Lanerie, Asmussen and Moss take meet titles at Churchill
Downs
With a commanding lead entering the final day of the 2014
Churchill Downs spring meet, jockey Corey Lanerie had already clinched his fifth
Churchill Downs riding title with 55 wins entering Sunday’s closing day card.
The recent recipient of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey
Award captured his first title in the spring of 2012 when he tallied 71
victories, came back and won the title again in the fall of 2012 with 29 wins,
took the inaugural September meeting in 2013 with 19 wins and followed that with
another title last November where he rode 36 winners.
“Once you’ve accomplished a leading riding title you always want to repeat,” Lanerie said.
“It’s definitely a goal I set for myself coming
into this spring. I try not to look into the standings during the meet because I
don’t want it to affect my focus. So I just try to win as many as I can each
week to try to earn a good paycheck.”
Lanerie was scheduled to ride nine mounts on Sunday’s card,
totaling an unprecedented 253 mounts for the meet, at least 70 more than any
other jockey this spring under the Twin Spires.
“My agent plays a big role in my success and has a lot of connections here at
Churchill,” Lanerie explained. “Other than that, it’s just putting in work; I’ve
spent a lot of time here over the years and have been able to build up some
great relationships.”
The highlight of Lanerie’s meet was the win he took the
Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap on Molly Morgan for trainer Dale Romans.
“I’d say the Fleur de Lis was probably the most memorable for me this meet,
just because it was a graded stakes and we weren’t really expected to win that
one,” he noted.
Molly Morgan won the Fleur de Lis by four lengths at odds
of 10-1, defeating Grade 1 heroine On Fire Baby, multiple Grade 2 victress Fiftyshadesofhay and
Grade 3 vixen Flashy American.
Lanerie also was the only jockey to eclipse $2 million in
earnings, with $2,006,696 entering the final day of racing at Churchill.
“I’m lucky to have so many opportunities to ride and obviously the more
opportunities you have, the more you win,” Lanerie remarked. “People like me,
thank God, and fortunately they ask for me.”
In addition to the 55 wins from his 253 mounts, Lanerie
also has scored 47 second-place finishes and has ridden 44 third-place
finishers, putting his in-the-money percentage at 60 percent and win percentage a 22
percent
entering Sunday.
Trainer Steve Asmussen had also already wrapped up his 14th training title at
Churchill Downs entering the final day of spring racing under the Twin Spires.
It is the most titles ever won at the Louisville, Kentucky, racetrack.
Entering Sunday’s card, Asmussen had 19 wins, nine seconds
and 12 third-place efforts from 81 starters with earnings of $1,279,014. Highlighted by a victory in the
Kentucky Oaks with Untapable, Asmussen
captured a total of five stakes wins for the meet.
“It feels very good,” he noted. “It’s a special meet with Untapable winning
the Oaks. My assistants Darren Fleming and Galen Prewitt have done a wonderful
job for us and hopefully the hits keep coming.”
His other stakes winners this meet were Cinco Charlie, who
won Saturday’s Grade 3 Bashford Manor; Tapiture, who captured the Matt Winn; Speedinthruthecity,
scorer of the Roxelana; and Regally
Ready, victor of the Opening Verse.
Asmussen took his first training title in the fall of 2001,
saddling 13 winners. He has won the fall training title six times, the spring
title seven times and took the inaugural September meeting title in 2013.
Entering Sunday, Asmussen had saddled 516 winners at
Churchill Downs, third on the all-time list behind Bill Mott (678) and Dale
Romans (615).
With seven victories entering the final day of Churchill
Downs spring meeting, owner Maggi Moss had secured her third leading owner title, highlighted by a victory by Delaunay in the
Grade 3 Aristides.
Moss also captured leading owner honors in the spring of
2010 and the spring of 2007. With a record of seven wins, six runner-up finishes
and seven thirds, she has accumulated $230,926 in earnings for the meet.
Entering Sunday, six owners were tied for second in wins
with four, but none had more than one starter on the Sunday card.
Moss said in a tweet on Saturday that her private goal was
to become the leading owner of the Churchill Downs spring meet, that she was
really happy and then thanked her trainer Tom Amoss for his efforts.
Churchill Downs will host its second September meeting
beginning on September 5. The 12-day meet will feature live racing
Friday through Sunday, with the final day on September 28.
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