Asmussen on Derby: 'Want to win it, meant to win it, didn't win it'
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Steve Asmussen was too much in shock to be disappointed.
“When they tell me this happened tomorrow, I’m still going to go ‘Are you sure?’ ” Asmussen, the trainer of Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter, said. “Really? Like, that’s what happened?"
What happened was Epicenter, the Kentucky Derby favorite, was passed to his inside by Rich Strike, at 80.80-1 the longest shot on the board in Saturday’s 148th Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs, and was beaten three-quarters of a length. He finished that same margin in front of Zandon.
Rich Strike didn’t get into the Derby field until Friday morning, when D. Wayne Lukas, trainer of Ethereal Road, scratched his horse, allowing Rich Strike to draw in from the also-eligible list just before scratch time.
“How in the world can you write what just happened?” Asmussen said. “Did not expect to lose. Love Epicenter. We’re very fortunate to be a part of him and associated with him and we will continue to be so.”
Asmussen, North America’s all-time leading trainer in wins, will have to wait at least another year to get his first Kentucky Derby victory. He is now winless with 24 starters in 17 runnings of the race. Epicenter is the third time he has finished second, joining Lookin At Lee and Nehro.
“Want to win it, meant to win it, didn’t win it,” Asmussen said.
At the top of the lane, Asmussen and his jockey, Joel Rosario, thought they were going to win it. After being in eighth position early - farther back than he had been in any of his previous six races - Epicenter made an inside move to gain contention. Approaching the top of the lane, Rosario was able to tip him three wide outside of leaders Summer Is Tomorrow and Messier, who completed six furlongs in 1:10.34.
Epicenter seized the lead turning for home and had Zandon - the morning-line favorite who went off as the 6-1 third choice - to his outside. Watching it, Asmussen seemed confident that Epicenter was going to hold off Zandon. But along the inside came Rich Strike to dash Asmussen’s Derby dreams.
Head of the lane, I thought he was a winner,” Asmussen said. “You saw Zandon coming, held him off. Horse on the inside you weren’t concerned with and he never quit coming.”
Rosario, who had won the Derby in 2013 with Orb, also thought he was a winner turning for home.
“I was happy where I was, I made a little move down the backside, to get a little position and he did everything right, everything I asked him to do,” Rosario said. “I thought we were home, that horse inside kept coming.”
It will all sink in at some point for Asmussen, that his Derby drought continues. But he most likely will look to win his third Preakness in two weeks at Baltimore.
“I believe everything’s already happened,” Asmussen said. “They just put you through it to see how you’ll react.”
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