trainer milestones | Horse Racing Free Tips

From Teenage Years With Hirsch Jacobs To 1,000-Win Milestone, Lewis ‘Fortunate’ And ‘Grateful

Craig Lewis did a little bit of celebrating Saturday night after Warren's Showtime won Saturday's Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., to give the 73-year-old trainer career victory No. 1,000.

He watched a baseball game and a boxing match on TV, then it was business as usual and he was back on the beat early Sunday morning.

“I stayed up till 10 o'clock,” said Los Angeles native Lewis, who began training in 1978 and who holds a bachelor's degree in history from Cal Berkeley.

“I was a little disappointed early yesterday when we ran second with the first two horses I ran (Warrens Candy Man in the first race and Dancing Dana in the fourth), but I guess we won the one that mattered and it kind of worked out well.”

Lewis started in racing as a teenager, learning the ropes under legendary Hall of Fame trainer Hirsch Jacobs, who claimed the iron horse Stymie for $1,500 as a 2-year-old. Stymie would go on to run in an amazing 135 races, winning 35 and also earn Hall of Fame recognition.

Not only did Lewis win a graded stakes for his milestone victory, he trained both the sire (Clubhouse Ride) and the dam (Warren's Veneda) of Warren's Showtime, both multiple stakes winners in their own right.

“I've been very fortunate,” Lewis said after the victory. “I've had a lot of great horses in my career. Cutlass Reality beat back to back Derby winners Alysheba and Ferdinand in the (1988) Hollywood Gold Cup, Music Merci, winner of the (1988) Del Mar Futurity and (1989) Illinois Derby, and many other big races, and of course Larry the Legend (game winner of the 1995 Santa Anita Derby).

“I've had multiple other good horses and a lot of great owners. I'm very thankful and feel very fortunate, very grateful, to be in this situation.”

Said winning owner/breeder Benjamin Warren: “This is just wonderful and it's great that this is Craig's 1,000th win. This puts her at $500,000 in earnings at age three and that's pretty good. … I went partners with (former Major League baseball star) Irv Noren on my first horse in 1980, so to have this filly doing this well is tremendous.”

Warren's Showtime was fifth of seven early in the Autumn Miss but responded to strong urging by Flavien Prat to win by a neck as the 7-10 favorite. Victory didn't come easy.

“What was going through my mind was she might not get there,” Lewis admitted. “But as usual she did not disappoint. She's really a genuine filly who gives it every time.”

That usually results in a happy ending, none so happy as yesterday.

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Warren’s Showtime Gives Craig Lewis 1,000th Career Victory In Autumn Miss Stakes

In what amounted to a storybook ending, Benjamin and Sally Warren's homebred Warren's Showtime pinned her ears late and would not be denied en route to a gutty neck victory in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Autumn Miss Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. Ridden by Flavien Prat, the 3-year-old chestnut daughter of Clubhouse Ride provided trainer Craig Lewis with his 1,000th career victory while getting a flat mile on turf in 1:33.77.

Breaking sharply from her number five post position, Warren's Showtime was immediately taken off the pace while a joint fourth, about six lengths off of pace-setting Quiet Secretary mid-way around the clubhouse turn. Fifth by a similar margin three furlongs out, Warren's Showtime wheeled four-wide at the top of the stretch and, in a resolute effort, overhauled Going to Vegas close home to notch her first graded stakes win while providing Lewis with his career milestone.

“What was going through my mind was she might not get there!” said Lewis. “I've been very fortunate. I've had a lot of great horses in my career. Cutlass Reality…Music Merci…Larry the Legend. I've had multiple other good horses and a lot of great owners. I'm very thankful and feel very fortunate, very grateful to be in this situation.

“Fillies like her (bring me back). There are a lot of bumps in the road. A trainer's life is not all pie and ice cream, but when things like this happen it makes it all worthwhile. The early mornings, the things that go wrong. The difficult situations, but situations like this overcome all the negative involved.”

Most recently a close third at a mile and one eighth on turf in the G1 Del Mar Oaks Aug. 22, Warren's Showtime, who is out of the Warrens' G1 stakes winner Warren's Veneda, was the solid 3-5 favorite in a field of seven sophomore fillies and paid $3.40, $2.60 and $2.20.

“I've been on her in the morning and I was pretty pleased with the way she was going,” said Prat, who had never ridden Warren's Showtime in the afternoon. “She's always running in great races. She definitely deserved a graded stakes (win). She definitely gives you everything. I thought it was a pretty strong pace up front, so I was taking my time and when I asked her to go she responded well.”

The lone California-bred in the field, Warren's Showtime picked up her fifth stakes win and improved her overall mark to 13-6-0-5. With the winner's share of $60,000 she increased her earnings to $520,251.

