Asmussen gets 9,000th training victory
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen hit a mind-boggling milestone of 9,000 career Thoroughbred training victories in North America on Friday night, when Troy Ounce won the second race at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
“It’s truly amazing – it really is,” Asmussen said shortly after the race Friday. “It’s a whole lot of winning, man. It’s just very special.”
Asmussen continues to rank as the second all-time leading trainer by wins in North America. He trails only the late Dale Baird, who won 9,445 races. Jerry Hollendorfer is third with 7,665 wins through Tuesday, according to statistics posted by Equibase.
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Asmussen won his first Thoroughbred race on July 19, 1986 at Ruidoso Downs. His milestone Friday came in his 43,636th start in North America and it pushed his stable earnings to $338,220,838, according to statistics from Daily Racing Form. Asmussen has also had success outside of North America, most notably winning the 2008 Dubai World Cup with Curlin.
“It has obviously been a tremendous run,” Asmussen said after hitting the milestone. “Very thankful for all the wins, but mainly the people we’ve been able to work for, the horses we’ve been able to work with.”
Troy Ounce ($3.60) was always prominent Friday, setting fractions of 23.13 seconds for the opening quarter and 46.27 for the half-mile in the conditioned-claiming sprint over seven furlongs. In the stretch he had a comfortable lead as Remington announcer Dale Day called, “and a sixteenth left to history!" Troy Ounce and jockey Stewart Elliott soon crossed the wire three lengths in front with Day telling those watching that Asmussen was just the second trainer in North American history to hit 9,000 wins.
Asmussen has been working the Keeneland sales in Lexington, Ky., and watched the race remotely. He said afterward it was meaningful that assistant Pablo Ocampo, who is his longest continuous employee, saddled Troy Ounce.
Troy Ounce races for L and N Racing of Tulsa, Okla.
“I thought it was really neat that 7,000 was for Clark Brewster of Tulsa and 8,000 and 9,000 were both for L and N Racing,” Asmussen said. "Lookin At Lee for L and N - and Troy Ounce actually is related to Lookin At Lee.”
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Asmussen entered Friday needing two wins to hit the milestone and picked up one of them earlier in the day at Churchill Downs.
The milestone is the latest accomplishment in a long list of training feats achieved by Asmussen, a South Dakota native who nine times has been North America's leading trainer by wins in a calendar year, setting the standard of 650 in 2009. He also leads this year. Asmussen twice has won the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer, in 2008 and 2009, and his long list of top class trainees include Horse of the Year title winners Curlin, Rachel Alexandra and Gun Runner. Asmussen hails from a racing family and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.
All this from someone who as a young man had other career intentions in racing.
“I thought I was going to be a jock,” Asmussen said.