Steve Asmussen

Covfefe (Into Mischief) flashed her brilliance during her dominant debut win in 2018, but proved to be a forced to reckoned with on the female sprinter circuit in 2019, as well as the best 3-year-old filly of the year. Opening her sophomore account with a facile optional claimer score at Keeneland in April, the flashy bay set a new track record when romping by 8 1/2 lengths in Pimlico's GIII Adena Springs Miss Preakness S. May 17. Third behind Grade I winner Mia Mischief (Into Mischief) when facing her elders...

Four colts from the Steve Asmussen barn, three of which have big chances, give the Hall of Fame trainer a strong hand in Friday's Smarty Jones S., the opening-day feature at Oaklawn Park. The two-turn, one-mile test is the first of a four-race GI Kentucky Derby prep series at the Hot Springs oval and promises 10 Derby qualifying points to the winner. Given a slight nod on the morning line at 5-2 is Ed and Susie Orr's Silver Prospector (Declaration of War). Failing to make an impact in three turf...

Finite had to fight for it, but her class saw her through on the day as she gutted out a narrow victory over pacesetting Ursula while earning 10 more qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Oaks. Three wide out of the stretch for the first time, the homebred filly continued to cover ground on the second turn and was three and four wide off the final corner. With Ricardo Santana, Jr., throwing everything he had at her, she eyeballed the longtime leader with a furlong to race and clawed that...

Sent off the lesser-preferred half of an uncoupled Steve Asmussen-trained entry at 13-1, Echo Town (Speightstown) was consigned to a three-wide, no-cover trip, but nonetheless went through his gears in a fast final quarter-mile to become the afternoon's second 'TDN Rising Star' in the Big Easy. Content to track from off the pace while monitoring the every move of his even-money stablemate Earner (Carpe Diem), a $425,000 Keeneland September graduate, Echo Town--himself a $100,000 purchase by the connections of GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee (Lookin At Lucky)--ranged up...

6th-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 8fT, 2:02 p.m. ET Courtlandt Farm's OR'EFFICE (Medaglia d'Oro), a $725,000 KEESEP yearling, took some money in his career bow going a mile on the dirt at Aqueduct Dec. 7 and finished fourth. Out of multiple graded-stakes winner Grace Hall (Empire Maker), the Mark Hennig trainee will receive the services of Javier Castellano for his turf debut. TJCIS PPs 4th-FG, $50K, Alw/Opt.Clm., 3yo, 8.5f, 2:27 p.m. ET West Point Thoroughbreds, Chester and Mary Broman and Woodford Racing's CHESTERTOWN (Tapit), the $2-million topper from last year's OBS...

The inaugural US$29.2-million Saudi Cup program, to be held at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in the capital of Riyadh Saturday, Feb. 29, has attracted 964 entries from connections of horses from all corners of the globe. The meeting's centerpiece is the $20-million Saudi Cup at 1800 meters on dirt and attracted over 140 nominations from 60 different trainers from four continents, representing 16 countries. The world's richest horse race has entries from Argentina, Bahrain, Japan, Korea, Poland and Turkey, but American runners figure to take all the beating. Midnight Bisou (Midnight...

Magic Dance (More Than Ready), the TDN Rising Star who stumbled at the start of the GII Adirondack S. at Saratoga Sunday, sustained a bone bruise in her left front leg in the incident and will be off for an undetermined amount of time, according to her trainer, Steve Asmussen. "It was a result of the stumble that she had in the Adirondack which broke the skin in the back of her left front ankle," said Asmussen from Saratoga Friday morning. "It was quite a significant stumble. She actually burned...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The countdown to next year's inaugural Saudi Cup officially began Wednesday evening with a gala organized by the race's officials in the walking ring at the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds in Saratoga. The race, scheduled to be run next Feb. 29 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, will be run over 1800 meters of the dirt track and will be worth $20 million--making it the world's richest race. The field will have a maximum of 14 runners, with $10 million going to the winner. Hosted by television...

According to published reports, the U.S. Labor Department has filed a lawsuit against trainer Steve Asmussen alleging that, since 2012, the trainer's KDE Equine has not paid Churchill Downs stable workers overtime and has failed to keep proper employment records regarding wages paid and hours worked. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville, KY. "They just have a fundamental misunderstanding, honestly, of the hours that these folks work and how they're paid," Asmussen's attorney Clark Brewster told Louisville Courier-Journal. "And even if they were correct in their...