Steve Asmussen

Last year Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen captured both the GI Hopeful S. at Saratoga and GI Champagne S. at Belmont with the fleet-footed Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) and he looks to repeat that feat Saturday when he saddles Gunite (Gun Runner) in this year's Champagne. The stallion-making race offers a spot in the gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile in November. A third-out graduate going six panels at Churchill Downs June 26, Gunite finished second behind 'TDN Rising Star' High Oak (Gormley) in the GII Saratoga Special S....

Stonestreet homebred Clairiere (Curlin) kicked home convincingly in Saturday's GI Cotillion S. at Parx to earn a first highest-level victory and snap a five-race winless streak while capping an exacta for her sire. A neck winner of the GII Rachel Alexandra S. in February, the Steve Asmussen pupil was second best to familiar foe Travel Column (Frosted) in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks a month later. She was fourth behind fellow Stonestreet product Malathaat (Curlin) in the GI Kentucky Oaks Apr. 30, third in the GII Mother Goose S. at...

Leading sprinter Jackie's Warrior, who defeated Life is Good (Into Mischief) to win the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. Aug. 28 at Saratoga, followed up that rival's win in the GII Kelso H. at Belmont Saturday afternoon with an effortless victory of his own at Parx. Displaying his normal early dash, Jackie's Warrior clicked off an opening quarter in :21.97, though he did have some token 'pressure' from the rail-drawn Real Talk. Dispatching  that rival with consummate ease at the three-furlong pole, Jackie's Warrior was past the half-mile in :44.13,...

Already with a pair of Grade III victories in his rearview, JIL Stable's Mr. Wireless (Dialed In) will look to make it three in a row in Sunday night's GIII Oklahoma Derby at Remington. A debut fifth with a tough trip going six furlongs Mar. 4 at Fair Grounds, the gelding earned a pair of hard-fought nose successes Mar. 27 and May 1 at Oaklawn before finishing a close second at 14-1 in the sloppy-track Texas Derby May 31 at Lone Star. Cruising to a sharp 3 3/4-length score in...

The second-, third-, fourth and last-place finishers from Saratoga's GI Alabama S. comprise half of what is expected to be a field of eight for Saturday's GI Cotillion S. at Parx Racing. Private Mission (Into Mischief), recent winner of the GIII Torrey Pines S., did not make the trip in from California. Clairiere (Curlin) won the GII Rachel Alexandra S. at the Fair Grounds on her seasonal debut, but was second in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks and a one-paced fourth to 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) in the GI...

L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds' Stellar Tap (Tapit) wowed spectators with a TDN Rising Star-worthy performance at Saratoga Aug. 7 and will try to prove that it wasn't a fluke in Saturday's GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill Downs. Out of a half-sister to GISW Nereid (Rock Hard Ten), the $250,000 KEESEP graduate showed early speed for trainer Steve Asmussen navigating seven furlongs in his debut and turned on all boosters late, drawing away to score by 5 1/4 lengths over Keepcalmcarryon (Union Rags), who won at that venue...

GISW Basin (Liam's Map-Appenzell, by Johannesburg) has been retired from racing and will stand at Spendthrift Farm in 2022. Standing for a fee of $7,500 S&N, the 4-year-old will participate in the farm's "Share The Upside" program. "We are excited to add Basin to the Spendthrift stallion ranks and to be able to offer breeders a horse of his caliber through our Share The Upside program," said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift General Manager. "We pride ourselves on being able to offer quality at all levels, and we believe there's a lot...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-BEL, $90k, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 3:38 p.m. ET Seven horses make their career debut in this potential-laden nine-horse field, headed by PROTONIC POWER (Protonico), part of an uncoupled entry for the Todd Pletcher barn. Owned by Sumaya US Stable, who campaigned his sire, the colt is out of Grade III winner Sheza Smoke Show (Wilko), making him a half to 2020 OBS April topper and subsequent Grade I winner Princess Noor (Not This Time). The bay stayed home at Belmont for the summer and...

Three yearlings in the Keeneland September Sale catalogue received big updates over the weekend when their year-older siblings captured Grade Is at two of America's premiere race meets over the holiday weekend. GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity S. winner Pinehurst's (Twirling Candy) yearling half-brother by Cairo Prince sold prior to the juvenile's breakout score, bringing $120,000 from pinhooker Randy Bradshaw at Fasig-Tipton's New York-Bred Yearling Sale in mid-August. However, the winners of the GI TVG Del Mar Debutante S., GI Spinaway S. and GI Hopeful S. will be represented by...

According to a Sept. 8 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has agreed to pay $563,800 in back wages and damages covering 170 employees. The amount is derived from $281,900 in unpaid wages plus another $281,900 in damages. The plaintiff in the case was Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh, who had filed a complaint against Asmussen's KED Equine LLC and Asmussen Racing Stables. The period in question runs from June 7, 2016 through at least Sept....

Early in the Saratoga meeting, Steve Asmussen broke the all-time record of number of winners for a North American trainer. It was a remarkable achievement in a remarkable career, and comes at the age of just 55 years old. It turns out he was just warming up. In a remarkable closing rush to the meeting, Asmussen won nine Grade I races in five days, including one a day in each of the last three days of the week when he sent out Echo Zulu to win the Spinaway, Gunite to...

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...