Kentucky Derby: Asmussen win would be fitting after 2022's nightmare ending

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Steve Asmussen sometimes watches the replay of the 2022 Kentucky Derby, just not from start to finish.

“I don’t think I’ve sat through the opening of the gates all the way to the wire because it’s like, ‘Are you serious?’ ” Asmussen said. “It don’t bother me when I’m not thinking about it. Do I think about it? What?”

Asmussen is Thoroughbred racing’s all-time leading trainer with 10,082 wins. None have come in the Kentucky Derby, where he is winless with 24 starters in 16 runnings.

In 2022, Asmussen trained Epicenter, the favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Epicenter got a beautiful trip under Joel Rosario and in midstretch looked to have turned aside a challenge from third-choice Zandon.

“You looked home,” Asmussen said.

Then, flying up the rail came Rich Strike, an 80-1 shot who only had gotten into the field due to the scratch of Ethereal Road, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, the previous day. He beat Epicenter by three-quarters of a length, and Asmussen was left with his third second-place finish in the Derby.

“To get beat by a horse that scratched in [36] hours earlier because Wayne Lukas scratched one of out of the Derby, you’re like ‘Wow, fate hit you right over the head,’ ” Asmussen said. “But my fate hitting you right over the head moment is the only thing that could have been better than Epicenter winning the Derby last year would be the exact same connections [winning it] with a son of Gun Runner.”

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Saturday, Asmussen will be back in the Kentucky Derby with Disarm, a son of the champion Gun Runner owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, the same owner as Epicenter. Disarm was among the last to qualify for the Derby, needing a third-place finish in the Lexington Stakes two weeks ago to have enough points to make it into the 20-horse Derby field.

Disarm still has just a maiden win from five starts, his 2-year-old season interrupted by a growth spurt that forced Asmussen to stop on him.

“No surgery or anything like that. You’re just going to lose your horse if you don’t slow down,” Asmussen said.

Asmussen felt Disarm needed his first race back, a second-place finish in a one-mile allowance on Feb. 19.

In his second start, Disarm finished second to Kingsbarns in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, a race where he was stalled behind another horse at the quarter pole. Epicenter had won the Louisiana Derby last year.

Disarm would have waited for the Kentucky Derby, but when it looked like he might not have sufficient points to get in, Asmussen ran him in the Lexington Stakes, where Disarm finished third.

Asmussen has concerns whether Disarm is fast enough or focused enough to win the Kentucky Derby. He’s a beautiful chestnut colt who has a similar liver coat to his sire and a star between his eyes also similar to Gun Runner, who finished third behind Nyquist in the 2016 Derby.

“It’s quite obvious Disarm is an attractive horse with a lot of talent that people won’t disregard, but he hasn’t run fast enough to win the Derby for multiple reasons,” Asmussen said. “Can he put it all together in five days?”

One of Asmussen’s biggest concerns with Disarm is the lack of focus that he tends to show pre-race, which becomes evident when one watches him in the paddock.

“We’re not guaranteed to be over that hump going into the Derby,” Asmussen said. “The races ought to be gathering enough respect from him to slightly pay attention to what might happen in 15 or 20 minutes.”

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Asmussen has liked what he’s seen from Disarm in the two weeks he has been at Churchill Downs. On April 24, just nine days after the Lexington, Disarm worked a strong five furlongs in 59.90 seconds. Monday, in his final work for the Derby, Disarm went a half-mile in 49.24 seconds while light rain fell over a fast track.

“This year I was hoping to feel exactly like I did when they loaded in the gates for the Derby last year – ready,” Asmussen said. “I am not that confident this year because of the variables and yet my optimism really hit me after he worked last week. I watched from the grandstand and I was walking back to my truck laughing at myself over the fact, yes, you think you’re going to win it.”

It was supposed to happen last year and didn’t.

But as last year showed, anything is possible.

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