Asmussen hopes Iroquois was a breakthrough for Spice Runner
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Spice Runner has been a promising but immature colt this season. Both aspects of his personality were seen in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
Spice Runner wandered about in the stretch when urged by jockey Jose Ortiz, with trainer Steve Asmussen noting the colt didn’t appreciate the whip. However, Spice Runner then zeroed in on Comport out in front of him and bore down with focus in the final yards to get up by a head at the wire. He earned a 76 Beyer Speed Figure.
The Iroquois was the first points race toward the 2026 Kentucky Derby. Along with those 10 points, the win earned Spice Runner cash toward his entry fee for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Oct. 31 at Del Mar as part of the Breeders’ Cup’s “Dirt Dozen” program. The colt could continue to improve as he moves toward those races and other targets.
“I think this horse is obviously going to take a little more racing,” Asmussen said. “You see his size and the weight that he carries, and it’s easier to run him than train him some days.”
Spice Runner, a Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred by Gun Runner, is likely to train up to the Breeders’ Cup, as the other upcoming prep races, such as the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland next month, will “probably wheel a little quick,” Asmussen said. However, he is hoping that the colt begins to put more into his morning training after the strong effort on Saturday, his fourth career start, that may have lit his competitive fire.
“He put in a pretty good effort – he had a pretty good blow in it,” Asmussen said. “It’s the most effort we’ve gotten out of him, and I’m expecting, hoping, wanting him to be more generous in the mornings off of this.”
The Iroquois was contested at a one-turn mile, and the Juvenile would be Spice Runner’s first try around two turns. Although Spice Runner is a full brother to Grade 1-winning sprinter Gunite, Gun Runner is also known for two-turn offspring such as Sierra Leone, and Asmussen hopes this colt will go farther.
“He’s twice [Gunite’s] size, so maybe he can go twice as far,” Asmussen said. “He’s just a huge horse, especially for a 2-year-old.”
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