Disarm headed into Stephen Foster looking to continue Asmussen's hot streak

From five starters this past Sunday at Churchill Downs, trainer Steve Asmussen won no races. That was news. Between Thursday and Saturday at Churchill, Asmussen went 13-7-1-0, a remarkable streak that left Asmussen with 28 winners at the Churchill spring meet, 12 more than Brad Cox’s second-highest total.

Not that the Asmussen barn will be coasting to the finish line. On Monday morning at Churchill, Asmussen sent two pairs of horses out for five-furlong workouts. Disarm worked with Red Route One, clocking 1:00.20. Extra Anejo got the same time while working with the stakes-placed 3-year-old Imperial Gun.

Disarm, for the time being, is the big horse in that group, and Monday’s was his penultimate drill for the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on June 22 at Churchill. Disarm finished fourth in the 2023 Kentucky Derby and in his final start at age 3 was second in the Travers, and while his Hall of Fame trainer long has considered him Grade 1 material, Disarm has yet to win at the highest level.

Disarm returned from a long layoff May 18 with an allowance race win that produced a lowly 85 Beyer Speed Figure that’s virtually meaningless. Running in an utterly paceless race, Disarm set splits more naturally associated with a long-distance turf race over a soft course. He finished fast and came out of the comeback looking for more. Disarm worked inside Red Route One on Monday, and while the pair finished together, Disarm left no doubt who was boss.

“He’s showing us the maturity that we’d expect from him,” Asmussen said.

Red Route One heads to the $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker on July 18, while Extra Anejo is bound for the $300,000 Hanshin Stakes on June 30, closing day at Churchill. The star-crossed 4-year-old Extra Anejo returned from a 10-month layoff May 30 with an eye-catching seven-furlong allowance win, and while the colt will wind up in two-turn races sometime this summer, for now he’s only going out to a one-turn mile in the Hanshin.

Saturday, Asmussen starts Society in the Grade 3 Chicago Stakes, her first race since the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, while other horses in the Churchill string will be making their way to Saratoga. Asmussen left several horses at Saratoga that he ran at the Belmont Stakes Festival, including Cogburn, who set a North American record, 59.80 seconds, for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf winning the Jaipur Stakes and is bound for the Troy Stakes on Aug. 3. Two-year-olds Aoraki and Three Echoes remained at Saratoga after racing there, while the 2-year-old filly Viggiedal, who got a 75 Beyer in a June 14 Churchill maiden romp, is headed to New York.

While Asmussen stays busy, his leading 3-year-old of the spring, Track Phantom, is getting a period of farm rest following his 11th-placed finish in the Kentucky Derby.

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