Asmussen sprinters will be formidable

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Steve Asmussen might have the two fastest horses on the grounds at Oaklawn Park. Skelly put up a meet-high Beyer Speed Figure of 105 last season in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap and Jaxon Traveler recently covered six furlongs in a blazing 1:07.37 winning the $100,000 Zia Park Sprint.

Skelly was put away after winning the Speightstown Sprint in May at Lone Star Park in order to await the new season at Oaklawn. The horse has won his last five starts, with four coming at Oaklawn.

“He worked this morning,” Asmussen said Monday. “He’s getting closer.”

Jaxon Traveler was a 5 1/2-length winner of the Zia Sprint, his first stakes win since taking the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint in 2022.

“I was very happy to see him run good again,” Asmussen said. “He’d run so well early, definitely got off track. We weren’t getting much effort from him. We’re just very fortunate West Point stayed the course with him, kept believing in the horse. He’s rewarded us all.

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“We’ll give him a little bit of time between now and the next out off running so fast. It was a big jump forward.”

Asmussen said plans would be determined after discussions with West Point Thoroughbreds.

“There’s a strong possibility of him showing up in a stakes at Oaklawn,” he said.

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