Asmussen Ties Baird for American Record of 9,445 Wins

The late Dale Baird has some company in the North American training history books.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen tied Baird's North American record of 9,445 victories when Mike McCarty's Shanghai's Dream  won the sixth race at Ellis Park under Rafael Bejarano. Competing against $30,000 conditioned claiming opposition in a six-furlong race on dirt, Shanghai's Dream rallied from last to post Asmussen's record-tying victory.  

Baird, who operated a standout stable of lower-end horses in West Virginia, died in an automobile accident in 2007.

Peruvian-based trainer Juan Suarez Villarroel is the world's winningest trainer, closing in on 10,000 victories and currently having more than a 400-victory edge over Asmussen and Baird.

Asmussen, who watched the Ellis Park simulcast on a television monitor at Saratoga Race Course, hugged his wife Julie after Shanghai's Dream crossed the wire narrowly in front.

"Being in horse racing, it can be an unbelievably humbling sport, but the rewards that it gives you are amazing," he said immediately following the race. "But you go through it as a family, and I think that's what makes you close."

Asmussen figures to be an odds-on proposition to break the record Aug. 7 as he has 14 horses entered in 13 races at four different racetracks, Saratoga, Monmouth Park, Louisiana Downs, and Ellis Park.

Asked how he would be feeling tonight and Saturday, Asmussen replied, "I'll be anxious, very anxious."

His first horse Saturday, Under the Gun  in the first race at Saratoga, is a main-track-only entrant and will need a surface change in order to race.

After that, in order by Eastern time, are: Stellar Tap  (5-1 morning line odds) and Vodka Mardini (8-1) in the fifth at Saratoga (2:52 p.m. post time); Classical Romance  (5-1) in the seventh at Monmouth (3:06 p.m.); Policy Limit  (2-1) in the first at Louisiana Downs (3:45 p.m.); Fouette  (7-2) in the ninth at Monmouth (4:03 p.m.); Out Dancing (7-2) in the sixth at Ellis Park (4:10 p.m.); Bankable  (7-2) in the third at Louisiana Downs (4:37 p.m.); Stillchargingmaria  (8-1) in the seventh at Ellis Park (4:40 p.m.); Archidust  in the eighth at Ellis Park (5:10 p.m.); Vodka N Water  (4-1) in the 12th at Monmouth (5:26 p.m.); Silver State  (4-1) in the 10th at Saratoga (5:48 p.m.); Chestertown  (8-1) in the 11th at Saratoga (6:23 p.m.); and Miner's Queen  (6-1) in the 12th at Saratoga (6:55 p.m.).

Asmussen, 55, began training in 1986, winning his first race that year at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. This followed several years as a jockey, the profession at which his older brother Cash excelled, the latter becoming an Eclipse Award-winning apprentice in 1979 and ultimately a five-time champion rider in France.

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 and Julie have two other boys—Darren and Eric—who also share an interest in the sport.

The son of trainers Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, Steve expanded his stable in the late 1980s and early 1990s, first winning more than a hundred races in 1995 when his horses won 130 and made more than $1 million.

"I think their support—and who they are—is what made me and Cash have the sense that we can do this," Asmussen said of his parents in an interview with BloodHorse last month. "(Cash) got the confidence of that from them, and me as well."

KING: 'Dale Baird Record' in Asmussen's Sights

By the mid to late 2000s, Asmussen set single-season win records, topped by capturing 650 races in 2009. That year and during four others, his runners won more than $20 million on the season, topped by a yearly-best $27.4 million in 2019. He won the Eclipse Award as North American's outstanding trainer in 2008-09.

He holds multiple training titles at Ellis Park, Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Keeneland, Lone Star Park, Monmouth Park, Oaklawn Park, Remington Park, Retama Park, Sunland Park, and Churchill Downs, where he became the track's winningest trainer in June of last year.

Asmussen called his success at some of those smaller tracks no less significant.

"Racing at a lower level, you could say 'B' tracks and stuff early in your career, you still know what is right," he said last month.

His Baird-tying victory also came at what many consider to be a 'B' track, Ellis Park.

"In a way, it's meant to be," Asmussen said Friday. "I am very proud of where I came from. I grew up running at lesser racetracks, and I assure you, it's hard to win anywhere—and that's what I love about horse racing."

Baird recorded most of his wins out of the limelight. He regularly ran horses at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort.

"The significant part of tying Dale Baird is realizing what an accomplishment that was for him," Asmussen added Friday.

Running a large stable over multiple parts of the country, Asmussen is reliant on assistants, led by two, Scott Blasi and Darren Fleming, who have worked for him for more than two decades.

Asmussen has conditioned three Horses of the Year—Curlin  , Rachel Alexandra , and Gun Runner  . The trainer has won the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) twice and the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1). In the Triple Crown events, only the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) has eluded him. He is 0-for-23 in the Run for the Roses, though his trainees have twice been both second and third.

Despite having won so many races, Asmussen has not lost his winning drive. He still can be seen trackside along the rail, cheering on his runners and whistling in excitement.

"I'm extremely blessed to be involved in horse racing, let alone grow up in it," he remarked in July. "That feeling is still there. That's how it feels to win and I love the feeling."