Steve Asmussen

TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack handicaps Saturday's GIII Iroquois Stakes and GIII Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs. GIII Pocahontas (Race 8) - Pretty Sure (#6) broke her maiden like a filly with a future, making a sustained four-wide rally on the far turn en route to a dominating come-from-behind debut score for Brendan Walsh going six furlongs at Ellis Park Aug. 25. She obviously lacks seasoning and faces a very tough group in this deep renewal of the Pocahontas--headed by deserving favorite Kimchi Cat (#13)--for just her second career...

The seven-day Kentucky Downs meet set another record for wagering, totaling $90,181,408 and up eight percent over last year, according to a press release from the track late Wednesday. That included a single-day record of $21,184,941 on the Saturday, Sept. 7 card featuring six graded stakes worth $2 million for Kentucky-breds ($1 million for others). As for the meet's leaders, jockey Tyler Gaffalione finished with nine wins, to pull even with Irad Ortiz Jr. for the riding title, while Brendan Walsh's sixth victory put him in a tie for the...

Tiztastic (Tiz the Law) used his late speed to effect and took home the second black-type for his first-crop sire (by Constitution) in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile on Sunday. A well-beaten fifth on debut over the main track at Saratoga July 27, the dark bay won against restricted auction company going 6 1/2 furlongs north of the Tennessee line Aug. 29. Showing an affinity for the unique course and as a 9-2 shot here, the juvenile took up a position mid-pack up the backstretch. Beginning to make up some...

Clark Brewster and William and Corinne Heiligbrodt's Cogburn (h, 5, Not This Time--In a Jif, by Saintly Look) made it a perfect three-for-three on the year with another powerhouse performance in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' $2-million GII Ainsworth Turf Sprint S. at Kentucky Downs. The even-money favorite blasted out to the front, raced under pressure while setting fast fractions of :21.82 and :44.14 and kept on motoring down the stretch to win going away by 3 1/4 lengths. Second-place finisher Khaadem (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and third-place finisher Axthelm...

You know how the quote reads directly from the handicapper's Bible, "Behold the pale horse with controlling speed." Heeding that warning arrives once again on Sunday. Halfway through the three-day holiday weekend of Thoroughbred racing, Saratoga and Del Mar card graded races. The Spa's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes, the penultimate 'Win and You're In' pass to the Breeders' Cup Classic, sets the tone with a myriad of intriguing storylines woven into this fleece as a half dozen entries will try to catch that aforementioned 'pale horse' Arthur's Ride...

Accelerating, looking to pick up where she left off in her statebred debut win at the Spa July 26, followed up with another winning effort, taking Sunday's Seeking The Ante Stakes at Saratoga. Bobbling out of the gate, Accelerating was hustled to the front, carving out an opening quarter in :22.69. Passing the quarter pole with Central to Success stuck on her outside hip, Accelerating was urged along and the New York-bred filly responded by drawing clear to a four-length victory over Carmen's Candy Jar. "We bobbled a little bit...

On Nov. 9 last year, veteran trainer Steve Klesaris shipped his mare She's Awesome from Delaware Park to Aqueduct to compete in the second race. When she arrived, the receiving barns were full, and so, She's Awesome (Flatter) was sent instead to the track's auxiliary stabling, used as an overflow. The auxiliary barn is adjacent to staff bathrooms, with a lot of foot traffic through it, said Klesaris. It's also used to stable ponies, he added. She's Awesome won that day. But a post-race test came up positive for the...

It's the surprises that keep us interested in pedigrees, and that applies as much to people as to horses. Cogburn, who recently sprinted to a world record in the GI Jaipur Stakes, is out of a mare by Saintly Look. Saintly Who? A son of Saint Ballado, and winner of the GIII Lecomte Stakes in 2003, Saintly Look covered a couple of small books in Indiana, in 2008 and 2009, and was then sold for $17,500 at the Keeneland November Sale. Cogburn's dam In a Jif was among nine named...

4th-ELP, $71K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 2:21 p.m. ET. PUBLISHER (American Pharoah), a $600,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale grad, debuts for owners Gus King and The Estate of Brereton C. Jones. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the bay colt is the first registered foal out of GSP Indian Pride (Proud Citizen), who is a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Biofuel (Stormin Fever) and Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Tu Endie Wei (Johar). Also to the post is first-time starter--trained by Cherie De Vaux--So Sandy (Omaha Beach), who was initially a 2022...

7th-ELP, $71K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 3:52 p.m. ET. ZANDVOORT (Good Magic) makes the races for owner Kaleem Shah, who took the colt home in May at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale for $525,000--the top juvenile price for his sire this year. Initially purchased by Superfine for $220,000 during Fasig-Tipton's October Yearling Sale, the Steve Asmussen trainee is out of a Discreet Cat mare who is a half-sister to a pair of multiple-stakes winners. TJCIS PPS

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Much like he rides Thoroughbreds, jockey Joel Rosario turned in patient, thorough and well-timed remarks Friday during his induction into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame. Rosario was the closer of the nine-member Class of 2024 at the ceremony at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion. Dominican Republic diplomat and horse owner Jose Singer introduced Rosario, noting that he was the first jockey from their country to be elected to the Hall of Fame. After Singer helped him don his Hall of Fame blazer, Rosario stepped...

Jockey Keith Asmussen has returned to the saddle following serious injuries suffered in a riding mishap June 1 at Churchill Downs, a press release from the track said on Friday. Asmussen has been galloping horses for his Hall of Fame father, Steve, this week under the Twin Spires. The jockey was transported to the hospital in Louisville with extensive injuries, including a fractured right femur and three broken ribs, and had surgery the following day. His mount, Singsational (Audible), who clipped heels, was able to get up under his own...