2018 Eclipse Awards: Steve Asmussen

Although trainer Steve Asmussen lost Gun Runner to retirement after the colt’s victory in last January’s Pegasus World Cup, his stable lost none of its usual proficiency in 2018. He finished the year with 401 victories from 1,905 starters, and his stable’s earnings of $26,457,276 were second-most among trainers, behind only Chad Brown.

That success, topped by Gun Runner’s Pegasus send-off, has resulted in Asmussen being selected as an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding trainer of 2018.

Asmussen, 53, an Eclipse Award winner in 2008 and 2009 and a Hall of Famer, was the only trainer to be among the top three leaders in both earnings and victories in 2018, ranking second in both categories. Among his 401 victories, his highest yearly total this decade, were 16 graded stakes wins, fifth-most among North American trainers.

Three of those came at the Grade 1 level. In addition to taking the Pegasus World Cup with Gun Runner, he won the Met Mile with Bee Jersey and the Cotillion with Midnight Bisou. The latter two races came with thrilling endings, with Bee Jersey outlasting Mind Your Biscuits by a nose, and Midnight Bisou scoring by disqualification after Parx Racing stewards ruled that Monomoy Girl impeded her in a tight finish.

Midnight Bisou, whom Asmussen began training in the spring following her third-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks for trainer Bill Spawr, also performed well in defeat for Asmussen in some of the country’s most prestigious stakes, such as when second in the Coaching Club American Oaks and when third in both the Alabama and Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Gun Runner and Midnight Bisou have been honored as Eclipse Award finalists.

:: 2018 Eclipse Finalists: Profiles and photos for all categories

Asmussen also recorded four Grade 2 wins in 2018 – Mia Mischief in the Eight Belles, Midnight Bisou in the Mother Goose, Tenfold in the Jim Dandy, and Union Strike in the Gallant Bloom. He added nine Grade 3 victories.

In May, at Churchill Downs, he became just the second trainer in North American racing history to have won 8,000 races when Lookin At Lee, the 2017 Kentucky Derby runner-up, won an allowance on the Derby undercard. He ended 2018 with 8,275 victories in a career that began in 1986. Only the late Dale Baird has won more, with 9,445.

Asmussen, who has been North America’s leading trainer by wins nine times dating back to 2002, topped the trainer standings in 2018 at Oaklawn Park, Remington Park, and during the spring meet at Churchill Downs. He later tied Dallas Stewart for the fall meet title at Churchill.