Keith Asmussen

The Oaklawn Park live racing season wrapped up last Saturday, and it delivered with strong numbers across the board, with over $56-million in purses distributed over 621 races, the track announced Monday evening. With an average of 10 races a day, and a daily purse distribution of $903,338, the racing remained competitive with an average of 9.32 starters per race. The average daily handle surpassed $6.73-million while the meet handle reached well north of $417-million. Participation from horsemen remained strong, too, as 2,030 individual horses made at least one start...

Proving to be an up-and-coming heavyweight in this male sprint division, Booth won his GIII Count Fleet Sprint Stakes bout at Oaklawn Park on Saturday afternoon with a powerful punch in the late rounds to score a Tyson-like knockout. Named a 'TDN Rising Star' after debuting a winner at Keeneland late in his juvenile year, Booth's highlights the following season included clearing a pair of optional claimers at Oaklawn that February and Churchill Downs in December. Coming into 2025, the colt appeared ready for stakes competition, but Booth finished a...

GI Arkansas Derby victor Super Stock (Dialed In) was represented by his first foal at Leadem Farm in Arkansas, the operation announced Saturday afternoon. Out of the Ohio-bred three-time winner Sprinkle Time (Shackleford), who raced for the colt's owner Keith Asmussen--and who also campaigned Super Stock in partnership with Erv Woolsey, the foal hit the ground early Feb. 7. His dam is a half-sister to MSW Justalittlesmoke (Smoke Glacken) as well as MSW Portales (Sharp Humor) and SP Hazy Command (Mastery). Super Stock placed third in the GI Claiborne Breeders'...

Jockey Keith Asmussen is set for his return to the saddle Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs following more than three months on the sidelines because of a fractured femur and broken ribs, the track said in a press release Thursday. The rider began getting back on horses in early August, and continued to regularly gallop and breeze horses for his father, Steve Asmussen. The native Texan is named aboard Payne (Paynter) in the third race on Saturday and Vittorio (Ghostzapper) in the ninth on Sunday. Asmussen's riding career began in...

Jockey Keith Asmussen has returned to the saddle following serious injuries suffered in a riding mishap June 1 at Churchill Downs, a press release from the track said on Friday. Asmussen has been galloping horses for his Hall of Fame father, Steve, this week under the Twin Spires. The jockey was transported to the hospital in Louisville with extensive injuries, including a fractured right femur and three broken ribs, and had surgery the following day. His mount, Singsational (Audible), who clipped heels, was able to get up under his own...

Young jockeys Keith and Erik Asmussen, both sons of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, were each injured Saturday in separate races at Churchill Downs and Lone Star Park, respectively. Keith Asmussen was injured at about 12:47 p.m. ET in the 1st race at Churchill, a $10,000 claimer for fillies and mares three and up. The Equibase chart said his mount, Singsational (Audible) "was jostled between horses and squeezed back at the start, clipped a rival's hind heels and fell at the eleven sixteenths pole, then walked off." Singsational, who...

1st-Churchill Downs, $116,625, Msw, 5-31, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:04.95, ft, 3 3/4 lengths. ADEERA (f, 2, Authentic--Majestic Presence {GSP-USA, MSP-Can, $227,896}, by Majestic Warrior) became the first winner for her freshman sire (by Into Mischief) Friday. The second choice at 8-5 behind fellow first-timer Salted (Tapit) at 4-5, the half-sister to GISW Newgate (Into Mischief) took it right to the favorite from the jump and the top pair quickly opened up a sizeable gap back to the rest of the field. Neck and neck off the far turn, it...

Jockey Keith Asmussen joins the TDN Writers' Room to discuss his family's illustrious history in the sport and his first-ever mount in the GI Kentucky Derby.

Few jockeys have ever come so far so fast. Keith Asmussen, the son of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, has been riding full time for less than two years, but has already snagged mounts in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks and sits in second-place in the jockey standings at Oaklawn Park. Asmussen, who will ride Just Steel (Justify) in the Derby and Lemon Muffin (Collected) in the Oaks for trainer Wayne Lukas, joined the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland this week to discuss his...

Selected from a pool of almost 200 applicants, the Next Generation Advisory Group will consist of 16 new members who represent a broad range of views and experiences across the American horse racing community, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) announced Monday. The group will start in April and will convene monthly to provide feedback on the implementation and evolution of HISA's various regulations, including racetrack safety and anti-doping and medication regulations. Among this group of 16 are horsemen, veterinarians, jockeys, horseplayers, representatives from horsemen's groups, racing offices and...

For a time, Wayne Lukas was as much a part of the GI Kentucky Derby as mint juleps and roses. From 1981, when he sent out his first Derby starter in Partez, to 2000, he had at least one starter in the race every year while running a total of 38 horses. Four of them--Winning Colors, Thunder Gulch, Grindstone and Charismatic--won. But he hasn't had a starter since Bravazo (Awesome Again) in 2018 and hasn't had a winner since Charismatic in 1999. But the drought is over as the 88-year-old...

Steve Asmussen has indicated an interest in saddling a starter at the 2024 Sandy Ride at Red Mile Quarter Horse meet, according to stallionesearch.com. The Hall of Famer did not have a set number of confirmed runners, stall applications were due Thursday, Feb. 29, but Sandy Ridge racing manager Terry Oliver was reportedly instrumental in getting Asmussen back to his roots in Quarter Horse racing. His family had been involved in the industry in the early 1970s, originating with parents Marilyn and Keith Asmussen. It would be his first such...