Steve Asmussen

Trying graded company for the first time in his career in a race named in honor of a fan-favorite at Oaklawn, 'TDN Rising Star' Booth (Mitole--Sophia's Song, by Bellamy Road) made every pole a winning one as he took home the GIII Whitmore Stakes on Saturday afternoon. Earning a 'Rising Star' merit badge as a late juvenile at Keeneland in 2023, Booth claimed his first Listed black type when he won the Commodore Stakes in Hot Springs Feb. 24 and was given a career-best (and meet's highest) 105 Beyer for...

9th-Oaklawn, $131,000, Alw (NW2$6MX)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 3-14, 4yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:44.62, ft, neck. DISARM (h, 5, Gun Runner--Easy Tap, by Tapit) returned to the races against a seasoned field of allowance rivals here, and got the job done as the 2-1 second choice with favoritism going to Group 1-placed Bendoog (Gun Runner) at 9-5 odds. Stalking the development in front of him from fourth, the 'TDN Rising Star' watched it all unfold through :24.07, :48.30, and 1:13.08 splits with Bendoog never far away. The looming danger turning for home, Disarm...

1st-Oaklawn, $110,000, Msw, 2-23, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.48, ft, 3 1/4 lengths. CLEVER AGAIN (c, 3, American Pharoah--Flattering {Ire} {GSW-Ire, SP-Eng}, by Galileo {Ire}) finished runner up in his debut going 4 1/2 panels at Keeneland last April and was benched for the remainder of the season. Marking his return while stretched past a mile for the first time, the 2-1 favorite took control from the onset, led at every call and was 3 1/4-lengths clear of Shepherd (Laoban) at the wire. A full-sister to English and Irish champion Love...

We don't often see 43-1 shots winning graded stakes by 9 3/4 lengths, and when we do, those victories are often subsequently proven to be flukes. If you go by the numbers, an off-the-charts, outlier effort like the one orchestrated by Magnitude (Not This Time) in Saturday's GII Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds--in which his 108 Beyer Speed Figure equated to a walloping 34-point improvement off his last race--is more likely to be met with pari-mutuel skepticism than enthusiasm when this colt races next, most likely in the GII...

In the lone GI Kentucky Oaks points race on Sunday, Runnin N Gunnin (Gun Runner) deposited into her account the top prize of 20 points as she took home the Sunland Park Oaks. Breaking out of the maiden special weight ranks at third asking when the filly owned by Valor Farm's Douglas Scharbauer won by a head at Horseshoe Indy at the end of October, Runnin N Gunnin was well-beaten against optional claimers at Churchill Downs a month later. In her prep for this spot, the Keeneland September grad cleared...

Three years ago, a colt by the emerging Not This Time campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and trained by Steve Asmussen named Epicenter controlled the pace in the GII Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes and reported home an easy winner, returning $9 to his backers. On Saturday, a colt by the now-boom Taylor Made stallion followed in Epicenter's hoofprints for the same connections, as Magnitude (Not This Time) was sent hard to the lead by Ben Curtis from the outside gate in a field of 12 and left them all in his...

'TDN Rising Star' Hall of Fame (Gun Runner) enjoyed a beautiful trip in transit, pulled out for the drive and out-bobbed Komorebino Omoide (Jpn) (California Chrome) to take out the GIII Mineshaft Stakes at the Fair Grounds. Favored at 8-5 while in search of his third consecutive victory following an eight-month layoff, the $1.4-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga graduate box-seated the 8 1/2-furlong contest as Maycocks Bay (Speightstown) led in advance of the Japanese-bred import through modest early fractions. Full of run on the turn beneath Jose Ortiz, Hall of Fame angled...

9th-Fair Grounds, $55,000, Msw, 2-15, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:44.49, ft, 2 lengths. YINZER (c, 3, Twirling Candy--Rehearsed, by Tapit) got the job done here on his fourth try after finishing third on debut last November at Churchill Downs, and then fifth in his second start at Fair Grounds with first-time Lasix as well as last out at this venue Jan. 18. Sent off at 11-1 odds, the $1-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale graduate went right to the front after the jump and established a tempo through :23.70 and a half in...

4th-FG, $55K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 2:30 p.m. ET. A $1.15 million buy for Mike Rutherford during Keeneland September, BUNDLE (Volatile) makes her debut for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Bred by Three Chimneys, the gray is out of MGISW Love and Pride (A.P. Indy), who is responsible for a pair of stakes winners in Princesinha Julia (Pioneerof the Nile) and Bella Runner (Gun Runner). Bundle's third dam, GISW Cara Rafaela (Quiet American), produced generational sire Bernardini (A.P. Indy). TJCIS PPS 4th-GP, $94K, Msw, 3yo, 1m, 1:47 p.m. ET....

5th-FG, $58K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:15 p.m. ET. Whisper Hill homebred STRAIGHT FORWARD (American Pharoah) makes her first start for Mandy Pope and trainer Steve Asmussen. The filly's dam, Aloof (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), was acquired by the farm at the 2014 Keeneland November Sale for a cool $3.9 million. Herself out of English Group 1 winner Airwave (GB) (Air Express {Ire}), Aloof is a half-sister to the dam of full-siblings MG1SW Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G1SW Clemmie. Set for her unveiling is another homebred, Good Going (Mendelssohn),...

"Try something different, you know? Sometimes it's good for you." Those are the words of jockey Jose Ortiz, currently in a race of his own atop the standings with 44 winners (through Thursday, Jan. 16) in his first winter riding at Fair Grounds. Jareth Loveberry is a distant second with 29 winners. A mainstay on the New York Racing Association circuit for more than a decade (he was leading rider there three times--2016, 2020 & 2021) and also a regular at Gulfstream Park's Championship Meet, the 31-year-old decided to shake...

Leading all trainers in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Steve Asmussen and Brad Cox-who finished 2024 with 96 victories apiece--sent out a combined 1,038 starters throughout the nine meets at Kentucky's five thoroughbred racetracks. Approximately 24% of Asmussen's North America-leading 407 overall victories came in Kentucky, while about 41% of Cox's 243 seasonal wins came in his home state. Asmussen, who started 670 horses in the state last year, won meet titles at Churchill (spring and fall), Ellis Park (tied with Brendan Walsh) and Kentucky Downs (tied with Walsh and Joe...