Asmussen, Cox each enter pair for Gun Runner

Though it offers a purse of just $100,000, the Gun Runner Stakes has yielded a Kentucky Derby runner in each of its first two years of existence, though Epicenter, the Derby runner-up in 2022, turned into a far more important horse than Jace’s Road, 17th in this year’s Derby.

Epicenter’s trainer, Steve Asmussen, and Jace’s Road’s trainer, Brad Cox, each have two entries in Saturday’s Gun Runner, which, along with the rest of an eight-stakes Dec. 23 card, was drawn this past Saturday.

Cox sends out the certain favorite, Nash, hyped as a Derby horse despite the fact he has only a maiden win from two career starts. The maiden win, to be fair, was very strong, a Nov. 12 route romp at Churchill Downs that yielded a 97 Beyer Speed Figure. Cox also entered lesser prospect Catching Freedom.

From Asmussen’s barn comes Track Phantom, a smart Nov. 25 Churchill maiden route winner, and Risk It, a troubled fourth the same day in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.

Snead, who landed a first-level Fair Grounds dirt-route allowance race by 7 1/4 lengths Nov. 23, also is among the eight entrants.

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