Asmussen Breaks Remington Single-Season Earnings Mark

Trainer Steve Asmussen broke his own record for money earned by horses in a single Remington Park season the night of Dec. 1 when his two runners in the third race finished first and third.

That gave him $2,238,781 in  purse money earned by his horses for the current meet, passing last year's mark of $2,232,645. Blessings First, a 2-year-old filly by Pioneerof the Nile out of the Deputy Minister mare Business Plan, put Asmussen over the top when she won the third, a one-mile maiden race by 1-3/4 lengths in her career debut. Jockey Ramon Vazquez was in the saddle for Asmussen and owner WinStar Stablemates Racing. She won $19,749 for the victory and stablemate Giant Blossom, another firster for Asmussen, earned $3,621 by running third in the race. 

Blessings First was bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm. She had a series of strong workouts coming into her debut, getting the bullet for five furlongs at Lone Star Park, covering the distance in 1:01.40 seconds, breezing from the gate Nov. 10. She covered the mile tonight in 1:42.10, stalking the pacesetter Ciao Ciao, looking over her shoulder the whole way and pouncing at the top of the stretch. The early fractions for the race were :24.10 for the quarter-mile, :49.25 for the half-mile, 1:15.31 for three quarters of a mile, and 1:28.37 for 7 furlongs.

Blessings First paid $3.40 to win, $2.40 to place; and $2.10 to show.

The 13-time champion trainer at Remington Park, Asmussen finished with $2,238,866 at the end of the night. He is well on his way to an unprecedented 14th title, with 84 trips to the winner's circle this meet compared to second-place Karl Broberg at 50 victories.

Kelly Breen, who trained 2011 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Ruler On Ice, has scheduled an airplane ride to Remington Park for 2-year-old colt Epic Dreamer, who is set to race in the cornerstone fall race at the Oklahoma City track, the $400,000 Springboard Mile Dec. 16.

The Springboard is a mile race in which the top horses earn points on the 2019 Road to the Kentucky Derby. The first place finisher in the Springboard Mile earns 10 points toward the Run for the Roses, followed by four points for the runner-up, two points for third, and one point for fourth. The Springboard is the final race of this calendar year with qualifying points for the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

In the Belmont Stake, Ruler On Ice beat Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Animal Kingdom , the Derby runner-up Nehro, Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Shackleford , and 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Mucho Macho Man . Breen also trained Pants On Fire, a horse that finished third in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in 2014. He is hoping to catch lightning in the bottle once again with Epic Dreamer, a 2-year-old colt by 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb , who was bred in Kentucky by J.D. Stuart. He is out of the Dixieland Band mare Dixie Crisp, and has shown signs of brilliance early on.

Epic Dreamer has raced twice in his life, finishing second in a six-furlong sprint among maidens at Belmont Park when running into some traffic troubles, and then winning the next time out when stretching out to 1-1/16th miles in a maiden race Oct. 26 at Belmont. 

Jockey Javier Castellano had this horse well in hand for the victory in wire-to-wire fashion. He set fractions of :23.68 seconds for the quarter-mile, :46.75 for the half-mile, and had the mile in 1:36.42 before stopping the timer in 1:43.18, making every pole a winning one. He was sent off as the favorite at 2-5 odds and Castellano wrapped up on him down the stretch as he easily cruised to the 2-1/2 length victory. He never asked Epic Dreamer for more run.

Breen will be putting Epic Dreamer on Air Horse One from Tex Sutton's Equine Forwarding Charter Dec. 4. The colt is expected to arrive in Oklahoma City from Gulfstream Park in south Florida around 11 a.m. He will be checked into trainer Danny Pish's barn at Remington Park. Epic Dreamer has earned $56,250 in those two starts and a change of rider to Castellano happened before his only win. He is owned by Epic Racing. 

Breen's horses have earned more than $32 million in more than 4,000 career starts. Through Friday's races, according to Equibase statistics, Breen had started horses 4,099 times with 699 wins, 614 seconds and 523 thirds for $32,060,716.