'Dale Baird Record' in Asmussen's Sights

David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, still remembers a discussion with trainer Steve Asmussen when the trainer continued to top single-season records, culminated by winning 650 races in 2009.

"Now that you have set and broken the record, are you gonna, like, slow down some?" Fiske asked.

"No," replied Asmussen.

"Well, how many do you need to win?"

"I want to win them all."

"Well, I thought at the time," Fiske recalled, "if that is his mentality, that Dale Baird record may be in jeopardy."

A little more than a decade later, it is. The "Dale Baird record," in which the West Virginia conditioner won 9,445 races, most by a trainer in North American Thoroughbred racing history, is now within Asmussen's reach. With 9,435 victories through July 24, only the timing of when Asmussen will surpass Baird is left for speculation. He will become the sports winningest trainer later this month or in early August at his current win pace.

The record could occur at Saratoga Race Course, where Asmussen has his better horses stabled, or at smaller tracks such as Ellis Park, Indiana Grand, Monmouth Park, and Louisiana Downs, where he also races horses during the summer.

Whether his milestone victory comes with a low-end claiming race or stakes race, he wants to share the experience with his wife, Julie.

"Julie's got a trip scheduled going home," Asmussen said July 20 in a telephone interview from Saratoga. "I told Julie I want her back before we do it. Whenever it happens, I want Julie to be with me when it happens."

Home for the couple is not far from Lone Star Park in Arlington, Texas, where they raised their three boys, Keith, Darren, and Eric. But on the road is where Asmussen often is, keeping tabs on the many horses under his care.

"He was in Saratoga last night. I think he was in Louisville today, and tomorrow he is going to Keeneland and Ellis, then back to Saratoga," his father, Keith, said July 21. "That's the way it goes."

Only in this fashion could anyone win more than 9,000 races before turning 56—by running horses in nearly 46,000 races. The time away from home, the long hours—Asmussen calls that not the cost of success, but his "dues."

"The reward far outweighs the payment, far exceeds the payment. If you are willing to do this, you are rewarded with this," Asmussen said. "You caught me today walking out of the barn at Saratoga. What wouldn't you do to be in the presence of horses like this?

"Racing has been everything to my family my whole life. To be able to do something that has brought so much happiness to my whole family is a true blessing."

Family is who Asmussen credits for his success. He learned the racing business from his parents, Keith and Marilyn, who breed, own, train, and still operate Asmussen Horse Center and El Primero Training Center in Laredo, Texas. Under the tutelage of Keith, a former jockey, and Marilyn, he and his older brother Cash became horsemen at a young age.

"He could do a man's work when he was 14," Keith said of Steve. "He had a groom's license in New Mexico when he was 12 years old."

At around this time, Cash would win the Eclipse Award as North America's top apprentice jockey in 1979 when Steve was still a young teenager. Following success in the United States, Cash then became a five-time champion rider in France, beginning in the mid-1980s. Cash would return to the U.S. to ride in major races, winning editions of the Arlington Million (G1T) with Mill Native (1998) and Dear Doctor (1992) and taking the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) in 1997 aboard Spinning World.

Steve also rode for a shorter period. He took out his jockey's license at age 16 and rode for three years in California, New Mexico, and New York before difficulty maintaining weight forced him to abandon race riding.

Following the family tradition, Steve's oldest son, Keith, also rode last summer, winning five races at Lone Star and one at Remington Park.

Steve soon turned to a new profession, winning his first race as a trainer in 1986 at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico with Victory's Halo. That was his only victory in 1986 from 15 starts, and his horses' earnings on the year totaled a mere $2,324.

With assistance from his folks, opportunity knocked the following year when owner Ron Lance wanted to run horses at a new racetrack, Birmingham Race Course in Alabama. Steve's parents couldn't leave their Laredo operation behind, so they recommended Steve, and Lance had his trainer.

"From that point on, it seemed like if a new racetrack opened, I went," Asmussen said.

Birmingham, Canterbury Park, Remington Park, Sam Houston Race Park, and Lone Star Park became tracks where he cut his teeth.

"Texas getting pari-mutuel had a lot to do with expanding and getting more opportunities and going from there," he recalled. "But when you think back, it was a lot of ground covered."

Asmussen said he never felt as if he had to escape the shadow of Cash. His brother's achievements only served as motivation.

"Nothing is not attainable when you are given that sort of an example," Steve said. "You're just working towards it. I don't know how to say it. You're capable. Earn it. Do it."

Later, the two would pair together with Cash riding Valid Expectations to win the 1996 Sport Page Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct and Snuck In in the 2000 Rebel Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park. Ackerley Brothers Farm, owners Asmussen credits for his breakthrough into higher levels of the sport, raced both horses.

