Breeders’ Cup: Asmussen is high on Jackie’s Warrior, 4 others

Lexington, Ky.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen was all smiles at his Breeders’ Cup barn Monday morning at Keeneland. It is the day of the week he works some of his best horses, and he was ebullient.

He even sounded satisfied despite knowing he will not see Jackie’s Warrior breeze again.

“It is a little sad to think this is the last time we get to run him,” he said. “But he’s given us so much. We’re just very proud of who he is.”

Soon to be standing for a stud fee of $50,000 at Spendthrift Farm just 13 miles away, Jackie’s Warrior was clocked at 37.6 seconds going three furlongs on a main track rated good after a drought-interrupting, overnight rain. Coming six days after a bullet, 58.6-second turn around five furlongs, it was his last serious preparation before he likely will be the favorite Saturday in the six-furlong, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“He’s been training so pretty here,” Asmussen said. “Looks lovely. Excited.”

Asmussen could not help but offer a proud valedictory about the 4-year-old Maclean’s Music colt who was last year’s male-sprint champion. He underscored the July 30 win in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap that made Jackie’s Warrior the first horse ever to win Grade 1 races three years in a row at Saratoga.

“You can’t think of Jackie’s Warrior without the fact that he did something at Saratoga that no horse before him has done,” Asmussen said. “How that separates him from everybody.”

A month later, though, the horse Kirk and Judy Robison bought as a yearling for $95,000 was upset by Cody’s Wish in the Forego (G1). That was his first loss since he finished sixth in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. After last fall’s disappointment at Del Mar, Jackie’s Warrior was diagnosed with a knee chip. Following surgery, he dispelled any notion he would not be the same when he rattled off four consecutive wins and pushed his career earnings to $2,779,164.

To go out on a high note and avenge last year’s loss, Jackie’s Warrior will not have as tall a task as expected. Three-time Grade 1 winner Jack Christopher will not be entered. Trainer Chad Brown told Daily Racing Form that he feared a veterinary scratch based on the colt’s penchant for awkward movement.

Asmussen said he was not concerned about the quality of the field. Just about his horses.

“Every single one of the races that you’re in, you could focus on that,” Asmussen said of any tough opposition. “But that’s completely out of your control. A lot of the reason for our success is that we’ve continuously concentrated on a race being from point A to point B and getting them there from the gate to the wire as quick as they can. The rest usually takes care of itself.”

Asmussen did not deny, though, that Jackie’s Warrior’s presence in the Sprint influenced his decision to divert seven-furlong specialist Gunite to the Dirt Mile. Both Gunite and Wicked Halo, who will be in the Filly & Mare Sprint, were stakes winners only nine days ago at Keeneland. Gunite was clocked at 51.6 seconds Monday in his half-mile work; Wicked Halo at 52.6.

“Just as easy as we could get them to go with them running the fastest races by numbers they’ve ever run two weeks ago,” Asmussen said. “Just nice and smooth and easy, what we typically do on our first works back. We followed that plan.”

Asmussen said Gunite and Wicked Halo were perfect fits for this renewal of the Breeders’ Cup partly because of where the races will be held.

“Two reasons for such optimism with both of them running back is our success two weeks later over multiple starts,” he said, “and them running so well at Keeneland. From a handicapper’s standpoint, not everybody runs their race at Keeneland. Plain and simple.”

Asmussen also worked two-time Grade 1 winner Clairière a half-mile in 50.0 seconds Monday. The 4-year-old Curlin filly will be out to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish in the Distaff. She also will try to erase the last impression of a fifth-place result in the Aug. 27 Personal Ensign (G1) at Saratoga, where she looked like she was throwing a fit under jockey Joel Rosario in the starting gate.

“It caught us off guard,” Asmussen said. “We pride ourselves on how they act and how well they’re schooled. That is 100 percent our responsibility, and we feel that we have that base covered. If we’re fortunate enough to have success in the Distaff, we’ll be extremely pleased that it happened last time and not this time.”

Among Asmussen’s horses who worked Sunday was Epicenter, who faces the tall task of upsetting world No. 1 Flightline in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The runner-up in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and the acclaimed leader of the 3-year-old male division most recently won the Travers (G1).

“Obviously you’re extremely high on him, and your hopes are good,” Asmussen said. “But I think we reached a new level of confidence with Epicenter. Me personally, just looking at him before the Travers, you’ve always been impressed with him and love the athlete that he is and the races that he’s run.”

Asmussen said he doubled down on his faith even before the 3-year-old Not This Time colt raced in the mid-summer derby at Saratoga.

“I remember schooling him the week of the Travers,” he said. “He was a picture of strength and athleticism that gave me a new level of confidence in him.”

Confident enough to think Epicenter can take down a Classic field that includes Flightline?

“I don’t think it gets any higher,” Asmussen said. “If he beats this field, he’s horse of the year. Having the best horse in training, I mean what could be prouder?”

Confidence is one thing. Asmussen, who needs 69 wins to become the first North American trainer to reach the 10,000 plateau, knows there also is a little bit of luck involved in getting to the winner’s circle. It is a place he has been eight times after Breeders’ Cup races.

“It goes back to the adage,” he said. “They’re so sure of the outcome, they let you bet on it.”