Asmussen has Jackie's Warrior, Midnight Bourbon ready to run

Highly regarded 3-year-olds Jackie’s Warrior and Midnight Bourbon on Monday at Fair Grounds had their final workouts for stakes engagements this weekend. Both colts are trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen but are on divergent paths.

Midnight Bourbon already has had a 2021 start, winning the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds, and he went a half-mile Monday in a moderate 50.20 seconds preparing for Saturday’s Risen Star Stakes in New Orleans.

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Jackie’s Warrior hasn’t raced since getting caught up in a scorching pace Nov. 6 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, where he finished fourth. He worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 and was scheduled to ship Tuesday from Fair Grounds to Oaklawn Park for the Southwest Stakes on Feb. 15. Jackie’s Warrior, who scored smashing victories in the Grade 1 Hopeful and the Grade 1 Champagne last year, had his first post-Breeders’ Cup workout on Dec. 29 and now has gotten in seven Fair Grounds drills for the Southwest, including a five-eighths in 59.40 on Feb. 1. Among his opponents at Oaklawn will be 2020’s 2-year-old champion Essential Quality, also based at Fair Grounds.

“He’s been training really well,” Asmussen said of Jackie’s Warrior, who still has to show he can race as effectively around two turns as one.

Midnight Bourbon lost by more than 14 lengths finishing third in Jackie’s Warrior’s Champagne, but went wire to wire in the Lecomte, earning a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure. Asmussen has given Midnight Bourbon three works between the Lecomte and the 1 1/8-mile Risen Star, for which he drew post 6 in a race that drew 13 entrants.

“He’s a beautiful horse who’s doing well, and we’re excited about him,” Asmussen said. “He’s always trained very professionally, been a class act, and we’ve seen more of the same.”

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Asmussen worked 11 horses Monday at Fair Grounds, including Silver State, who won the Fifth Season at Oaklawn in his most recent race, and Finite, most recently fourth in the La Brea at Santa Anita.

Sunday, Asmussen sent out his two horses bound for Saudi Arabia this week, Max Player and Cowan, to work five furlongs in 1:00, second-fastest of 51 breezes at the distance. Max Player, most recently fourth in the Preakness, “is sharpened up for a chance at $20 million,” Asmussen said, referring to the purse of the Saudi Cup, where Max Player faces fellow Americans Knicks Go, Charlatan, Tacitus, and Sleepy Eyes Todd in addition to several overseas horses. Cowan is slotted to run in the $1.5 Saudi Derby.

Asmussen confirmed that California-based Umberto Rispoli would ride both his horses in Saudi Arabia in their Feb. 20 races.