Steve Asmussen | Horse Racing Free Tips

Team Asmussen Celebrates Big Day

While Steve Asmussen was on the road to the Texas yearling sales Sunday morning, his team was still celebrating a pair of Grade I victories at Saratoga Saturday. Yaupon (Uncle Mo) captured the GI Forego S. in a dramatic stretch run shortly before stablemate Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) battled to a determined victory in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. Asmussen also saddled Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) to a runner-up effort in the GI Runhappy Travers S.

“I was so proud of how our horses ran yesterday. It was a great day of racing,” said Scott Blasi, Asmussen's longtime assistant. “To win two Grade Is in a row at Saratoga on Travers Day is a great feeling. There are certain days of the year that are incredibly competitive. There's Derby Day, Preakness Day, Belmont Day, Travers Day, Breeders' Cup. With that level of quality racing, it's the best of the best. On those kinds of days to do well, it's a special feeling.”

As Yaupon, under Ricardo Santana, Jr., battled in deep stretch, Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior) bared his teeth, turned his head to the left, and tried to savage his rival with no fewer than seven attempts. Afterward, Asmussen said that Firenze Fire was even trying to grab Santana.

“[Yaupon] came out of it unscathed,” Blasi said Sunday. “No marks or anything. Luckily, Ricardo was able to continue to encourage him, although he was getting pretty close to the inside rail, which I was more worried about than the horse getting bit. I think it was a really hard thing for him [Jose Ortiz, up on Firenze Fire] to correct. The thing about it is those guys are riding hard, so they were going forward and it's not like you have the bit in their mouth. They're trying to persevere, and that's a hard to thing to correct when you're in that position. I've seen pictures of horses being savaged, and I've seen horses savage, or try to bite, but I've never seen any horse do it for that long. I've never seen it go on for that long.”

Blasi continued, “Yaupon is a special horse. It was a great win for him. Jackie's Warrior gave another game effort. He's a special talent. The horse he beat [Life is Good] is as well. You saw how they separated themselves from the rest of the field, and that just goes to show you the class and the quality of those two horses. It was a great race. Jackie is so consistent. At one turn he's back to doing what he wants to do.”

Midnight Bourbon came back from a near-fall in the GI Haskell S. to just miss to champion Essential Quality (Tapit) in the Travers.

“It was by far the best race of his career,” Blasi said. “We were a little bit unlucky to lose, but that horse [Essential Quality] is a champion. Once that horse gets by you, he's not going to let anybody pass him, and he proved that time and time again. Hats off to the winner, but our horse is definitely improving. I think with the time that they ran and how they came home in the last quarter, you have to have quality to be able to do that.”

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Asmussen Still Smiling After Travers Day Wins With Yaupon, Jackie’s Warrior

Steve Asmussen was already back on the road scouting for new talent at the Texas yearling sales on Sunday morning, but there still were plenty of bright smiles lighting up the barn of the Hall of Fame trainer in the wake of Saturday's back-to-back wins in the $600,000 Grade 1 Forego by Yaupon and the $500,000 Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial by Jackie's Warrior, followed by Midnight Bourbon's runner-up finish in the $1.25 million Runhappy Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“I was so proud of how our horses ran yesterday. It was a great day of racing,” said Scott Blasi, Asmussen's longtime assistant. “To win two Grade 1s in a row at Saratoga on Travers Day is a great feeling. There are certain days of the year that are incredibly competitive. There's Derby Day, Preakness Day, Belmont Day, Travers Day, Breeders' Cup. With that level of quality racing, it's the best of the best. On those kinds of days to do well, it's a special feeling.”

At this stage of the season, the two fastest sprinters, arguably, in North America, are stabled in this barn.

J. Kirk and Judy Robison's Jackie's Warrior, who won the Grade 1 Hopeful at the Spa and the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont in 2020, notched the first top-level victory of his sophomore season by beating the highly regarded Life Is Good in the ninth race on the 13-race card. In the eighth race, William and Corrine Heiligbrodt's Yaupon beat Firenze Fire in a race filled with drama.

As the two battled in deep stretch almost stride-for-stride with Yaupon to the inside under Ricardo Santana, Jr., Firenze Fire bared his teeth, turned his head to the left, and tried to savage his rival with no fewer than seven attempts. Afterward, Asmussen said that Firenze Fire was even trying to grab Santana.

