Barn Tour: Breeders’ Cup looms; Asmussen discusses 13 horses

As the winningest trainer in the U.S. and Canada every year since 2020 and for all time, Steve Asmussen continues to be blessed with a talented pool of horses who benefit from his expertise.

He has had at least one Eclipse Award winner in his stable four of the last six years, and his candidates this year may include Echo Zulu, Gunite and Clairière.

At this point all three might be on the same path to the end of the year.

“Echo Zulu, she will train up to the Breeders’ Cup,” Asmussen said Sunday at Kentucky Downs. “Clairière will train up to the Breeders’ Cup.”

He did not quite make it 3-for-3.

“We’re not positive of where, when and if Gunite is going to run back or if he’s going to train up to the Breeders’ Cup,” Asmussen said.

Those were three of the 13 horses the Hall of Fame trainer was asked about in this Horse Racing Nation Barn Tour.

Echo Zulu. Her rivalry with Goodnight Olive reckons to be renewed in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. “I assure you we have respect for each other,” Asmussen said after Echo Zulu beat Goodnight Olive by 2 1/2 lengths last month in the Ballerina Handicap (G1) at Saratoga. “The development that she has shown is so much like her father Gun Runner. The longer you had him, the faster he was, and that’s how she’s been.” Echo Zulu finished second in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup to Goodnight Olive, who then won the Eclipse Award as the year’s top female sprinter. The 4-year-old filly is owned by Lee, Michael and Andy Levinson and Don Nelson’s L and N Racing in partnership with the Winchell Thoroughbreds operation led by Ron Winchell. Echo Zulu will take a 3-for-3 record in 2023 to Santa Anita, where she conceivably could be pointed toward a race against the boys in the Sprint. Asmussen was not saying.

Gunite. Another showdown between rivals is bound for California, where Gunite is likely to face Elite Power for the third time this year, although Asmussen did not get into specifics on Breeders’ Cup divisions. Defending winner Cody’s Wish, a stablemate of Elite Power, also is being aimed presumably for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Elite Power beat Gunite in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) and in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1), but Gunite defeated Elite Power by 1 3/4 lengths last month in the Forego (G1). “With Gunite, obviously we’re very proud of the great race he ran in the Forego,” Asmussen said. “Couldn’t be prouder of the 4-year-old year he’s putting in.” The biggest challenge for the Gun Runner colt who is a Winchell homebred might be in the mornings. “Poor Gunite has had to work with (Echo Zulu) the majority of his life,” Asmussen said last month at Saratoga.

Clairière. Fourth in 2021 and third in 2022, the 5-year-old Curlin mare bred and owned by Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stables is headed back to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Clairière was twice a Grade 1 winner this year in the Apple Blossom Handicap and the Ogden Phipps. At Saratoga, though, she finished second to Nest in the Shuvee (G2) and an empty fifth to Idiomatic in the Personal Ensign (G1). That last result compelled Asmussen to let Clairière wait for what could be her finale Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

Pauline’s Pearl. “The Locust Grove (G3) on Saturday at Churchill” was the race in which Asmussen entered the 5-year-old Tapit mare who is a Stonestreet homebred. Pauline’s Pearl is only 5: 1-0-1 at Churchill Downs, but the one win was impressive. That was her half-length score over Shedaresthedevil in the 2022 La Troienne (G1). Her most recent outing was a July 1 victory against only two other runners in the Fleur de Lis (G2) at Ellis Park. Pauline’s Pearl has 5-1 program odds for Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares. Search Results is the 3-1 morning-line favorite.

Wicked Halo. Twice a winner in Grade 2 races, the 4-year-old Gun Runner filly who is a Winchell homebred races Saturday at Churchill Downs in “a filly and mare, three-quarter,” Asmussen said, referring to the six-furlong, $300,000 Open Mind. Most recently a winner in the Twin Bridges on July 23 at Ellis Park, Wicked Halo is the 3-5 morning-line favorite this weekend.

Society. Peter Blum bred and owns this filly who is on a break until she is shipped to Santa Anita. “Society will train up to the Breeders’ Cup,” said Asmussen, who may be aiming the 4-year-old daughter of Gun Runner toward the seven-furlong Filly & Mare Sprint. She won the seven-furlong Chicago (G3) in track-record time at Ellis Park and then finished first last month in the seven-furlong Pink Ribbon at Charles Town. Society was seventh last year in the Distaff at Keeneland.

Ryvit. The three-time stakes winner has a name that sounds like the croak of a frog or the work of a welder. Asmussen said Ryvit will start this month in a six-furlong sprint on the Pennsylvania Derby undercard. “The Gallant Bob (G2) at Parx on the 23rd of September,” he said. Owned by Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, the 3-year-old Competitive Edge colt finished fifth last out in the Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town.

Five of Asmussen’s turf horses just got done with races in the past 1 1/2 weeks. Private Creed won the Franklin-Simpson (G2), Aspenite scored in the Juvenile Mile, Cogburn was fifth in the Turf Sprint, and Red Route One finished eighth in the Dueling Grounds Derby (G3), all at Kentucky Downs. Gigante was sixth in the Virginia Derby (G3) at Colonial Downs. Asmussen said it was too soon to know their next stops.