Asmussen begins to set plans for 3-year-olds

It’s early, of course, but the Triple Crown trailhead has a whole slew of Steve Asmussen-trained 3-year-olds geared up and ready to start the trek, and Asmussen on Monday furthered the process of sorting out their respective journeys.

Principe Guilherme and Snapper Sinclair, the two-three finishers Jan. 13 in the Lecomte Stakes, both worked five furlongs on Monday at Fair Grounds and will start Feb. 17 in the Risen Star Stakes, Asmussen said.

The Lecomte fourth-place finisher, Zing Zang, has been shipped along with Retirement Fund to start in the Southwest Stakes on Feb. 19 at Oaklawn Park. Both horses were scheduled to work Tuesday morning at Oaklawn, while a third Asmussen-trained colt intended for the Southwest, Smarty Jones Stakes runner-up Combatant, works there Wednesday. Zing Zang, a massive colt who wants distance, won a maiden race at Fair Grounds before making a sustained late run for fourth in the Lecomte. Retirement Fund, an Eskendereya colt, debuted in a two-turn Fair Grounds maiden race, won it easily, and came back with a an open-lengths victory in a first-level, two-turn allowance race over the same surface.

Principe Guilherme, who also won his first two starts before a fairly tough-trip second in the Lecomte, worked five furlongs in company Monday and was timed in 1:01.40. Snapper Sinclair, who ran his best races on turf as a 2-year-old before a brave front-end performance in the Lecomte, also worked in company, going five furlongs in 1:02.60.

“They worked really nice. Both are scheduled to have one more breeze next Monday, and run a week from Saturday,” Asmussen said.

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Florent Geroux has a return call on Principe Guilherme, Adam Beschizza on Snapper Sinclair. The Lecomte winner, Instilled Regard, is expected to return from California for the Risen Star and is all but certain to start as a defined favorite.

Also working Monday for Asmussen was Copper Bullet, who won the Saratoga Special by four lengths on Aug. 13 but hasn’t started since. Copper Bullet, a More than Ready colt, went five furlongs in a snappy 1:00.80, his second five-furlong drill since returning to the work tab.

“He worked well but got pretty tired on the gallop-out,” Asmussen said.