“He [Yaupon] came out of it unscathed. No marks or anything. Luckily, Ricardo was able to continue to encourage him, although he was getting pretty close to the inside rail, which I was more worried about than the horse getting bit,” said Blasi. “I think it was a really hard thing for him [Jose Ortiz, up on Firenze Fire] to correct. The thing about it is those guys are riding hard, so they were going forward and it's not like you have the bit in their mouth. They're trying to persevere, and that's a hard to thing to correct when you're in that position. I've seen pictures of horses being savaged, and I've seen horses savage, or try to bite, but I've never seen any horse do it for that long. I've never seen it go on for that long.”

Blasi said even all that commotion could not dim the brilliance of these two sprinters.

“Yaupon is a special horse. It was a great win for him,” said Blasi. “Jackie's Warrior gave another game effort. He's a special talent. The horse he beat [Life is Good] is as well. You saw how they separated themselves from the rest of the field, and that just goes to show you the class and the quality of those two horses. It was a great race. Jackie is so consistent. At one turn, he's back to doing what he wants to do.”

The Heiligbrodts' Mitole won the 2019 Forego, the Breeders' Cup Sprint, the Grade 1 Met Mile at Belmont Park, and a fourth Grade 1 on the way to championship sprinter honors that year for the barn.

Does either Yaupon or Jackie's Warrior resemble Mitole?

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“They're just really fast horses and we've had some quality sprinters like Volatile [winner of the 2020 Grade 1 Vanderbilt at Saratoga] and Mitole. I mean they were great sprinters. These horses all have the same qualities. Both of these guys, you couldn't be any better to be around and to train. Yaupon and Jackie's Warrior are professionals,” said Blasi.

Though Winchell's homebred, Grade 3 winning Midnight Bourbon, didn't give Asmussen his first Travers victory, he finished only a neck behind 2020 Juvenile champion and Grade 1 Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality.

“It was by far the best race of his career. We were a little bit unlucky to lose but that horse [Essential Quality] is a champion. Once that horse gets by you, he's not going to let anybody pass him, and he proved that time and time again. Hats off to the winner, but our horse is definitely improving. I think with the time that they ran and how they came home in the last quarter, you have to have quality to be able to do that,” Blasi said.

The effort is particularly gratifying considering his last race in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park in July. That day he clipped heels with Hot Rod Charlie in the stretch and fell.

“I've got to give the credit to our team here. Everybody worked so hard on that horse after coming out of the Monmouth race. The whole barn did a great job getting him to come back around,” Blasi explained. “He was able to spend time in the round pen and we let him just be a horse up here in Saratoga, which is the great thing about Saratoga. You've got the environment. It's all good.

“I'm proud of how he acted going over to the paddock. We led the pony in front of him, which I think that made a big difference,” he continued. “He was a total professional yesterday. We really are happy with how he's progressing.”

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Kirkpatrick & Co Presents In Their Care: The Assistant Trainer With His Own Eclipse Award

Not many assistant trainers have an Eclipse Award to show for their efforts. Darren Fleming does.

Steve Asmussen, his boss and an Eclipse winner in 2008 and 2009, ordered replicas made for Fleming and fellow assistant Scott Blasi to emphasize how much each means to the success of his powerhouse barn.

The bronze statuette took on added meaning for Fleming, Asmussen's longest-tenured assistant, on Aug. 6. Fleming saddled Shanghai Dream for the sixth race at Ellis Park and watched him make a stirring last-to-first charge in the six-furlong, $19,500 race that allowed Asmussen to tie Dale Baird for the all-time lead in North American victories with 9,445. When the mark fell to Asmussen at Saratoga Race Course the next day, it fulfilled a seemingly outrageous goal the trainer had outlined to Fleming decades before.

The two young men were having lunch in the late 1980's when Asmussen expressed his ambition. “I want to be the best. I want to win more races than anybody,” Asmussen told Fleming. “I want to be the leading trainer ever.”

Fleming could not quite believe what he was hearing. “I took it in jest a little bit,” he said. “But he wasn't kidding.”

Fleming began galloping horses for Asmussen, who was then still finding his way as a trainer, before joining him full-time approximately 20 years ago as an assistant. With each passing season, he came to appreciate how serious Asmussen was about making an indelible mark on the game.

Darren Fleming's Eclipse. Photo courtesy of Fleming

Fleming said of the record they now build on almost daily with a far-flung stable: “That was the goal the whole time. It's always been mentioned. In the last year, year and a half, it just kept coming closer and closer.”

