Steve Asmussen

Trainer Steve Asmussen reported Sunday that leading 3-year-old Epicenter (Not This Time), who was pulled up on the backstretch of Saturday's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, had two screws inserted to stabilize a fracture in his condylar joint and is expected to make a full recovery for his future stallion career. "Epicenter had a lateral condylar fracture of his right front," Asmussen said in a statement. "This morning, Dr. Larry Bramlage inserted two screws to stabilize the injury and the horse is up and resting in his stall. After surgery,...

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen sent out a trio of breezers Sunday morning at Keeneland to their final preparations for next weekend's Breeders' Cup World Championships. GI Classic contender Epicenter (Not This Time) covered a half-mile in an easy :50.80 (23/25); GI Juvenile Fillies-bound Grand Love (Gun Runner) went the same distance in :50.20 (19/25); and streaking GI Distaff hopeful Society (Gun Runner) got the half-mile in :49.60 (12/25). "Epicenter worked a nice, smooth half-mile," Asmussen said. "I am extremely pleased with how he is coming into the Classic."...

It will be a busy couple of days for Flightline (Tapit), who will be the heavy favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 5. Just two days later, a 2.5% share in the future stallion will be auctioned off as part of the Keeneland November sale. The auction will be conducted with a first-of-its-kind Metaverse experience which intends to replicate the excitement of the November Sale. To get the latest on Flightline, we called in one of his co-owners, Bill Farish, to talk about racing's most exciting horse on...

Champion Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) and probable champion Epicenter (Not This Time) topped a busy worktab for Steve Asmussen's potential Breeders' Cup starters Sunday morning at Keeneland as the racing world draws closer than two weeks away from the 39th World Championships in Lexington Nov. 4-5. With exercise rider Wilson Fabian aboard, Echo Zulu drilled five furlongs in :59 2/5 in company with Marsalis (Curlin). The move was the fastest five-eighths of 30 Sunday over the fast main track. Echo Zulu, who returned off a layoff to win the GIII...

Sent off the lukewarm 5-2 choice, Winchell Thoroughbred's Wicked Halo (Gun Runner) made that price seem like a gift after rolling home an emphatic four-length winner in Saturday's GII Lexus Raven Run S. at Keeneland. Settled in third, Wicked Halo waited as Smash Ticket (Midnight Lute) sprinted to the front and carved out an opening quarter in :22.73 while Freedom Speaks (American Freedom) pressed the issue. Three wide and ready to pounce at any moment following a half in :46.09, Wicked Halo collared the front-running duo while fanned out several...

In another dominating display of talent, Gunite pounced on dueling rivals and rolled home to a flashy victory in Keeneland's Perryville S. Second to fleet-footed stakes-winner Conagher (Jimmy Creed) in a non-winners of three at Churchill Downs June 3, he parlayed that effort into victories in that track's Maxfield S., Saratoga's GII Amsterdam S., and a runner-up effort two-back to Jack Christopher (Munnings) in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. Returning to winning ways last out Sept. 24 in the Harrods Creek S. beneath the Twin Spires over familiar...

Trainer Steve Asmussen sent five Breeders' Cup contenders out to work Sunday at Keeneland. Grade I-winning fillies Clairiere (Curlin) and Society (Gun Runner), working in company, went five furlongs in a bullet :59.80 (1/34) in preparation for the Nov. 5 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. The duo worked through fractions of :11.80, :23.80, :35.60, :47.60, :59.80 and out six furlongs in 1:13.20. Epicenter (Not This Time), off since winning the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 27, worked five furlongs in company in 1:00.20 (3/34) in preparation for the Nov. 5 GI...

EXTRA ANEJO, a $1,350,000 KEESEP purchase bet down to 7-5 for his debut performance, backed up those odds with an impressive romp on debut to earn 'TDN Rising Star' status. After breaking on top, he took steady pressure from a pair of rivals to his outside up the backstretch run. He began to edge clear under his own power into the far turn and showed another gear when asked with a single tap of the crop at the top of the lane to draw off readily. Under a motionless Tyler...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency                        7th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 4:12 p.m. Purchased by Winchell Thoroughbreds for $1,350,000 out of last year's Keeneland September Sale, EXTRA ANEJO (Into Mischief) debuts Thursday for trainer Steve Asmussen. A bay son of Superioritycomplex (Ire) (Hard Spun), herself a half-sister to MGSP Abingdon (Street Cry {Ire}), he hails from the extended family of MG1SW & American champion grass mare Islington (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), G1SW & MG1SP Greek Dance (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), GSW &...

Wicked Whisper (Liam's Map - Zayanna, by Bernardini) made quite an impression in Saratoga during the summer of 2019 when she cruised to a 6 1/4-length juvenile maiden win and earned 'TDN Rising Star' status. That victory was just the beginning for the striking chestnut, who went on to become a Grade I winner at two and a graded winner at three. Now, she prepares to go through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale carrying her first foal by Curlin. "Wicked Whisper has every ingredient to be a foundation...

Private Creed, a last-out winner of the $500,000 Global Tote Juvenile Turf Sprint S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 8, added another notch to the win column in Sunday's Indian Summer S. while earning an automatic spot in the starting gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint S. to be run over the same Keeneland course and distance Nov. 4. Off as the second choice with the scratch odds-on morning-line favorite Love Reigns (Ire) (U S Navy Flag)--who is reportedly training up to the Breeders' Cup--Private Creed was taken...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency                          7th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 3:50 p.m.A Three Chimneys homebred, FLIRTING GIRL (Gun Runner) debuts Sunday at Churchill Downs for trainer Steve Asmussen. Out of the Chester House mare House of Danzing, Flirting Girl is a half-sister to GISW & Lane's End sire Twirling Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}), GSW Dubai Sky (Candy Ride {Arg]), and GSW Ethnic Dance (Tribal Rule). TJCIS PPS