Asmussen Stars at Fair Grounds for Training This Fall

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots does not begin its meet until Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, but already a wealth of talent is on the grounds.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said Nov. 14 at Churchill Downs that he sent stakes winners Jackie's Warrior, Yaupon, Nashville, and Lady Apple to New Orleans this week. All but Nashville are unlikely to race this year. He runs in the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park Dec. 26.

The 3-year-old son of Speightstown  is unbeaten in three starts, winning by a combined margin of nearly 25 lengths. The China Horse Club and WinStar Farm-owned colt won the Perryville Stakes on the undercard of the second of two Breeders' Cup days Nov. 7 at Keeneland after his connections had considered running him in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1).

He won the Perryville under confident handling from Ricardo Santana Jr. with six furlongs in a track-record 1:07.89, faster than Whitmore's 1:08.61 winning time in the Sprint hours later.

"Watched him train and watched him run, and you're like, 'Wow,'" Asmussen said of the colt. "Hopefully, we'll be rewarded for not throwing him to the wolves off two races and trying to get some foundation into him. He went from an unbelievably impressive maiden win to a jaw-dropping (allowance) to a listed stakes winner, track record holder, to grade 1 company. It's a meteoric rise. Obviously, you're wanting more of the same."

Asmussen said he does not have a racing schedule mapped out for Jackie's Warrior or Yaupon, who both lost for the first time during the Breeders' Cup. Two-year-old Jackie's Warrior, the winner of the Runhappy Hopeful Stakes (G1) and Champagne Stakes (G1), was fourth in the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1), and Yaupon, the Chick Lang Stakes (G3) and Amsterdam Stakes (G2) winner, was eighth in the Sprint.

The trainer plans to give them a freshening and will draw up plans after observing their health and training. Asmussen typically races his better horses during the winter months at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park with occasional trips to other tracks. 

Lady Apple is one of those on a shipping schedule for a stakes start. Asmussen is targeting a title defense for her in the Jan. 31 Houston Ladies Classic Stakes (G3) at Sam Houston Race Park.

One horse not set to race next year is grade 1-winning sprinter Mia Mischief. The 5-year-old daughter of Into Mischief  has been retired by her owner, Stonestreet Stables, Asmussen said. The winner of more than $1.2 million won 10 of 23 starts. She last raced in the Madison Stakes (G1) this past summer at Keeneland, finishing second to Guarana. She won the Humana Distaff Stakes (G1) last year.