The more Fleming got to know Asmussen, the more he realized that anything and everything was possible for him.

“He has an intensity level that is second to none,” Fleming said. “Like he says, 'Everything matters.' He goes to work every day with the same intensity as the day before. And that is what he expects from everybody, from the top to the bottom.”

Fleming also brings tremendous passion to racing. His father, William, was a jockey. Kerry, his wife of 30 years, received an inkling of what she was getting into on Thanksgiving Day, 1985. Soon after the meal ended, her future husband excused himself.

“I have to leave,” he told her. “I have to go water the horses.”

“It's Thanksgiving,” she reminded him.

“Well, the horses don't know it's Thanksgiving,” he responded. And he was off.

Fleming and Asmussen get along so well because of the drive they share. Fleming acknowledged that he is “probably a workaholic.” On a recent day, he and Asmussen already had spoken four times before 10 a.m. Fleming currently oversees 40 horses at Ellis Park and another 40 at Remington Park as part of an operation that numbers approximately 300 horses. Asmussen receives updates and provides instructions on every horse every day.

Fleming admits that it can be challenging to keep to Asmussen's torrid pace.

“Everybody has a tired day or a tired weekend,” he said. “But the rewards you get from racing outweigh everything. It's fun winning.”

Although loyalty can be fleeting in racing, Fleming never seriously considered leaving.

“It just feels natural by now. It's like walking,” he said of his position. “I don't think I could ever work for anybody else. Everything he does makes sense. If I was working for other people, some of the things they do just don't make sense for me.”

There are times when Asmussen makes the game look easy. Fleming knows better.

“I see what a tough game it is. I see how quick the tide can turn,” he said. “I get to be around most of the top horses at one point or another. It's just a great experience.” They produced the Horse of the Year on four occasions. Two-time honoree Curlin (2007-08) was immediately followed by the magnificent filly Rachel Alexandra in 2009 and later by Gun Runner (2017). Other than the Kentucky Derby, there are few major races the barn has not won.

Asmussen and his wife, Julie, foster a family atmosphere that contributes to success. Kerry and Julie shared babysitting duties when they were starting their families. Fleming had each of Asmussen's three sons work under his tutelage at one time or another.

“We are family,” Kerry said.

In another nod to Fleming and Blasi, Asmussen named his middle son Darren Scott.

“Everything we've gone through together, we got here collectively. What we've learned, we've learned together, from each other,” Asmussen said. “It's a beautiful feeling to have everybody pulling on the same end of the rope all the time.”

Perhaps some corporations could learn from Asmussen's business model.

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“Steve treats them right, pays them right, appreciates them,” Kerry said. “It's such a fair deal all the way around.”

Asmussen has always understood that a trainer can only be as good as those he employs. “It makes everything we've done possible,” he said. “It's improved the small things and made the biggest thing possible.”

Even when the biggest thing of all was once hard to fathom.

Tom Pedulla wrote for USA Today from 1995-2012 and has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Blood-Horse, America's Best Racing and other publications.

If you wish to suggest someone as a potential subject for In Their Care, please send an email to info@paulickreport.com that includes the person's name and contact information in addition to a brief description of the individual's background.

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Jackie’s Warrior Gets Better Of Life Is Good In H. Allen Jerkens Memorial

Jackie's Warrior followed his 7 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Amsterdam with a gritty performance in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkins Memorial at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The son of Maclean's Music showed his versatility after running second throughout much of the seven furlongs, taking the lead in the stretch, and holding off a resurgent Life Is Good to win the G1 stakes for 3-year-olds.

Breaking from post two, Jackie's Warrior got out of the gate fast, but Mike Smith and Life Is Good were fastest, taking the lead in the first quarter-mile, with Judge N Jury in third. Around the far turn, Life Is Good had as much as a 2 1/2-length lead on Jackie's Warrior, who kept the leader in his sights as they entered the stretch. Once in the straight, Jackie's Warrior, running toward Life Is Good's inside, took over the lead, but Smith and the son of Into Mischief fought back, closing the gap between the two in the last sixteenth. The two dueled through the race's final yards, with Jackie's Warrior getting a neck in front at the wire. Following Sea was third, with Drain the Clock, Newbomb, and Judge N Jury rounding out the order of finish.

The final time for the seven furlongs was 1.21.39. Find this race's chart here.

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