Steve Asmussen

There are no rules or even guidelines when it comes to choosing horses or humans for Eclipse Awards. There is though, at least in the human categories, conventional wisdom. Just pick the person whose stable earned the most money. That's what most voters do. If you base your vote on that criteria, Chad Brown is the obvious pick for trainer of the year. Through Nov. 9, his stable has earned $29,707,240. Steve Asmussen is second at $25,736,730. Brown leads all trainers in graded stakes wins (46) and Grade I wins...

North American track record-setter Cogburn (Not This Time) will stand at WinStar Farm for an opening fee of $30,000 S&N, the farm announced Tuesday. The GI Jaipur Stakes winner arrived in good order at WinStar Farm and will be available for showing at WinStar's open houses each day Nov. 6-15, between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors are welcome without an appointment during the designated times. Cogburn set a North American record for 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf in that Jaipur win, completing the distance in a final time...

1st-GP, $65k, Msw, 2yo, f, 7 1/2fT, 12:00p.m. ET Sumdge (Quality Road) debuts in Florida on Breeders' Cup Saturday, tabbed at 4-1 odds on the morning line for owner D J Stable and trainer Mark Casse. Sold at KEESEP in 2023 for $525,000, she is a half-sister to the ill-fated GISW Mongolian Groom (Hightail) as well as five-time winner Ice Bar (Keen Ice) and one other winner. Dam Bourbonesque (Dynaformer) is a half-sister to SP Cologne (Horse Chestnut {SAf}), who is the dam of MGSW Dragon Bay (Parading). The is...

Multiple Group 1 winner 'TDN Rising Star' City of Troy (Justify) was the first horse into the quarantine barn from the 11-horse Saturday evening ship-in for Ballydoyle at Del Mar, as per a Breeders' Cup release, which references information from the International Racing Bureau. The Aidan O'Brien-trained star is scheduled to make a first appearance on track Tuesday morning. Many of the European horses used the weighing scale in the quarantine barn and connections are reporting positive prognoses for their runners. The arrivals will remain in quarantine until Monday afternoon...

Voila Magic, the 9-2 third choice in this inexperienced group, wanted the front but had to contend with Acknowledge (Authentic) early to his inside. The pair dueled past the half-mile pole in :46.03 and it was Voila Magic who went on with things, putting that rival away off the far turn and opening up on his wrong lead to cruise home ridden out 5 3/4 lengths in front of 2-1 favorite Ennis Town (Echo Town). Voila Magic is Volatile (by Violence)'s second 'TDN Rising Star', joining Saratoga maiden winner and...

7th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 4:12 p.m. ET. SERAPHIA (Gun Runner) makes her first start for owners Twin Creeks, Jackpot, Whispering Oaks and Rick Ortyl. Initially, the filly was taken home for $675,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale before going for $1 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the juvenile is out of Temptress (Tapit), who was acquired for $400,000 by Avenue Bloodstock at the Keeneland November Sale while Seraphia was in-utero. A half-sister to GSW Donegal Moon (Malibu Moon), Temptress...

Three Chimneys's Gun Pilot will take up stud duty alongside his sire, Gun Runner, for the 2025 breeding season, the farm said in Wednesday press release. A five-time stakes entrant, Gun Pilot's highest achievement came this year on the Derby undercard where he took home the GI Churchill Downs Stakes. The homebred will be making his final start in the GI Cygames Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar, which comes off a runner-up performance in the GI Forego at Saratoga. A stud fee will be announced following the Breeders Cup. "I...

With a racing move as ageless as the racetrack itself, it was Zeitlos (Curlin--Thyme For Roses {Aus}, by Redoute's Choice {Aus}) who made a timeless move to the rail and got up for the win in the GII Thoroughbred Club of American Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday afternoon. The score meant that the 4-year-old not only earned her first graded stakes victory, but she took home a prized ticket to enter the starting gate in the GI PNC Bank Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar next month....

Some people only look for difficulties. Others seek solutions. Between those categories, it's not hard to place Joe Pickerrell and his wife Courtney. Having attended a couple of family weddings in South Africa, and been blown away by the venue each time, they struggled to find anywhere remotely comparable when planning their own nuptials back in Florida. Well, they thought, that was not just frustrating. Might it also be a business opportunity? So they found this amazing 1850 barn in Canada, dismantled it, and had it shipped and reassembled, beam...

4th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 7:26 p.m. ET. Well-bred MISCHIEVOUS TIME (Not This Time) makes his first start for trainer Steve Asmussen. The Whisper Hill homebred is from unraced dam Daisy Mason (Orientate), who Mandy Pope and Gainesway acquired for $475,000 during the Keeneland November Sale while Mischievous Time was in-utero. This dam is herself out of Broodmare of the Year Leslie's Lady (Tricky Creek) who prolifically produced all-conquering sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday), current sire Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) and the multiple Eclipse winning Beholder (Henny Hughes). Also set for...

A stallion share in North American record holder and GISW Cogburn (Not This Time) will be sold at the inaugural Keeneland Championship Sale, to be held the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 30 at Del Mar, site of the 2024 Breeders' Cup World Championships on Nov. 1-2, according to a Wednesday release by Keeneland. The 5-year-old, who has amassed nearly $2.4 million in earnings over 15 starts, has won all three of his 2024 races: the GI Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga in North American record time of :59.80 for 5 1/2...

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...