Steve Asmussen: Breeders' Cup Trainer Profile

Steve Asmussen, the winningest trainer in North American horse racing, has been a regular presence at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships over the last 20 years. Since 2003, the Hall of Fame trainer has started 76 horses in Breeders’ Cup races, winning eight times. He perennially has a strong contingent for the festival, and the 2023 edition on November 3 and 4 at Santa Anita Park will be no exception.

His first Breeders’ Cup win came in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Preakness Stakes winner and eventual Hall of Fame inductee Curlin. The Classic is one of two Breeders’ Cup races of which Asmussen is a two-time winner, since he also scored with Gun Runner in 2017. He is also a two-time winner of the Juvenile Fillies, with My Miss Aurelia in 2011 and Echo Zulu in 2022. However, Asmussen is not expected to have a starter in either the Breeders’ Cup Classic or the Juvenile Fillies this year.

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Breeders’ Cup Distaff

From eight starts in the race, Steve Asmussen has won the Distaff once, with Untapable in 2014. She is by no means his only starter to run well, as his horses have hit the board four other times. My Miss Aurelia was second in 2012, Midnight Bisou was third in 2018 and second in 2019, and Clairiere was third in 2022.

Clairiere

Clairiere has yet to win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, but she has shown up strong in the last two. She was fourth, beaten only ¾ length by March Lorraine at Del Mar in 2021, and then third, beaten just two noses behind Malathaat and Blue Stripe last year at Keeneland. The 1 ⅛-mile distance is a good one for her, and she has a long record of showing up with good races in truly top-level company. The biggest question for her is pace, as she is a late-running horse, and Santa Anita Park can play strongly to speed horses.

Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

Steve Asmussen has yet to win the Filly and Mare Sprint, though he has only run four horses in the race. Three of his four starters have hit the board, however. Dust and Diamonds was second in 2012, and his fillies Echo Zulu and Wicked Halo ran 2-3 behind Goodnight Olive in 2022.

Echo Zulu was the likely favorite for this year’s edition on the strength of two separate 112 Beyers from Daily Racing Form, the joint highest of the year from any horse. However, she suffered career-ending sesamoid fractures in a workout at Santa Anita on October 14. She is now recovering from surgery.

Society

This daughter of Gun Runner tried the Distaff last year, fresh off her first-ever graded-stakes win in the Cotillion (G1), but finished seventh behind Malathaat. Steve Asmussen has reinvented Society as a sprinter this year. Though she has not run in as many top-level spots as stablemate Echo Zulu, it has nonetheless gone well. She was third to Goodnight Olive in the Madison (G1), and after a flat ninth in the 1 1/16-mile La Troienne (G1), she has rattled off two straight at seven furlongs. She won the Chicago (G3) at Churchill Downs in frontrunning, dominant fashion, and then did the same thing in the Pink Ribbon at Charles Town. Expect her to vie for the lead, and to be in a good spot if the race draws devoid of pace or if the track is playing speed-biased.

Breeders’ Cup Sprint

Steve Asmussen has run eight horses in the Sprint, winning once with Mitole in 2019. He has started 14 runners in this race to date, and the only other to finish in the top three was Jackie’s Warrior, who ran third in 2022.

Gunite

It was obvious from early in Gunite’s career that he was meant to go short. He won the Hopeful (G1) as a juvenile, but after a fifth-place finish in the Champagne, he went on the shelf, bypassed the Triple Crown season, and won four of his five starts in sprint stakes last year. A stretch out to a mile for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile resulted in a fourth-place finish, more proof that Gunite wanted to go short.

Elite Power has had Gunite’s number in two of their three matchups this year, in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) and the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1). However, Gunite was able to turn the tables in the Forego (G1), taking the lead and holding the champion at bay. A subsequent try in the Parx Dirt Mile proved once again that Gunite does not want two turns, but the six-furlong trip of the Sprint suits Gunite, and he is tactically versatile enough to work a trip.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint

Steve Asmussen has started three horses in this newest Breeders’ Cup race. Though he has yet to win it, two of those three have hit the board: Private Creed was third in 2022, and Cowan finished second in 2020.

Committee of One

This son of the precocious Mendelssohn checked in second in maiden special weights at both Ellis Park and Kentucky Downs, but ran well enough for Asmussen to enter him in the Indian Summer at Keeneland for his first stakes attempt. It was a good choice. Committee of One rallied from midfield and kept on gamely to the wire to win a three-horse photo, breaking his maiden and earning a ticket to the Juvenile Turf Sprint in one fell swoop. Asmussen trainees have run well before in the Breeders’ Cup after winning the Indian Summer: this is the same race Private Creed won as a final prep before finishing third.

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