Asmussen pulls off 10-win day

Trainer Steve Asmussen won 10 races with 16 starters around the country on Saturday, three of the wins in stakes. He won at five different tracks: Delta Downs, Fair Grounds, Oaklawn Park, Sam Houston Race Park, and Sunland Park.

Asmussen's stakes wins came with Spritely Walker in the $200,000 Louisiana Premier Night Championship and Master Jon in the $50,000 Gentleman Starter, both at Delta; and Eternal Cup in the $50,000 American Beauty Stakes at Oaklawn.

"It was one of those days everything came together," Asmussen said. "The horses were in the right places, and everybody did their job above and beyond the call of duty."

Asmussen is the nation's leading trainer by wins and earnings, and leads the standings at Fair Grounds, Sam Houston, and Sunland. He said he believes he has won seven races in a day on three different occasions.

"Two of them I remember vividly," he said.

Asmussen saddled seven winners on a card at Lone Star Park in 2002, and later that year had seven winners country-wide on Dec. 28. The surge helped lift him past Scott Lake as leading trainer by wins that year.

Asmussen spent Saturday at Fair Grounds, where he won one race. He won also three at Oaklawn; three at Sunland; two at Delta; and one at Sam Houston.