Attentive to the pace throughout, longshot Going to Vegas ran too good to lose under Mario Gutierrez, as she finished a half length in front of her stablemate Nasty. Trained by Richard Baltas, Going to Vegas was off at 14-1 and paid $8.40 and $3.80.

Second throughout, Nasty got on terms with Quiet Secretary at the quarter pole and made the lead inside the eighth pole, but was third-best on the day. Off at 7-1 with Ricky Gonzalez up, she paid $4.20 to show.

Fractions on the race were 22.50, 45.42, 1:09.69 and 1:21.65.

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Veteran Conditioner Jon Arnett Registers Career Win No. 2,000

Danny Stafford's Downtowner won a $15,000 claiming race Friday night at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, giving veteran conditioner Jon Arnett career win No. 2,000.

Ridden by Leandro Goncalves, Downtowner was sent off the 9-5 favorite and won easily by 10 1/4 lengths.

Arnett has been training on the Midwest and Southwest circuits since 1979 and his 2,000th victory came with his 12,050th start. His best year came in 1979 when he scored 139 wins and his horses earned $1,620,045. Horses he's saddled have won $21.3 million during his career.

Arnett is the son of the late Bob E. Arnett, who also trained in the Midwest and Southwest and compiled 2,431 career victories before retiring in 2014.

Arnett has trained a number of stakes winners, including City Sage, who earned $315,006 for him, and Shock Hazard, a three-time stakes winner at Prairie Meadows.

Downtowner, win No. 2,000 for Jon Arnett, in the Prairie Meadows winner's circle

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Asmussen Reaches 9,000-Win Mark: ‘If It Wasn’t Important, They Wouldn’t Keep Stats’

Trainer Steve Asmussen became only the second trainer in thoroughbred racing history to win for the 9,000^th time in his career, bringing home Troy Ounce in race two Friday night at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla.

“It's an awfully significant achievement,” said Asmussen. “I'm very proud, but as you know, it takes a tremendous effort from a lot of people who work for me. Will we celebrate? Heck, yeah! Every day from here on out.”

Asmussen needs 446 more victories to become the all-time winningest trainer in North American thoroughbred history. The current leader is the late Dale Baird, who went to the winner's circle 9,445 times in his career.

Asmussen had 433 wins last year and 400 the year before to put things into perspective. He has won more than 400 times in a year 10 times. His best year was 2009 when he won 650 races.

Asmussen runs multiple strings of horses at multiple tracks around the country, simultaneously. When asked how many people are employed under him he said, “I have no idea.”

Asmussen, a member of the National Racing Hall of Fame, won his first race in 1986 at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico as a 20-year-old. He said at that time he had no idea his career would blossom into what it has.

“Back then I was just worried about getting win number two,” he said. “That didn't come until the next year at Birmingham in Alabama.”

Since then Asmussen has started more than 43,000 horses in races. Now he has his eyes firmly focused on the No. 1 spot.

“It would be very significant to be the all-time winningest trainer,” Asmussen said. “Been thinking about that ever since they started keeping track of wins. That's why you send them out, to win. If it wasn't important, they wouldn't keep stats.”

When he started out, Asmussen was a jockey. He didn't quite win 9,000 however, growing too big to continue that career.

“I won 63 races in two and half years as a rider,” Asmussen said with a laugh. “We've been talking about this 9,000th win in the barn all week and wondering what a graphics map would look like if you marked all the places where horses have won.”

Jockey Stewart Elliott was in the saddle for Asmussen, booting home Troy Ounce for the win in the seven-furlong sprint on the dirt with $7,500 claiming rivals, all searching for their third career score. Troy Ounce, the betting favorite at 4-5 odds, won by three lengths and paid $3.60 to win, $2.60 to place and $2.20 to show. He covered the distance in 1:23.65 seconds over a fast track. The 4-year-old colt by Goldencents, out of the Eddington mare Lazaria Lass, earned $5,502 from the purse for owners L and N Racing of Tulsa, Okla.

Troy Ounce in the Remington Park winner's circle, with Stewart Elliott aboard

Troy Ounce improved his record to three wins from 18 starts and has now earned $86,472. He was bred in Kentucky by Martha Jane Mulholland and 3480 Equine.

Asmussen went into Friday needing two wins to hit the 9,000 mark. His 8,999th victory came in the seventh race at Churchill Downs when first-time starter Stayin' Out Late, a son of leading sire Tapit, won a 2-year-old maiden race under Ricardo Santana Jr. for Three Chimneys Farm and Harrell Ventures. He was one of 10 Asmussen runners competing at three different tracks on Friday.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Sept. 19 with nine races beginning at 7:07 p.m. CT.

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