Silver State likely to need a start before being at his best

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Steve Asmussen seems to be enjoying the countdown, but the Hall of Fame trainer isn’t necessarily counting on the Thursday co-feature at Keeneland taking him one step closer to the all-time wins record.

Asmussen will send out Silver State in the last of two allowances and is expecting the race to be a primer for improved performances this fall and through the winter.

“He’ll need a race,” Asmussen said.

Silver State, with Ricardo Santana Jr. riding, will break from post 2 in the eighth of nine races, a $71,000, first-level allowance at the Beard Course distance of seven furlongs and 184 feet. The 3-year-old son of Hard Spun has breezed 10 times since Aug. 10, but Asmussen believes a race will do far more good in the long run than anything else.

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“He’s a great big horse, just huge,” he said. “It became a matter of how hard do you want to work him, or do you just go ahead and start running him. Here we are.”

Over the winter, Silver State was on the fringes of becoming a classics contender. Second in the Lecomte, then third in a division of the Risen Star, the bay colt went to the sidelines after finishing a no-threat seventh in the March 21 Louisiana Derby.

“We kind of got off track with him after that, with the [pandemic] and everything else,” Asmussen said. “Hopefully, this will set us up for some good things with him.”

Asmussen is less than 400 wins from becoming the all-time leader. Through Sunday, his career total stood at 9,049, trailing only the late Dale Baird with 9,445.

Based on several fronts, Asmussen has averaged roughly 400 wins per year in recent seasons, meaning he is about a year away from becoming No. 1, assuming he keeps scoring at that pace.

“Hopefully, we’ll have something to celebrate at this time next year,” he said.

As for which of his 10 opponents will be trying to take the edge on a vulnerable Silver State, there’s his next-gate neighbor, Blackberry Wine (post 3, Adam Beschizza), who also returns from a layoff of note. The Calumet Farm homebred has finished first on three occasions but was disqualified from two of those wins because of medication violations. He’s had eight works since his last start April 11.

The earlier allowance on a Thursday program that starts at the usual 1:05 p.m. Eastern is a $73,000, second-level turf route carded as race 6. An oversubscribed lineup of 3-year-olds and up makes for one of the best races of the day, with Bundibunan, Artie’s Rumor, Current, and High Promise all figuring among a loose core of favorites.