Asmussen looks to have strong hand for Risen Star program

Steve Asmussen’s stable at Fair Grounds is having a strong meet in New Orleans while sending horses out to successes at other tracks in the region – horses such as Midnight Bisou, who won the Houston Ladies Classic on Sunday. And from the look of recent Fair Grounds workout tabs, there is more to come.

Asmussen has gotten Limonite, most recently third Nov. 24 in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, onto a regular breeze pattern and hopes to make the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 16.

“We gave him a little break off the Kentucky Jockey Club,” Asmussen said Wednesday. “He put in a very good work yesterday and came out of it in good shape. When they turn 3, we’re all hoping for some improvement, and his pedigree says he should get better.”

Asmussen plans to have a runner for the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, also on Feb. 16, in Eres Tu, who was second at a long price Jan. 19 in the Silverbulletday Stakes. For the Fair Grounds Handicap, another Feb. 16 stakes, Asmussen has 4-year-old Combatant, a close third in the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

Mitole, the super-talented 4-year-old sprinter, got back on the work tab with an easy half-mile on Tuesday. Unraced since last May, Mitole was working steadily through December before a bruised foot forced a break.

“He did that easy and came out of it well, and we’ll be adding to it soon,” Asmussen said. “For now, we just want to get him right.”

Working a half-mile on Monday in her first breeze since finishing ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint was Mia Mischief. As a 3-year-old of 2018, Mia Mischief won the Grade 2 Eight Belles and was second, beaten a neck, in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga. Asmussen said when and where Mia Mischief returns to racing “just depends on how she comes around.”

Finally, She’s a Julie, winner of the Iowa Oaks and the Remington Park Oaks last year, is headed for the Bayakoa Stakes on Feb. 18 at Oaklawn Park.