Churchill: Asmussen sends out good-looking juvenile winners

The opening three days of the 11-day Churchill fall meet produced a handful of impressive performances by 2-year-olds making their career debuts, including Gun Runner and La Appassionata from the Steve Asmussen stable.

Gun Runner, a Candy Ride colt, won Friday going a mile for Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm, earning a 71 Beyer Speed Figure. La Appassionata, a Stonestreet Stables homebred filly by Bernardini, won Sunday at six furlongs, getting a 75 Beyer.

Other 2-year-old maiden winners (with trainer and Beyer) on opening weekend were Brody’s Cause (Dale Romans, 73); Bandwidth (Wayne Catalano, 76); Smart Moon, (Mark Casse, 70); and Rilla (Steve Margolis, 68).

 It took jockey Manny Esquivel virtually no time to make a favorable impression as the 25-year-old Mexican native makes the transition from Chicago to the Kentucky circuit. Esquivel won with a combined four of seven mounts Friday and Saturday, capping off his terrific introduction with a 9-1 victory aboard Cocked and Loaded in the Grade 2 Iroquois for Larry Rivelli, the runaway leading trainer at the current Arlington Park meet.