Steve Asmussen

A well-matched field of eight is set to line up for Wednesday's GII Honorable Miss Stakes at Saratoga. Riding a three-race win streak, Juddmonte's Accede (Into Mischief) posted a last-out neck victory in the seven-furlong GII Bed 'O Roses at the Big A June 15. Trained by Chad Brown, the homebred previously recorded a pair of wins at Keeneland at the oval's Fall and Spring meets, including a 1 3/4-length score going six panels against optional claiming company in her seasonal return Apr. 24. "We'll plan on keeping her running...

4th-DMR, $75K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5f, 6:36 p.m. ET. CASALU (Caracaro) was taken home for $775,000 by the Three Amigos--Pegram, Watson and Weitman--at this year's OBS April Sale. Sent to Bob Baffert, the filly posted a four-furlong bullet drill of :46.40 (1/54) at Santa Anita July 8. Out of Key d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), the juvenile has a 4-year-old half-sister in SP Twirled (Twirling Candy) and a yearling half-brother by Vekoma. Casalu's second dam is herself a full-sister to sire Yankee Gentleman (Storm Cat). TJCIS PPS 7th-ELP, $71K, Msw, 2yo, f,...

3rd-Horseshoe Indianapolis, $32,000, Msw, 7-15, 2yo, 5f, :59.70, ft, 4 lengths. MAYBE EYE'LL CALL (c, 2, Improbable--You Caught My Eye, by Can the Man) became the first winner for his sadly departed stallion (by City Zip) with an easy second-out success. Facing considerably easier competition after finishing 10th in his June 20 unveiling at Churchill Downs, the 7-10 chalk was able to avoid  a messy start caused by the veering-in Govenor Hank (Govenor Charlie), was nursed along on the front end and proved four lengths best on the wire. You...

Carlos Rosas is running out of fingers to count on as he rattles off the names of Breeders' Cup champions he has sat on over the years. As an exercise rider for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen for the past two decades, Rosas has played a role in developing an impressive list of superstars. There's 2014 Distaff winner Untapable and 2011 Juvenile Fillies heroine My Miss Aurelia, plus Breeders' Cup runner-ups Midnight Bisou and Tapiture. The list goes on from there. Curlin was one of his earliest claim to...

Cogburn (Not This Time--In a Jif, by Saintly Look), who most recently won the GI Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga in North American-record time, will stand at WinStar Farm upon his retirement. The Central Kentucky nursery has entered a partnership with the ownership group of the 5-year-old, which includes Clark Brewster, William and Corinne Heiligbrodt and Lindy Farms, to acquire the breeding rights to Cogburn, his sire's chief money spinner in 2024. "There are not many times in life you get to stand the fastest horse in the world," said Elliott...

Informed Patriot (Hard Spun), just two days removed from a third-place finish in the GIII Indiana Derby, brought the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale to a crescendo when selling for $1.55 million to Prince Saud bin Salman Abdulaziz. Bloodstock agent Ibrahim Rachid made the winning bid on behalf of the prince and said the sophomore would be aimed at next year's G1 Saudi Cup. Campaigned by J Kirk and Judy Robison and trained by Steve Asmussen, Informed Patriot was purchased for $90,000 as a Keeneland September sale....

Informed Patriot (Hard Spun), third in Saturday's GIII Indiana Derby, has been added to the line-up for the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, which will be held Monday in Lexington. He is catalogued as hip 523 and consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent. Third in last year's GIII Street Sense Stakes, Informed Patriot opened his sophomore campaign with a third-place effort in the Smarty Jones Stakes. He won the Bathhouse Row Stakes at Oaklawn in April. Racing for J. Kirk and Judy Robison and trained by...

Every year, the Fasig-Tipton July sale offers the first chance for buyers to get a look at a new crop of yearling sires. Many buyers were seeing these sires' yearlings for the first time this week, and while it's admittedly early, we took a little survey to get their first impressions. The group includes: Basin, Beau Liam, By My Standards, Charlatan, Core Beliefs, Essential Quality, Independence Hall, Knicks Go, Known Agenda, Leinster, Lexitonian, Maxfield, Modernist, Raging Bull, Rock Your World, Silver State, Tacitus, Uncle Chuck, and Yaupon. LIZ CROW: Tacitus...

4th-ELP, 71K, Msw, f, 2yo, 1mT, 2:21 p.m. The latest to the races for extraordinary broodmare Dynaire, TAKE NOTE OF THIS (Ghostzapper) is a full-sister to GSW and track record-setter Wolfie's Dynaghost and a half to GI Sword Dancer Stakes winner Sadler's Joy (Kitten's Joy). From nine foals to race out of the mare, seven have been winners also including SP Lunaire (Malibu Moon) and SP Dyna Passer (Lemon Drop Kid). Take Note of This, purchased for $550,000 as a yearling at Keeneland last September, races for Douglas Scharbauer out...

The 2024 Churchill Downs Spring Meet leading jockey race came down to the wire on closing day Sunday with Tyler Gaffalione and Jose Ortiz tying for the most wins. Gaffalione and Ortiz shared leading rider honors with 45 wins apiece. For Gaffalione, it was his 12th Churchill Downs title as leading jockey. It was the first local championship for Ortiz, who began riding in Kentucky this spring. Luis Saez, who had 32 wins following Day 42 of the 43-day meeting, was in third place followed by Florent Geroux (22), Cristian...

On Sunday July 7, a memorial service at the Belmont Chaplaincy Center will be held in honor of Toby Sheets, the former assistant to Steve Asmussen who passed away in Greece earlier this month, according to a tweet sent on X by NYRA paddock analyst Maggie Wolfendale. The memorial will take place between 5:30 p.m. ET to 9:00 p.m. ET, and a special service is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. Wolfendale said that the event will be live streamed for those who cannot attend in person. Sheets, who was last...

Toby Sheets, the former assistant to Steve Asmussen, died from drowning, Ioannis Aivatidis, the coroner in Corfu, Greece who performed the autopsy, told ABC News on Tuesday. Sheets disappeared last Tuesday, and was found dead on the beach on the island of Mathraki, in Greece, on Sunday.  ABC said that the U.S. Embassy was working to have Sheets's body sent home to the United States. Sheets, 55, lived in Floral Park, New York, near Belmont Park. He had last been seen alive on Tuesday, June 11 at a bar on...