Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Arkansas Derby win a family affair for Asmussens
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Keith Asmussen, the 79-year-old patriarch of one of racing’s most successful families, was spending time Sunday at the barn with son Steve Asmussen, as he has on so many mornings through the years.
But this visit was unlike any other.
Keith Asmussen and his 55-year-old son, the Hall of Fame trainer, were reveling in the performance of Super Stock a day earlier at Oaklawn Park. The horse won the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, and the 100 points he earned in the final Kentucky Derby prep race of the season will send him to the May 1 classic at Churchill Downs.
The Arkansas Derby was the biggest win the Asmussens have celebrated with their own horse – after a lifetime of working in the industry. Keith Asmussen, who also is the father of Cash Asmussen, a five-time champion jockey in France, owns Super Stock in partnership with Erv Woolsey, the longtime manager of country music artist George Strait.
“There aren’t words for it,” Keith Asmussen said Sunday. “It’s one of those unbelievable things.
“It will be exciting,” he said of the lead up to the Kentucky Derby. “The wait will be exciting. Every day you get a little closer, you get a little bit more excited.”
Steve Asmussen on Sunday said Super Stock exited the Arkansas Derby in fine fashion. The horse will soon travel to his division at Churchill Downs.
“He came out of it beautifully,” he said. “We’re very excited. He flies to Louisville on Tuesday.”
Super Stock settled just off a hot pace in the Arkansas Derby, racing in third behind Caddo River and Concert Tour. In the stretch, regular rider Ricardo Santana Jr. angled the horse outside of that pair, and Super Stock went on to a 2 1/2-length victory. He covered 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:50.92 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 92.
“I felt awful good when he was laying that close, and those guys were battling each other, and the fractions they were running,” Keith Asmussen said. “It looked pretty good by the” stretch.
“I think he’ll stay. In fact, Steve and I were talking this morning. You know, there’s a difference between finishing against slow fractions and the difference of them going that fast, being that close, and still finishing like that. It proves he’s a finisher.”
The win was an emotional one for Steve Asmussen.
“We were obviously very excited about the horse and expected him to show up and run well, and when it appeared he was going to win the race, it was, ‘How blessed is this real moment?’
“This is Mom and Dad’s moment. You think about how they’ve always supported you through all your successes, been there cheering you on and helping you along in every endeavor. It’s their moment, and we’re just bit players in it.”
Keith Asmussen and his wife, Marilyn, have been married 59 years. It’s been quite a run for the couple in recent times. The family’s Asmussen Horse Center was the consignor of the $240,000 sales-topper at the Texas 2-year-olds in training sale last Wednesday at Lone Star Park. And then the Asmussens made their way to Oaklawn for the Arkansas Derby.
“It’s been a good week,” Keith Asmussen said. “I finish this week with my 60th wedding anniversary, on the 18th.”
Together, the Asmussens and Woolsey have much to look forward to with Super
Stock.
“Besides his ability, he’s always been a sound horse and a real good-minded horse,” Keith Asmussen said. “He likes to eat and sleep and run.”
Concert Tour was the odds-on favorite in the Arkansas Derby on the strength of his 3-for-3 record and 4 1/4-length victory in last month’s Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn. The Southern California-based runner finished third in the Arkansas Derby, a head behind Caddo River.
Trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday that Concert Tour emerged from the race well and that plans right now call for the horse to ship to Churchill Downs. Concert Tour has the points to get into the Kentucky Derby.
Baffert called Concert Tour’s race in the Arkansas Derby “a real head-scratcher.”
Baffert also said Hozier, the Rebel runner-up who finished sixth in the Arkansas Derby, emerged from the race in good order.
Caddo River’s status for the Kentucky Derby is to be determined. Trainer Brad Cox said Monday that a decision could come “in about a week.”