From Gun Runner’s win in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup, to reaching a milestone of 8,000 wins, to being named an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding trainer, 2018 will be a tough year to top for Steve Asmussen.
But that doesn’t mean he won’t try.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Well before he hopped onto the national scene as the voice of the Breeders’ Cup and Triple Crown, and nearly a decade before he became the voice of the New York Racing Association’s premier meets, Larry Collmus spent two winters calling races at Aqueduct’s winter session.
Beginning Thursday, and for a limited engagement through Feb. 3, Collmus will bundle up and take his place high atop the Big A to call the races for eight programs. Collmus will be filling in for John Imbriale, who is taking the next two weeks off.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Steve Asmussen’s first starter at Aqueduct’s winter meet was Vertical Oak, who won the $100,000 Garland of Roses on Dec. 8. The Hall of Fame trainer has continued to send out nothing but live runners this meet and has nine wins and eight seconds from 29 starters.
Saturday, Asmussen – whose New York string is overseen by longtime assistant Toby Sheets – will look to keep the good times rolling when he sends out Title Ready in the $100,000 Jazil Stakes for older males going 1 1/8 miles.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Silent Sonet is a stakes winner on synthetic and turf. Friday, the 5-year-old Ontario-bred mare will attempt to add a third surface to her résumé when she makes her dirt debut in the $100,000 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct.
Silent Sonet was one of eight fillies or mares entered Sunday for Friday’s Interborough, which had been scheduled for Monday, but was not even drawn when the New York Racing Association decided last Thursday to cancel Monday’s card due to extreme cold.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Cheekaboo, the winner of the Grade 2 Honeymoon Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2016, has likely run her last race.
Cheekaboo was scratched from Sunday’s Grade 3 Astra Stakes at Santa Anita because of heat in a foot and is scheduled to be sold at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky wnter mixed sale on Feb. 4.
Owned by Sharon Alesia, Mike Burns, and Joe Ciaglia, Cheekaboo won 3 of 24 starts and earned $371,995. She also won the Campanile Stakes for California-bred fillies on turf at Golden Gate Fields in 2016.
ARCADIA, Calif. – McKinzie, the brilliant winner of the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds on Dec. 26, worked seven furlongs in 1:25.40 at Santa Anita on Monday for a potential start in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on Feb. 2.
Trained by Bob Baffert, McKinzie won the seven-furlong Malibu by 4 3/4 lengths for his fourth stakes win in seven career starts.
McKinzie won the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby in September in his first start since last March, but was 12th of 14 behind Accelerate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Just when Happy Alter decided to retire his best horse of recent years, Curlin’s Approval, the loquacious owner-trainer might well have one to take her place along his Gulfstream shed row.
Alter said he has been inundated with high-dollar offers to buy all or part of Tapit’s Princess, who led all the way to win a 1 1/16-mile maiden race by nine lengths here in her second start on Jan. 17. The gray 3-year-old filly was sired by Tapit and produced by Lady of Fifty, who won the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch in 2013 in her final start.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Just in time for the Pegasus, trainer Antonio Sano got something he has really been wanting for some time: U.S. citizenship. The 56-year-old Sano became a citizen during naturalization ceremonies Friday in Miami.
“I’m so happy, so proud,” said Sano, who will saddle Gunnevera as the third program choice behind Accelerate and City of Light for the $9 million Pegasus on dirt.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – As if the two Pegasus World Cup events weren’t enough, a full slate of supporting stakes also will be part of a blockbuster Saturday card at Gulfstream Park.
Foremost among the seven stakes is an alluring rematch between Stormy Liberal and World of Trouble, who earned Beyer Speed Figures of 119 and 118, respectively, as the 1-2 finishers in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in November. They’re the principals in the Gulfstream Turf Sprint at five furlongs.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Mark Hennig reports that his Kentucky Derby prospect Bourbon War exited his impressive allowance win here Friday in good order and was scheduled to go back to training Tuesday morning. Bourbon War rallied to a 2 1/4-length victory over Cutting Humor going 1 1/16 miles in his 3-year-old debut, earning a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure.
