Asmussen works his Fair Grounds-based stars, including comebacking Shancelot

There are plenty of really good horses stabled in New Orleans this winter. A bunch reside in the Brad Cox barn, but trainer Steve Asmussen has a loaded Fair Grounds stable, too.

Quite a bit of the high-end talent worked this week, including a horse who never has started for Asmussen. Shancelot breezed five furlongs Tuesday in 1:00.40, his fifth work at Fair Grounds since Asmussen sent him there in November. Shancelot had breezed steadily through July in Kentucky, but Asmussen had to stop on him over the summer before ramping up the pace of Shancelot’s exercsise.

“He looks really good,” Asmussen said. “I think he’ll be ready to run mid to late January.”

Shancelot hasn’t started since the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, where he finished second to the Asmussen-trained monster Mitole. Jorge Navarro trained Shancelot before being indicted on federal charges in March.

Shancelot might or might not be the fastest horse in the Asmussen shed row, which also houses the unbeaten Nashville, who worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds on Monday, a breeze Asmussen described as “freakish.” Nashville has won his three starts – most recently the Perryville on Oct. 7 at Keeneland – by more than 24 combined lengths and is headed into his sternest test in the Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

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Nashville will be joined on a Dec. 21 flight to Los Angeles by stablemate Finite, who is aimed at the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes over seven furlongs. Finite, who worked a half-mile Sunday in 50 seconds, won four straight stakes last fall and winter, including the Silverbulletday and Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds before finishing fourth in the Fair Grounds Oaks. Finite didn’t start between March and September, failed to fire in a Kentucky Downs turf experiment, but came back with a near miss going seven furlongs at Keeneland in the Raven Run before winning the Grade 3 Chilukki, a one-turn mile Nov. 21 at Churchill Downs. Finite earned a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure in the Raven Run and came back with a 93 last out.

“She won some significant races before we got off course with her in the spring, and her last two have been very strong,” Asmussen said.

If Finite has come back late in her 3-year-old season a more mature and faster horse, so, too, has 3-year-old colt Silver State, who worked a half-mile Monday in 50.20 seconds, his first breeze since shipping into Fair Grounds.

Silver State hinted at top-level ability last fall and winter but following a second-place finish in the Lecomte at Fair Grounds and a third in a division of the Risen Star in February, he ran poorly in the Louisiana Derby and wasn’t seen again until Keeneland in October. There, cut back to a race over the Beard Course, which is a little longer than seven furlongs, Silver State blasted to a seven-length win over first-level allowance foes. Stepped up to a second-level allowance going seven furlongs Nov. 27 at Churchill, Silver State won by almost three lengths with a career-best 101 Beyer.

“He’s a horse that’s always had a tremendous amount of talent, and we were surprised we didn’t get more done with him,” Asmussen said. “With the break, he filled into that beautiful, huge frame.”

It’s uncertain where Silver State will next start, but Asmussen said he plans to stretch the colt, by Hard Spun, back out to two turns early in 2021.

Recently arrived at Fair Grounds following a strong second-place finish in the Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill, just her second start, is the 2-year-old filly Clairiere, who overcame a very tough trip to win a two-turn maiden race at first asking. Clariere rallied wide and strong in the Golden Rod and appeared at the three-sixteenths pole to be on her way to victory, but Travel Column, another Fair Grounds-based filly, ran her down.

“What a fabulous filly,” Asmussen said. “For what she’s done in her two races, we’re very excited. The way she looks, the way she travels, how she’s bred – serious racehorse.”

Clariere is by Curlin out of Cavorting and won’t race again until sometime in 2021.

Asmussen’s Fair Grounds barn has been humming the first few weeks of the meet and already has a stakes win from Nitrous, who captured the Thanksgiving Classic.

The stable has several starters for Louisiana Champions Day on Saturday, including morning-line favorite Shang in the $150,000 Champions Day Classic, and also will be in stakes action Dec. 26 with Lady Apple, who runs in the Joseph E. “Spanky” Broussard Memorial. Lady Apple won the Houston Ladies Classic in January, her only win in 2020, and could have that race on her radar again in 2021, depending on her performance later this month.