Valid Expectations provided Steve with his first graded stakes victory when he won the Derby Trial Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in the spring of 1996 under Donnie Pettinger. That graded stakes win preceded the Sport Page by a little more than six months.

Though Asmussen now has 277 graded victories, he was a newcomer to training a horse of that quality before 1996.

"When Valid Expectations won the Derby Trial, we didn't know how to get to the winner's circle—me and Julie. That's so funny. I'm fortunate enough to be the all-time leading trainer at Churchill, but I can vividly remember I got down to the wall and had to get over the wall to get to the winner's circle."

About 20 years later, Asmussen would have another wall to climb—this one figuratively, when he and his trusted assistant Scott Blasi were in the news and the subject of regulatory probes. This followed an undercover, highly-edited video filmed in 2013 and distributed in 2014 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that captured Blasi using crude language to describe horses and events. PETA alleged animal abuse by the stable. 

Though the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the New York State Gaming Commission cleared Asmussen and Blasi of the most serious allegations, the NYSGC did fine Asmussen $10,000 for the administration of thyroxine, a hormone made from the thyroid gland, within 48 hours of a race in violation of drug rules.

Asmussen also relieved Blasi of his assistant position for four months for comments on the video in reference to Zayat Stables, one of the trainer's owners.

The video and subsequent regulatory investigations delayed Asmussen's induction into the Hall of Fame until 2016. Also inducted that year was Rachel Alexandra , one of three Horses of the Year Asmussen has trained, along with Curlin   and Gun Runner  .

In 2015, Asmussen's stable won 252 races and $10.7 million—his lowest yearly tally since 2006—but he recovered in the following years. He won 433 races and more than $27.4 million in 2019—the richest yearly total of his career.

"I don't know if it would surprise people, but I think he has a genuine affection for animals and horses, in particular," Fiske said when asked what people might not know about the trainer. "It's not just a factory kind of thing for him, and who can win me the most money. I've seen him get emotional and really get affected when one has to get put down or hurts itself. I've seen him kissing horses on the nose. I've seen him hugging them. I've seen him in the paddock with (Winchell Thoroughbreds graded stakes winner) Finite , for instance. Stand there in the paddock in her saddling stall, just keep stroking her neck, keep her settled down and focused."

Fiske said he was struck by Asmussen's and Blasi's preparations with Midnight Bourbon  leading up to this year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs, where the colt ran sixth.

"He and Scott walked Midnight Bourbon around the paddock at Churchill, schooling him before the Derby—24 laps in the rain," he said. "I don't know if there are other Hall of Fame trainers—there are probably other guys that would do that. I just haven't seen them. He just has a different definition or view of what a horse trainer is." 

That kind of schooling, whether in the paddock or starting gate—and fast horses—have been factors in his success. His victories include two runnings of both the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1), plus a Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).

It wouldn't be possible without his staff, he said. Two assistants, Darren Fleming and Blasi, have worked for him extensively since the mid-1990s.

They "have been a big part of the stable and all the success we've had," Asmussen noted. "Those are extremely talented horsemen and all of us have been together for well over 20 years. We are like-minded in our approach to do it."

Besides his Hall of Fame accomplishments, Asmussen was honored with an Eclipse Award as North America's outstanding trainer in 2008-09, when his stable twice won more than 600 races.

"He is detailed oriented, goal-motivated," Fiske. "I think those years he broke those single-year records, I think Scott and Darren and his assistants got together, and that was like a goal, like, 'OK, we're going to break the single-year record.' And that's what they did."

Fiske believes that, after his yearly totals started rising, Asmussen understood it was possible to become North America's all-time leading trainer.

"I think he did the quick math, the back of the envelope kind of thing, thinking if I average this many wins a year and I'm this old. He was like, shoot, I can get to Dale."

Fiske suspects it will be difficult for any North American trainer to surpass Asmussen for the win record, as the trainer is now threatening to do with Baird. He points to declining foal crops, reducing the number of races run each year for a rival to catch up. Plus, Asmussen is still young, potentially with thousands of more wins to add to his total.

As for a future goal, Asmussen quickly mentioned one.

"We need to win the Derby," the trainer said of the classic, in which he is 0-for-23. "I want to know what it feels like. I want to win the Derby—selfish as can be—but I definitely want it to happen."

Other victories will also be treasured, as were the 9,000-plus that came before.

"Racing is so rewarding, one win at a time," he said. "When you're out there trying, and the outcome is victory—that is as good as it can get. For however long it can last, that is as good as it can get."