Asmussen, Gaffalione lead the pack

Steve Asmussen and Tyler Gaffalione secured the training and riding titles, respectively, at the Churchill Downs September meet that ended Sunday.

Asmussen led Brad Cox with 12 wins to 8 at the meet, despite a strong start for Cox, who saddled Shedaresthedevil to win the Kentucky Oaks, Monomoy Girl to win the Grade 1 La Troienne, and Beau Recall to win the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile.

It was a record-extending 24th leading trainer title at Churchill Downs for Asmussen, who became Churchill’s all-time wins leader in June.

Earlier this month, Asmussen became only the second trainer in history to win 9,000 career races. Through Sunday, Asmussen has 9,020 career victories, according to Equibase statistics, as he continues to pursue the sport’s all-time winningest trainer, the late Dale Baird, who won 9,445 races between 1961 and 2007.

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“Right now, after reaching a goal as significant as 9,000 wins, you feel a great amount of gratitude for the opportunities that we’ve been given and the effort that all the help has put into it to get it done,” Asmussen said.

Gaffalione won 20 races from 95 mounts at the September meet. He outpaced Ricardo Santana Jr., who had 13 victories, atop the leaderboard.

This was Gaffalione’s second leading rider title in the state in the month of September, as he also led the Kentucky Downs meet. He now moves his tack to Keeneland for the next three weeks before the Churchill fall meet.