Kentucky Derby: Super Stock, Midnight Bourbon give Asmussen two shots at elusive prize

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On his march to becoming Thoroughbred racing’s all-time winningest trainer – a goal he will likely achieve this fall – the one race that has eluded Steve Asmussen is the Kentucky Derby.

Asmussen, whose 9,299 victories through Sunday put him within 146 of Dale Baird’s all-time record, is winless with 21 starters over 14 Derbies. Saturday, Asmussen will take another crack at the coveted prize when he sends out Super Stock, the Arkansas Derby winner, and Midnight Bourbon, the Louisiana Derby runner-up, in the 146th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

On Monday at Churchill, Midnight Bourbon put in his final workout, going five furlongs in 1:02.64, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. That’s a little bit more than Asmussen typically asks his horses to do five days out from a race, but Midnight Bourbon has not raced since March 20, when he finished second to Hot Rod Charlie in the Louisiana Derby.

“He’s on fire,” Asmussen said of the son of Tiznow. “There’s a lot of that horse.”

Prior to the Louisiana Derby, Midnight Bourbon won the Grade 3 Lecomte in January and was third in the Grade 2 Risen Star in February. In the Louisiana Derby, Midnight Bourbon basically chased Hot Rod Charlie all the way around the track, but couldn’t get past.

“I thought he was in position to finish off Hot Rod Charlie and he didn’t,” Asmussen said. “It was disappointing not to win from where he was. With that being said, we discussed the fact to have success in the Derby we’re going to need to see more from him, but I do believe that we have.”

Asmussen believes Midnight Bourbon is a horse that is improving with each race.

“It really feels like the building blocks being there to get to another level just from personality, training, how much faster he is doing the same thing easier than he did the time before,” he said.

Mike Smith, who has won two Kentucky Derbies, will ride Midnight Bourbon for the first time.

A victory by Super Stock would be extra special for Asmussen. Super Stock is owned in part by his parents, Marilyn and Keith Asmussen, along with their partner Erv Woolsey. Super Stock was earmarked for a sale at age 2, but due to the pandemic the sale was canceled. Super Stock won his maiden in the Texas Breeders’ Futurity, where he was ridden by Steve’s son Keith.

After a busy six-race campaign at 2, Super Stock has raced twice this year. In the Rebel, on March 13 at Oaklawn Park, Super Stock encountered some traffic while finishing a well-beaten fourth behind the runaway winner Concert Tour. He came back four weeks later to roll by Concert Tour and Caddo River to win the Arkansas Derby.

“I thought he easily could have been second in the race,” Asmussen said of the Rebel. “Probably best that he incurred some traffic and didn’t knock himself out because he trained very strong in between the two [races]. Our confidence in him going into the Arkansas Derby was fairly well documented.”

Super Stock will be coming back in three weeks for the Derby, but that does not deter Asmussen.

“The horse is very strong,” Asmussen said.

Asmussen has felt good about his Derby starters in the past. In 2007, he finished third with Curlin. Same result in 2016 with Gun Runner. Asmussen has twice finished second in the Derby, with Nehro (2011) and Lookin At Lee (2017).

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“I can’t believe Curlin got beat, I can’t believe Gun Runner got beat,” Asmussen said. “We’ve been fortunate to do this on a very high level. Walking over you didn’t plan on losing, and they did.”

The Derby field underwent some revisions over the weekend, leaving a slightly different cast of 20 expected to be entered at Tuesday morning’s post position draw. On Saturday, Get Her Number was withdrawn from consideration by trainer Peter Miller. On Sunday, trainer Brad Cox said Caddo River, the expected pacesetter in the field, had a temperature and would not be entered.

Those two defections enabled Keepmeinmind and Brooklyn Strong to get into the field. Brooklyn Strong, a New York-bred gelding by Wicked Strong owned by Mark Schwartz and trained by Danny Velazquez, worked five furlongs by himself in 1:00.92 early Monday morning at Parx. He was scheduled to leave Parx on Monday at 6 p.m. by van and arrive at Churchill Downs early Tuesday morning.

“He did everything in hand,” Velazquez said. “I couldn’t ask for a better work. He’s as fit as I can get him.”

Brooklyn Strong won the Grade 2 Remsen at 2 but has raced only once this year, a fifth-place finish in the Wood Memorial. With that result, Brooklyn Strong was basically out of the Derby picture until a spate of defections.

“I don’t feel any pressure going into this race like I did going into the Wood,” Velazquez said. “If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t I’m just going to enjoy the experience.”

Umberto Rispoli will ride Brooklyn Strong. Rispoli lost the mount on Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World when those connections opted for Joel Rosario.

On Sunday, trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed that Corey Lanerie would ride Sainthood, runner-up in the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park, in the Derby. Lanerie is 0 for 4 in the Derby though he did finish second aboard Lookin At Lee in 2017.

Also Sunday, California-based runners Rock Your World and Hot Rod Charlie arrived by plane following Saturday workouts at Santa Anita. On Monday, both horses visited the Churchill track for the first time, jogging once around the one-mile oval.

Barring any more defections before Tuesday morning’s post-position draw, the Kentucky Derby field, with riders, is expected to be: Essential Quality (Luis Saez), Hot Rod Charlie (Flavien Prat), Super Stock (Ricardo Santana Jr.), Like the King (Drayden Van Dyke), Known Agenda (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Rock Your World (Joel Rosario), Bourbonic (Kendrick Carmouche), Medina Spirit (John Velazquez), Midnight Bourbon (Mike Smith), Mandaloun (Florent Geroux), Highly Motivated (Javier Castellano), Helium (Julien Leparoux), Soup and Sandwich (Tyler Gaffalione), Dynamic One (Jose Ortiz), Sainthood (Corey Lanerie), Hidden Stash (Rafael Bejarano), O Besos (Marcelino Pedroza), King Fury (Brian Hernandez Jr.) Keepmeinmind (David Cohen), and Brooklyn Strong (Umberto Rispoli).

The long-range forecast for Derby Day looks excellent, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid- to upper 60s, according to weather.com