Asmussen sees new start for Epicenter in Preakness bid

Saturday’s Preakness Stakes will be Epicenter’s eighth career start, but Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen views the first seven races as just a warm up for the 6-5 morning-line favorite.

“I think it’s a very unique opportunity and he has a very nice resume, but we would definitely like to add to it,” Asmussen said in full turn-the-page mode after a narrow Kentucky Derby defeat. “We expect this is just the beginning of his racing career.”

Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Epicenter drew Post 8 in a field of nine 3-year-olds entered in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. Regular rider Joel Rosario, the 2021 Eclipse Award-winning jockey, has the mount at Pimlico Race Course.

If Epicenter’s first seven races indeed prove only a prelude, the main act could be spectacular.

Since finishing sixth in his racing debut Sept. 18 – the last time he ran less than a mile – Epicenter has four wins and two seconds. He is a length from being unbeaten during that stretch: dropping a head decision after a protracted duel in the Fair Grounds’ Lecomte Stakes (G3) and, obviously far more painfully to his team, the Kentucky Derby, in which Epicenter took charge in the stretch, only to be passed in the final strides by 80-1 shot Rich Strike.

The fact that Epicenter’s start before the Kentucky Derby was the March 26 Louisiana Derby (G2) now seemingly works in the Not This Time colt’s favor with the two-week turnaround to the 1 3/16-mile Preakness. Simplification (fourth) and Happy Jack (14th) are the only other Derby horses returning in the Preakness.

“His races have been spaced considerably since the beginning, and I think that’s what has allowed us the horse we have right now,” Asmussen said. “How he runs back in two weeks, and how he comes out of a race back in two weeks is yet to be determined.”

All the same, he believes tweaks made for the Fair Grounds’ 3-year-old series – changing the spacing and extending the Louisiana Derby to the Preakness distance of 1 3/16 miles and the Risen Star (G2) to 1 1/8 miles – are paying dividends.

“Love the series in New Orleans, how they’ve lengthened the races and adjusted the timing of them,” Asmussen said. “I thought it gave us a great chance in the Derby, as we’re standing here (after) being second, and now trying to improve upon that and back in 14 days.”