Asmussen poised to pass Romans on all-time Churchill list

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Given their current trajectories, Steve Asmussen will soon pass Dale Romans as the all-time leading trainer in Churchill history. Romans, who overtook Bill Mott for the top spot at the 2017 fall meet, holds a 737-735 lead over Asmussen.

At this meet, Asmussen is 5 for 43 and Romans has gone winless with 15 starters. Asmussen already has won or shared the most meet titles (22) among Churchill trainers.

:: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Meanwhile, with 8,850 overall wins (through Sunday), Asmussen is fewer than 600 wins behind catching the late Dale Baird (9,445) atop the all-time North American list.

Mott enters this week with 4,997 career wins.

Big fields for stakes

A pair of $100,000 stakes – the seven-furlong Dogwood for 3-year-old fillies and the six-furlong Aristides for older horses – will highlight the coming weekend at Churchill as a Saturday stakes doubleheader. Both could get sizable fields.

The Grade 3 Dogwood, a newly designated points qualifier (20-8-4-2) toward the Kentucky Oaks, is expected to get Ain’t No Elmers, Bayerness, Magic Dance, and Naughty Thoughts, among others. Confirmed for the Aristides are Bobby’s Wicked One, Manny Wah, and Volatile. Entries were to be drawn Wednesday.

Babies strut their stuff

The 2020 Kentucky Oaks and Derby won’t be run until Sept. 4 and 5 – but already a couple of 2-year-olds are making early bids toward the 2021 renewals, as eye-catching debuts were turned in here last week by Beautiful Memories and Cazadero.

Beautiful Memories, a Hard Spun filly trained by Mark Casse, earned a 75 Beyer Speed Figure in winning by 10 lengths last Thursday. Cazadero, a Street Sense colt trained by Asmussen, earned an 81 Beyer in winning by 8 3/4 lengths Friday.

Collmus, Wrona to share Kentucky Downs duties

Kentucky Downs has announced that Larry Collmus will share race-calling duties with Michael Wrona at its six-day September meet.

Collmus, who calls the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup for NBC Sports, will split the announcing duties with Wrona on opening day, Sept. 7. Wrona will call Sept. 9 and 10, and Collmus will call Sept. 12, 13, and 16. The job-sharing meshes with both of their work schedules.