Asmussen breaks own record for single-season victories

Asmussen is well on his way to earning a second straight training Eclipse (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com) Trainer Steve Asmussen set a new record of 623 victories in a single year when 2-1 favorite POPPIN (City Zip) rallied to get up for the win in the 13TH and final race at Woodbine on Sunday, which was the Toronto track’s closing day. Ridden by Chantal Sutherland, Poppin rallied 10 wide and ran down the pacesetting Madame Toumanova (A Fleets Dancer) to be three parts of a length clear on the line in a final time of 1:11 3/5 for the six-furlong Polytrack test. At the beginning of Sunday’s racing action, Asmussen had 15 entrants to represent him at seven different tracks. He entered the day with 620 wins to his name for 2009, and earned his first win with Tenacious (Maria’s Mon) in the 1ST race at Remington Park. The four-year-old lass recorded an easy three-length victory in that one-mile event under Jermaine Bridgmohan, stopping the clock in 1:38 2/5 over the fast dirt. Asmussen tied his own record of 622 wins in a single season when Stungbythestorm (Vindication) registered a 2 1/4-length triumph in the 9TH race at Aqueduct. Ramon Dominguez guided the four-year-old through a mile and 70 yards in 1:42 1/5 on the good dirt to post the record-equaling score. In 2008 Asmussen became the first trainer to win 600 Thoroughbred races in a single year. Prior to that, the conditioner’s previous best came in 2004 when he had 555 wins, shattering Hall of Famer Jack Van Berg’s record of 496 victories in a single year that had stood since 1976.

Asmussen, who just celebrated his 44th birthday on November 18, has enjoyed
back-to-back banner years. He was honored with his first Eclipse Award as
outstanding trainer in 2008, and saw his stable star Curlin, North America’s
all-time leading money winner with more than $10.5 million in earnings, receive
Horse of the Year accolades for the second straight year.

Curlin was sent to the breeding shed following 2008, but Asmussen has not
lacked for quality this season. Earlier in the year, he was handed a filly by
the name of Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d’Oro), who could present the stable with
its third Horse of the Year award following a record-shattering victory in the
Kentucky Oaks (G1) and scores against the boys in the Preakness S. (G1), Haskell
Invitational (G1) and Woodward S. (G1).

In September, Asmussen became just the fifth Thoroughbred trainer to score
5,000 wins, behind only Dale Baird (9,445), Jack Van Berg (6,394), King
Leatherbury (6,285) and Jerry Hollendorfer (5,531).

Asmussen hails from a racing family, which continues to operate El Primero
Training Center in Laredo, Texas. His father, Keith, was a former jockey and
trainer. His mother, Marilyn, was a trainer, and his brother, Cash, won the
Eclipse Award as leading apprentice jockey in 1979 and later became a champion
rider in Europe. Steve took out his jockeys’ license at age 16 and rode for
three years in New Mexico, California and New York, prior to retiring because of
his size.

The Gettysburg, South Dakota, native began his training career in New Mexico
in 1986, handling both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. His first major
Thoroughbred was seven-time stakes winner Valid Expectations, who captured the
1996 Derby Trial S. (G3).

Asmussen has led the nation in victories for five of the past seven years, and
he is on course to do so again in 2009. At the conclusion of three of those
seasons, in 2004, 2005 and 2007, he was named a finalist for an Eclipse Award.