Steve Asmussen

Travel plans for the GI Arkansas Derby runners are taking shape as top two Sandman (Tapit) and Publisher (American Pharoah) are scheduled to make the move to Churchill Monday. Positive prognoses abound Sunday as trainers prepared their charges for the haul to Churchill Downs ahead of the final preparations for the first Saturday in May. Sandman relished not only the added distance, as his dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse predicted, but also the meteoric pace up front courtesy of Cornucopian (Into Mischief) and Speed King (Volatile). His preliminary...

5th-GP, $94k, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 1:26p.m. ET Though not the most expensive in the field, TOTAL SENSATION (Speightstown) comes into this race with perhaps the best-known family as the son of Eblouissante (Bernardini), the half-sister to Hall of Famer Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}). A $300,000 yearling from KEESEP in 2023, and racing for the partnership of Qatar Racing, CHC, Inc., and Trilogy USA, the colt is a half-brother to GSW Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}) and GSP The Process (More Than Ready) from the family of the aforementioned Horse of...

In his first season in New Orleans, jockey Jose Ortiz was the runaway winner of the jockeys' premiership at the Fair Grounds, while Joe Sharp and Godolphin took home honors as leading trainer and owner, respectively. Ortiz rode the winners of 98 races during the meet, the most recorded by any jockey since Florent Geroux accumulated the same number of winners during the 2016-2017 season. Ortiz finished some 43 winner clear of Jareth Loveberry, with Ben Curtis in third on 49 winners. "I've had huge support from the trainers and...

Bob Baffert has found himself in a familiar position as he once again brings a well-met runner into Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby with all the buzz behind him, this time in the form of 'TDN Rising Star' Cornucopian (Into Mischief), who has been made the 7-5 morning line favorite from the nine hole. Fresh off an unveiling which garnered the stamp of approval from the TDN, and stopped the clock in a six-furlong maiden special in an eye-catching 1:09.02--the fastest by a 3-year-old in Oaklawn history--the son of Into Mischief...

Having already sent out the ultra-impressive Magnitude (Not This Time) to take last month's GII Risen Star Stakes, Steve Asmussen was back at it Saturday afternoon in New Orleans, as the Hall of Famer added the GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby with 15-2 chance Tiztastic (Tiz the Law). It was the Hall of Fame conditioner's fifth victory in the marquee event of the meeting in the Big Easy, equaling the record held by Todd Pletcher. An even fifth to Coal Battle (Coal Front) from an awkward draw in 12 in the...

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...