Top trainers well represented in first 2-year-old race of meet

Trainers Steve Asmussen, Bret Calhoun, and Danny Pish long have been known for their work with young horses, and on Tuesday the trio will be represented by starters in the first 2-year-old race of the meet at Lone Star Park near Dallas.

The opener is a four and a half-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds bred in Texas. It highlights a nine-race card that starts at 1:35 p.m. Central.

Fearless Bling will get good support for Asmussen, who last year in North America won 89 races for 2-year-olds from 450 such starts, according to statistics from Daily Racing Form.

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Fearless Bling is a May foal by top Texas stallion Too Much Bling and he is a half-brother to both Lou Bressie, who was a Grade 3 winner at 2, and Fearless Cowboy, a stakes winner of more than $400,000.

Stewart Elliott has the mount. Asmussen’s father, Keith Asmussen, owns Fearless Bling.

Calhoun could have the favorite in Bobby Brinkley, a January foal by Shanghai Bobby. He worked a bullet half-mile in 47.40 seconds May 16 at Lone Star. C.J. McMahon has the mount for breeder and owner Doug Scharbauer.

Last year, Calhoun won 21 races for 2-year-olds from 107 such starts.

Pish will send out Policy Limit, a February foal by the young stallion Bradester. Lane Luzzi has the mount for owner Sam Sherman.

Pish won 17 races for 2-year-olds last year from 80 such starts.

The race Tuesday could produce starters for some of the juvenile stakes this meet. Through the years, Asmussen, Calhoun and Pish have each won a number of the 2-year-old stakes at Lone Star.

Lone Star launched its meet May 22, about five weeks later than scheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The track is testing a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday racing schedule now that more tracks are starting to reopen, Scott Wells, president of Lone Star, told the Texas Racing Commission at a meeting Thursday.

Wells said Lone Star plans to submit a final meet schedule for approval. The track has approval to race every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in June, with a first post of 1:30 p.m. Central.

Racing at Lone Star is being conducted spectator-free. Wells told the commission the offtrack handle of $1.8 million on May 22 was up $900,000 over the corresponding date a year ago. He said getting the season off the ground as soon as the state allowed was important.

“It was a big day for Texas racing, a big weekend, in fact,” said Wells.

Wells noted that last year there were 970 horses on the grounds when the meet opened. This year, he said there were 1,400.

Texas purses have increased this year due to a new state law that sets aside a portion of existing taxes on select horse goods and services for the racing and breeding industries in Texas.