19), Mike Maker ($120,921.88), Richard Baltas ($316,070.12), Steve Asmussen ($102,541.10) and Todd Pletcher ($125,598.69). Rudy Rodriguez, who was awarded a judgment by a New York court for $394,437.19, is also listed. Jorge Navarro's JN Racing is owed $63,822.01.

Veterinary hospitals Hagyard Equine Medical ($38,999.53), Rood and Riddle ($54,346.77), and Kentucky Equine Medical Associates ($19,937.32) are also on the list, as are numerous therapists, individual veterinarians, van companies, and others.

Several financial advisement companies and individuals are listed, with notes they are owed six or seven figures each. One $250,000 debt is listed for the PMG Operating Account, whose address corresponds to Meadows Gaming.

Some, though not all, of these creditors' claims are marked as disputed.

Zayat and his racing operation were named in a civil lawsuit earlier this year in Fayette County Circuit Court from New York investment firm MGG Investments, stemming from a $30 million loan he took out in 2016. MGG won a summary judgment in the amount of $24.5 million earlier this year, representing the remaining balance Zayat Stables owes on the loan. Zayat Stables has countersued, and the bankruptcy paperwork listed the final amount owed to MGG as unknown for the moment. Control of Zayat Stables has been placed into the hands of a court-appointed receiver, who has raced a few of the stable's remaining horses and sold many of them, with an aim to maximize profit in the court of liquidating the operation.

Cedarview Capital, a New York hedge fund, is owed $7.9 million. In documents filed as part of the MGG suit, Zayat indicated he had paid over $1 million in interest to Cedarview, and stated it was one of the lenders he took on alongside MGG. In emails dated January of this year, Zayat claimed to have traveled to China in an attempt to attract investors to inject cash into the stable in order to “make the company fiscally functional” and to repay MGG and Cedarview.

In 2009, Zayat Stable filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after Zayat was sued by Fifth Third Bank for allegedly defaulting on $34 million in equine loans.

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Jackie’s Warrior Too Fast For Rivals In Runhappy Hopeful

Stakes action at Saratoga Race Course concluded with an astonishing performance from J. Kirk and Judy Robison's Jackie's Warrior, who broke like a rocket and maintained the lead throughout to keep an unbeaten record intact with a 2 1/4-length win in the 116th running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Runhappy Hopeful for 2-year-olds going seven furlongs.

As the only stakes winner in the field, Jackie's Warrior made his last start in similar runaway fashion when taking the six-furlong Grade 2 Saratoga Special on August 7 at the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., track.

Piloted by Joel Rosario, Jackie's Warrior was quickest away from the gate and established a two-length lead through opening splits of 22.56 and 44.83 seconds over the fast main track.

Around the far turn, post time favorite Reinvestment Risk put in a bid but Jackie's Warrior kicked away and opened up to a five-length lead in deep stretch. Geared down past the eighth-pole, Jackie's Warrior stopped the clock in 1:21.29. Reinvestment Risk completed the exacta 10 ¼ lengths in front of Mutasaabeq.

Ampersand, Papetu, Nutsie and Fearless Fly completed the order of finish.

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who scored his first Hopeful victory last year with Basin, became the first conditioner to notch back-to-back victories in the prestigious event for juveniles since D. Wayne Lukas saddled High Yield (1999) and Yonaguska (2000).

“He's a very athletic colt that gets over the ground extremely well,” said Asmussen's chief assistant Scott Blasi. “Steve picked him out for Mr. Robison, and it's been a good partnership over the years. We're extremely happy to have him.”

Blasi said Jackie's Warrior could target another Grade 1 on the NYRA circuit and point towards the Grade 1, $250,000 Champagne, a one-turn mile on October 10 at Belmont Park.

“He just continues to improve. He gets stronger in his works,” Blasi said. “He does things effortlessly. I'd expect he'd go on to the Champagne and the Breeders' Cup from there. But, one race at a time. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”

Jackie's Warrior was a maiden winner at first asking in June at Churchill Downs when piloted by Ricardo Santana, Jr. in a five-furlong maiden special weight sprint.

Rosario, who led all riders with 13 stakes wins at the meet, was aboard for the last-out Saratoga Special score and said he continues to be impressed by the swift colt.

“He broke really fast and I was two lengths in front right away,” Rosario said. “He's a fast horse. He was able to carry his speed the whole way around. I tried to get off the rail a little bit and it felt like he was comfortable with that.

“It's unbelievable the way he ran he ran last time and he was probably better today,” added Rosario. “He's a big horse and it looks like he can go longer, too.”

Returning $5.70 for a $2 win wager, Jackie's Warrior doubled his lifetime earnings to $265,064 in an unbeaten record of three starts.

Bred in Kentucky by J & J Stables, the Maclean's Music bay is out of the A.P. Five Hundred mare Unicorn Girl and was purchased for $95,000 from the 2019 Keeneland September yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

Live racing will now move to Belmont Park for the 27-day fall meet, featuring 38 stakes worth $5.58 million in purse money, that will kick off on Friday, September 18 and run through Sunday, November 1.

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