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 Asmussen
scores 6,000th career win
Oklahoma City - Nov. 19, 2011 - Eclipse Award-winning trainer Steve Asmussen won his 6,000th career
race in the opener on Friday at Remington Park when Basalt broke his maiden in a
seven-furlong sprint. Asmussen becomes just the fifth trainer in the history of
Thoroughbred racing to reach 6,000 career scores.
Asmussen, who turned 46 on Friday, joined elite company with the victory,
becoming only the fifth trainer to reach the 6,000-win milestone. Asmussen
trails only Dale Baird (9,445 wins), Jack Van Berg (6,409), King Leatherbury
(6,331), and Jerry Hollendorfer (6,056) on the all-time wins list. Leatherbury,
Hollendorfer, and Van Berg are still active trainers. Baird died in 2007.
The leading trainer this season at Remington Park with 40 victories, Asmussen
has won six Chuck Taliaferro Award, honoring the leading seasonal trainer here.
He won his first career seasonal title as a trainer in 1991 at Remington Park
before breaking out with a continental operation that spans North America with
multiple stables in many locales at any given time. He won the Eclipse Award for
outstanding trainer in both 2008 and 2009.
One of the most prolific trainers of recent memory, Asmussen has ranked among
North America’s best since sending out his first runner in 1986. With 139 graded
stakes victories, including 26 Grade/Group 1 wins, Asmussen perennially is among
the year-end leaders in wins and purse earnings.
His top runners include Rachel Alexandra and Curlin, who each won Horse of the
Year honors. Curlin won the award in 2007 and 2008 while Rachel Alexandra was
voted America’s best horse in 2009. Asmussen trained both for Stonestreet
Stable, who lost its founder, Jess Jackson, in April.
Born in Gettysburg, South Dakota, Asmussen learned the horse business from his
parents, trainers Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, before taking out his jockey’s
license at age 16. He began training in 1986 in New Mexico and currently has
horses stabled in New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, and Louisiana.
Asmussen is attempting to win his seventh Chuck Taliaferro Award at Remington
Park, denoting the leading trainer for the season. Asmussen won his first
seasonal training title when he was just beginning his career in the early
1990s.
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