Longtime Churchill Downs spokesman John Asher dies at 62

LOUISVILLE, KY. » John Asher, the longtime Churchill Downs spokesman and executive known for his love of horse racing and his encyclopedic knowledge of the sport’s most famous race, the Kentucky Derby, died Monday. He was 62.

Asher, whowas an awardwinning radio journalist before becoming a widely respected fixture at the Louisville racetrack, died after suffering a heart attackwhile on vacation with his family in Florida, Churchill Downs said in a release.

His death comes a couple of weeks before the storied track opens its September meet. Churchill will host the season-ending Breeders’ Cup World Championships in November.

The track called Asher “an irreplaceable ambassador” in confirming his death.

“To say that racing has lost oneof its giants with the passing of John Asher does not begin to capture the impact this man has had and will continue to have on the Churchill Downs family,” said Kevin Flanery, president of Churchill Downs racetrack.

“His passion for the Kentucky Derby, horseracing, his WKU ( Western Kentucky University) Hilltoppers, great music and above all else his loving family was genuine and infectious,” Flanery added. “Racing has lost an icon.”

Asher and his wife, Dee, were vacationing in Orlando, Florida, at the time of his death, Asher’s brother, TimAsher, told the Courier Journal.

“Dee said he wasn’t feeling well . and John said, ‘I think I need to go to the hospital,”’ Tim Asher told the Louisville newspaper. “They called an ambulance, and he died on the way to the hospital.”

As word of Asher’s death spread throughout the thoroughbred racing world, twotime Triple Crown winner and five-time Derby winner Bob Baffert referred to him as “the warm, human face” of Churchill Downs.

“I was always happy to see him,” Baffert wrote. “He was as Kentucky as the Derby and the bluegrass, bourbon and hot browns, and I can’t imagine Derby week without him.”

Alex Waldrop, president and CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, said: “Over the past 20 years, no single person was more closely associated with the Kentucky Derby than John Asher.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer described Asher’s death as heartbreaking.

“The world knows John Asher as the voice of thoroughbred racing and its (hash)1 fan— and hewas the best,” Fischer said in a tweet. “I also know himas a strong community leader fighting for those who have little. I will so miss his presence at (at) Churchill Downs and the streets and boardrooms of Louisville where his total humanity shone like a brilliant first Saturday in May.”

A few blocks away at the University of Louisville’s Cardinal Stadium, athletics spokesman Kenny Klein said, “we lost a good friend” before leading a moment of silence for Asher with assembled media. Cardinals football coach Bobby Petrino opened his news conference by expressing condolences for Asher’s family and adding, “everybody here obviously knows him as a great guy, a great man. He’s really missed.”

Breeders’ Cup Limited said in a statement, “John’s devotion to his work, complemented by his broad smile and unbridled enthusiasm for the sport that he loved so much made him a genuine giant in our game and a remarkable ambassador for horse racing.”