Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
SARATOGA Classic bid sole focus for Gun Runner
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Steve Asmussen could only smile as he watched the rain fall hard outside the office of his Saratoga barn Sunday morning.
“How fortunate are we that this wasn’t yesterday?” Asmussen said.
A wet track, a surface that Gun Runner has not particularly enjoyed, might have been the only thing that could have prevented Gun Runner from putting on a dazzling show in Saturday’s $750,000 Woodward Stakes, a race he won by 10 1/4 lengths over Rally Cry for his third consecutive Grade 1 victory.
Now there is one race left for Gun Runner this year, the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 4 and a showdown with Arrogate, with the Horse of the Year title likely on the line. Arrogate handed Gun Runner his lone defeat of 2017 in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March.
“Everything culminates with the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” Asmussen said Saturday in the winner’s circle. “That is why he is in training this year. That has been the goal and continues to be the goal. We will do our best to get him there in as good a shape as possible, and if we are fortunate enough to have success there, everything else will take care of itself.”
On Sunday, Asmussen mapped out his plan to get Gun Runner to Southern California. He said Gun Runner will go back to the track at Saratoga early this week. By the end of the week, Gun Runner likely will van back to Churchill Downs. Asmussen said Gun Runner would not breeze for a couple of weeks, but he would have one workout at Churchill before shipping to Southern California at the end of September.
Gun Runner will be stabled and train at Santa Anita for three or four weeks before vanning to Del Mar, where he likely will have one half-mile breeze before the Breeders’ Cup.
Asmussen said considering how well Gun Runner has handled several different track surfaces in his 17-race career, he is not concerned that his colt may not handle Del Mar. Asmussen noted that Dennis Moore, the track superintendent at Santa Anita, was hired in the same role at Del Mar.
“They’re trying to develop some more consistency between Santa Anita and Del Mar than they’ve had in the past,” said Asmussen, who noted that Gun Runner was a good second in last year’s BC Dirt Mile at Santa Anita.
Asmussen said Gun Runner came out of the Woodward “super.” Gun Runner ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.43, the fastest of 12 runnings of the Woodward at Saratoga, just beating Liam’s Map’s final time of 1:47.44 in 2015. Gun Runner earned a 115 Beyer Speed Figure. In winning the Whitney here on Aug. 5, Gun Runner ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.71 and earned a 112 Beyer.
“I have a new level of respect for him,” Asmussen said. “How many horses get faster the longer they’re at Saratoga? One. Ever. Him.”