Steve Asmussen

There's no doubt that Gunite (Gun Runner) is a quality horse and he secured an important win Monday at Saratoga in the GI Hopeful S when upsetting the highly regarded colts Wit (Practical Joke) and High Oak (Gormley). But is he a GI Kentucky Derby winner? If the last 43 runnings of the Hopeful mean anything, the answer is no. The Hopeful is the first Grade I race for 2-year-old males run each year on the NYRA calendar and always brings together groups of horses who were impressive winners in...

Gunite (Gun Runner) capped off a remarkable summer for both his freshman sire and his trainer on closing day Monday at Saratoga, shaking off pace pressure and kicking away in the stretch to an 11-1 upset of the GI Hopeful S. His well-earned victory made it a clean sweep of the Spa's annual marquee 2-year-old races for Three Chimneys Farm's freshman sensation Gun Runner after Echo Zulu dominated the GI Spinaway S. Sunday, and was the icing on the cake for Steve Asmussen, who had his most successful Saratoga season...

L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) became her freshman sire's first Grade I winner, third graded winner overall--and his second of the upstate meet--with a wire-to-wire victory in the GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga Sunday. "I can't measure how much I wanted to have Gun Runner's first Grade I winner," admitted Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who also conditioned the 2017 Horse of the Year. "Everything he did for the barn, he's obviously a tremendous sire and somebody had to be first, but I'm...

George Hall and Sport BLX Thoroughbreds' Max Player (Honor Code) will train up to the Nov. 6 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar following his win in Saturday's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, trainer Steve Asmussen confirmed Sunday. "Max Player is better than he's ever been and physically he's developed into this," Asmussen said. "There's more of him. He's a horse that's continued to grow, fill out and mature. There's a lot more of Max Player as a 4-year-old than there was as a 3-year-old. He's bigger and stronger....

Having ascended through his conditions with aplomb, Pappacap (Gun Runner) hopes the trend continues in Monday's GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity. A first-out winner going five panels at Gulfstream May 14, the Rustlewood Farm homebred came from just off the pace to make it two straight in the Aug. 7 GII Best Pal S. Joe Bravo, who was aboard last time, reunites with the Florida bred again here. Never one to be disregarded, on either coast, trainer Steve Asmussen is represented by American Xperiment (Nyquist), who shipped to the West...

George Hall and SportBLX's Max Player (Honor Code) proved his bounce-back GII Suburban S. score in July was no fluke as he again showed more speed and pulled away to an emphatic victory in the repositioned GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga. A fringe player on last year's Triple Crown trail, the Steve Asmussen trainee has stamped himself as a legitimate GI Breeders' Cup Classic threat in two strong efforts at 10 furlongs, and earned an automatic berth into the year-end championship event Saturday as part of the "Win...

Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt's Yaupon (Uncle Mo--Modification, by Vindication), who became his sire's ninth Grade I winner with a tenacious victory in the Forego S. at Saratoga Aug. 28, will enter stud at Spendthrift Farm for the 2022 breeding season. The 4-year-old has the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar as his long-term objective before retiring to the stallion barn. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Yaupon was victorious in his first four career trips to the post, including Saratoga's GII Amsterdam S., clocking 1:08.50 for the six furlongs, and the...

Everything that top-class racing should be was on display over the last weekend. The six Grade l races at Saratoga on Saturday featured most of the leading horses in each division except older dirt males, and as a group they didn't disappoint, did they? Nor did their trainers. One race after another was dramatically decided at or close to the wire, and some of the runners-ups, including the Steve Asmussen-trained Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) in the Gl Runhappy Travers S. and the Todd Pletcher-conditioned Life is Good (Into Mischief) in the...

8th-Saratoga, $105,000, Alw (NW2$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 8-29, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 1:15.05, ft, 6 lengths. BEAU LIAM (c, 3, Liam's Map--Belle of Perintown {GSW, $265,465}, by Dehere) showed Sunday just how well-stocked the Steve Asmussen barn is with top sprinters, as he zipped away to his third win from as many tries as day after stablemates Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) and Yaupon (Uncle Mo) annexed the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. and GI Forego S., respectively. A shoe-in for 'TDN Rising Star'-dom off a 7 1/2-length debut drubbing at Churchill...

While Steve Asmussen was on the road to the Texas yearling sales Sunday morning, his team was still celebrating a pair of Grade I victories at Saratoga Saturday. Yaupon (Uncle Mo) captured the GI Forego S.  in a dramatic stretch run shortly before stablemate Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) battled to a determined victory in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. Asmussen also saddled Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) to a runner-up effort in the GI Runhappy Travers S. "I was so proud of how our horses ran yesterday. It was a...

This year's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. was billed as a match race between current divisional leader Jackie's Warrior and come-backing 'TDN Rising Star' Life is Good (Into Mischief). The race lived up to that and then some with Jackie's Warrior stubbornly holding off a determined and previously undefeated Life is Good for a narrow victory. The six-horse field moved as one through the opening strides, but 4-5 favorite Life is Good and 3-2 second-choice Jackie's Warrior quickly separated themselves with the former leading the latter by a length...

You had to see it to believe it. With Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior) savaging favored Yaupon (c, 4, Uncle Mo--Modification, by Vindication) repeatedly down the stretch in Saturday's GI Forego S. at Saratoga, the 2-1 pacesetter battled on gamely along the rail to secure a dramatic head victory. Chance It (Currency Swap) was third. "I will watch that replay many times in my future," winning trainer Steve Asmussen said. "For that to happen in a Grade I at Saratoga with two horses on the lead, that will be memorable. I...