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Asmussen Honored with KY Thoroughbred Owners’ Warner Jones Horseman of the Year Award

Steve Asmussen–who this year became Churchill Downs’ all-time win leader and only the second trainer to achieve 9,000 career victories–is the 2020 recipient of the Louisville-based Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners’ Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award.

The award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to Kentucky racing and sharing the passion exemplified by Jones, who spent 50 years on the Churchill Downs board, including eight as chairman during the iconic track’s resurgence. Warner Jones–the first and so far only breeder of a Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and Breeders’ Cup winner–was the inaugural award winner in 1988, six years before his death.

“Everything my whole family has is because of horse racing,” Asmussen said. “I won the Warner L. Jones Horseman of the Year Award–that has a beautiful ring to it. For anybody to be involved in horse racing, I think the greatest compliment you can be given is to be considered a horseman. It is what we strive for. It is something I, as well as my whole family, would be proud to be acknowledged as. The list of past recipients is beyond impressive and a group that I’m very proud to be a part of. That is cool.”

Through Dec. 2, Asmussen has won 9,104 races, trailing only the late Dale Baird’s 9,445. Those victories include training Horses of the Year Curlin (2007-2008), Rachel Alexandra (2009) and Gun Runner (2017).

Asmussen’s more than $342.7 million in career purse earnings are second all-time to Todd Pletcher’s $397 million, according to Equibase statistics. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016.

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D J Stable, Green Group’s Len Green Talks Making the Horse Business Profitable On Writers’ Room

It’s no secret that the horse business is a tough one if your primary goal is to make money. But your chances are better the more experience and expertise you accrue, and The Green Group’s Len Green has decades of both. Wednesday, the tax, accounting and consulting firm’s founder and principal of successful racing outfit D J Stable joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland to impart his advice on turning a profit in racing, discuss what tax changes could be coming down the pike with a new presidential administration in 2021 and reminisce on some of his favorite memories in racing.

“One, you really have to learn about setting [your horse investment] up so it looks, sounds and smells like a business,” Green said when asked for his advice for new owners. “Instead of writing checks out of your own regular checking account, which has personal deductions on it, etc., set up an LLC. It gives you protection in terms of liability, but it also gives you the appearance that you’re running it as a business. Two, you have to have some strategy. Three, you’ve got to keep on changing that strategy every couple of years.”

Elaborating on the last point, Green talked about making the eventual move from strictly racing claiming horses to the substantial owning and breeding program he now oversees, one that included champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk (Cross Traffic) in 2018.

“You get used to a particular pattern of doing business and it really takes a shock sometimes to get you out of your comfort zone,” he said. “Our comfort zone was winning races. It was great, winning 30% of the time, but you were losing the horse because if the horse won for $25,000 our trainer would drop it down to 20. It would win at 20, but by that point, someone would claim the horse from you, and that horse may have originally cost you 100 [thousand]. His theory was, you run it where it belongs, which is correct, but that’s a great pattern to lose money with. So at a certain point in time, we said, ‘Hey, let’s get out of this claiming game. It’s too difficult to make money.'”

Elsewhere in the show, the writers reacted to an intriguing weekend of racing across the globe and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, lamented the slap-on-wrist punishments trainers continue to receive despite overall positive movement on drug issues in the sport. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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24 Stakes on Tap at Laurel Winter Meet

Laurel Park’s winter meet will feature 24 stakes worth $2.65 million. The highlight of the schedule is the $250,000 GII General George S. and the $250,000 GIII Runhappy Barbara Fritchie S., both to be run Feb. 13. Laurel’s winter stakes schedule will also include two new stakes races to be run Jan. 16–the $100,000 Spectacular Bid S. for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs and the $100,000 Xtra Heat S. for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs. The $75,000 Not For Love S. and $75,000 Conniver for Maryland-bred/sired horses, not raced earlier this year due to Covid restrictions, will return Mar. 13.

Laurel Park’s Apr. 17 program will feature the $125,000 Frederico Tesio S., a ‘Win & In’ for Triple Crown nominated horses to the GI Preakness S., and the $125,000 Weber City S., a ‘Win & In’ for the GII Black-Eyed Susan S.

“We’re optimistic about our winter racing season and believe this stakes schedule will provide us with some big weekends and a lot of strong cards and competitive races,” said Sal Sinatra, President and General Manager of the Maryland Jockey Club.

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Shocker–Gulfstream Races Go Off at Post Time

After years of dragging its races out and running as many as seven or eight minutes after the listed post times, Gulfstream Park had a major surprise for horseplayers Wednesday on the opening day of the Championship Meet. The races were run at their advertised post times.

The change was ushered in by Aidan Butler, who had been working at the California tracks for The Stronach Group, the owners of Gulfstream, before he was recently promoted and reassigned, with his new duties including overseeing Florida racing.

“There are so many reasons why it is the right thing to do,” Butler said. “It’s the right thing to do from the aspect of the enjoyment of the sport. It’s the right thing to do when it comes to professionalism and being efficient. It’s the right thing to do for the animals. You don’t want them hanging around out there when it’s hot and going around and around in circles. Going forward, the team at Gulfstream and the team at The Stronach Group, we want to try to be the best at everything we do. That might sound cheesy, but that’s what we are striving for. That involves everything we do.”

Butler was aware of several postings on social media praising Gulfstream for the new strategy, many of them from horseplayers who had grown tired of having to guess when a Gulfstream race was actually going to be run.

“I didn’t expect the amount of feedback we have been getting because I just saw it as an operational tweak,” he said. “This is one of many things we want to tweak. I see that it is being well received.”

The post time drag was instituted as a means to increase handle, the idea being that giving bettors so much extra time before a race is actually run would lead to more money being put through the windows. Having to wait for the Gulfstream races could also have had the effect of keeping people from betting on other tracks. However, another possibility was that no extra money was actually being bet because players knew they could wait until the very last minute to place their bets and weren’t fooled by the post times that were listed.

Butler was among those that didn’t believe that the drag was having a positive impact on handle.

“I don’t believe what they were doing was productive,” he said. “All that it ended up doing was causing confusion. We all want horse racing to be taken super seriously and as a really good wagering sport and an enjoyable thing to be involved with. Then all these things happen across the industry, and I’m not just talking about post times, that are a little bit rinky dink. I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s not what you would find at an ‘A class’ sporting event. We need to refocus a little bit and find things like this and address them.”

Speaking prior to the day’s fourth race, Butler said it was too early to tell if the change had negatively impacted handle with gamblers having to adjust to a new schedule and possibly getting shut out. A possible plan to first take the drag down to three or four minutes was discussed but then abandoned.

“They had been doing this for such a long time that we were thinking of backing into this slowly,” he said. “But then even if handle was going to be a little light at first because people weren’t getting their bets in, we decided to get right into it. Sometimes you are better off having that shock so more people hear about what you are doing and more people will pay attention.”

While Gulfstream was one of the first and worst offenders when it came to the post time drag, the majority of tracks in the U.S. followed their lead to the point where it is rare to see races go off on time anywhere. Butler said that, going forward, all of The Stronach Group tracks will strive to have their races go off on time.

“We’re going to try to be as efficient as we can with these times,” he said. “There might be times where we don’t want to end up crashing into other racetracks. That’s not going to be the norm. The norm, hopefully, will be what you saw today at Gulfstream.”

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