Gun Runner to start season in Razorback

Gun Runner has been training throughout the winter at Fair Grounds, but on Wednesday, trainer Steve Asmussen put him on a van to Oaklawn Park, where Gun Runner will make his 4-year-old debut in the $500,000 Razorback Handicap on Monday, Feb. 20.

A similar pattern holds with the Asmussen-trained 3-year-old Lookin At Lee, who has been breezing steadily at Fair Grounds since late December but has been shipped to Oaklawn for the first start of his 3-year-old season. Lookin At Lee, who worked five furlongs in 1:01 on Feb. 3 at Fair Grounds, galloped Wednesday for the first time at Oaklawn and is on track to start there Feb. 20 in the $500,000 Southwest Stakes.

“We’re very excited to get him back going again,” said Asmussen, who confirmed that he also plans to start the recent Oaklawn maiden winner Hence in the Southwest. “The farther the races go, the better I think he’ll do.”

Lookin At Lee, by Lookin At Lucky, had two wins and two second-place finishes from six starts as a 2-year-old. He won the $75,000 Ellis Park Juvenile, finished second to Classic Empire in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, and was a solid fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in his season finale.

Gun Runner, meanwhile, had a strong six-furlong work in 1:13 on Sunday at Fair Grounds.

“He’s such an amazing horse,” Asmussen said.

Because of an outbreak of the equine herpesvirus at Fair Grounds – since contained – Gun Runner was denied entry in the Jan. 28 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. Oaklawn on Monday lifted its own ban on horses who had been based at Fair Grounds. Gun Runner’s owners, Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm, have contemplated a trip to the Dubai World Cup in March, but plans beyond the Razorback remain up in the air.

“There’s absolutely no decision on Dubai,” said Asmussen. “We’re just happy to get him back in the entries.”

Gun Runner, who has earned more than $2 million, broke through with his first Grade 1 win when he captured the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 25, his most recent race.

Asmussen has at least one horse for the Feb. 25 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds in Untrapped, the runner-up in the Lecomte Stakes while making his 3-year-old and two-turn debut. Untrapped, by Trappe Shot, worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 on Monday.