Gun Runner

On his drive from Saratoga to Kentucky Downs Tuesday, Steve Asmussen stopped in every state he drove through and bought lottery tickets. Shocking that he didn't win. Coming off one of the greatest week-and-a-half stretches in racing history, during which he won five Grade I races in Saratoga over nine days, Asmussen was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN Writer's Room, presented by Keeneland. If that wasn't enough, two of his wins, Gunite in the GI Hopeful S. and Echo Zulu in the GI Spinaway...

There's no doubt that Gunite (Gun Runner) is a quality horse and he secured an important win Monday at Saratoga in the GI Hopeful S when upsetting the highly regarded colts Wit (Practical Joke) and High Oak (Gormley). But is he a GI Kentucky Derby winner? If the last 43 runnings of the Hopeful mean anything, the answer is no. The Hopeful is the first Grade I race for 2-year-old males run each year on the NYRA calendar and always brings together groups of horses who were impressive winners in...

Gunite (Gun Runner) capped off a remarkable summer for both his freshman sire and his trainer on closing day Monday at Saratoga, shaking off pace pressure and kicking away in the stretch to an 11-1 upset of the GI Hopeful S. His well-earned victory made it a clean sweep of the Spa's annual marquee 2-year-old races for Three Chimneys Farm's freshman sensation Gun Runner after Echo Zulu dominated the GI Spinaway S. Sunday, and was the icing on the cake for Steve Asmussen, who had his most successful Saratoga season...

L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) became her freshman sire's first Grade I winner, third graded winner overall--and his second of the upstate meet--with a wire-to-wire victory in the GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga Sunday. "I can't measure how much I wanted to have Gun Runner's first Grade I winner," admitted Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who also conditioned the 2017 Horse of the Year. "Everything he did for the barn, he's obviously a tremendous sire and somebody had to be first, but I'm...

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following her 5 1/2-length debut victory at Saratoga July 15, will attempt to add to her freshman sire's growing list of graded stakes winners when she goes postward in the GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga Sunday. Her first-out effort earned her a 92 Beyer Speed Figure--the highest recorded figure for a 2-year-old filly this year. "The idea was always that she could be a Saratoga 2-year-old," said Winchell Thoroughbreds' racing and bloodstock advisor David...

Ron Winchell joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the approaching race meet at Kentucky Downs and relive some of his favorite moments with Grade I winners Gun Runner and Summerly.

One of the great success stories in American racing over the last decade or so has been the emergence of Kentucky Downs, which opens its 2021 six-day meet on Sunday. Much of that has to do with the stewardship on Ron Winchell, who, along with partner Marc Falcone, purchased the track in 2019. Thanks in large part to Historical Horse Racing machines, Kentucky Downs was already making plenty of money when Winchell and Falcone took over, but they never grew complacent. Rather, they have continually looked to make Kentucky Downs...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Sunday running at Kokura and Niigata Racecourses: Sunday, August 29, 2021 5th-KOK, ¥13,400,000 ($122k), Newcomers, 2yo, 2000mT PEACE FINE (c, 2, Gun Runner--Status Pending, by Tale of the Cat) is out of a stakes-winning half-sister to MSW & GSP Rock Candy (Mineshaft), GSP...

3rd-Indiana Grand, $36,000, Alw, 8-23, (NW2L), 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.89, ft, 8 1/4 lengths. JOYRUNNER (f, 2, Gun Runner--Joy {MSW, $250,544}, by Pure Prize) passed five of her eight rivals in the final furlong to annex her July 8 debut going a sloppy 5 1/2 furlongs and was the 11-10 chalk to put them back-to-back. The McIngvale colorbearer hopped a bit at the break, but was patiently handled and raced three wide into the turn. Roused to the front nearing the quarter pole, the Maryland-bred drifted out off the home...

6th-Ellis, $51,000, Msw, 8-13, 2yo, 1m, 1:35.96, ft, 4 1/4 lengths. GUNTOWN (c, 2, Gun Runner--Fun House {Broodmare Of The Year, GSW, $432,922}, by Prized) added to his freshman sire (by Candy Ride {Arg})'s red-hot run, becoming Gun Runner's 10th winner right on the heels of a pair of graded stakes wins for the Three Chimneys inmate last weekend and a strong showing at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale earlier in the week. A $750,000 buyback last September, Guntown rallied for third after a rough start going seven furlongs here July...

Michael Dubb and Michael Caruso's Doctor Jeff (Street Boss), a first-out winner in a six-furlong off-turf maiden special weight at Belmont Park July 10, will step right up to graded company as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in Saturday's GII Saratoga Special S. The chestnut colt earned a Special field-high 78 Beyer Speed Figure for his 2 1/4-length debut win and he has recorded three breezes over the main track at Saratoga, including a bullet five-furlong work in :59.61 Sunday, for trainer Rudy Rodriguez. "I'm just very happy with the way...

Everyone knows how the system works; how lavishly choreographed is the promotion of new sires. Center stage is cleared, the footlights are turned up, the make-up and costume departments go into overdrive. But we also know that most of them will go out there, clear their throats nervously, and murmur a few lines that barely qualify them, in the longer term, for a place in the back row of the chorus line. Every now and then, however, one of these rookies steps up and you sense within moments that a...