Chasing 10,000: Where will Asmussen reach milestone?

It is not a matter of if. There is a little mystery about the when. The bigger question may be where. As in where will Steve Asmussen get his 10,000th training victory?

Almost exactly 1 1/2 years after he broke the North America record for career wins, Asmussen is on the verge of being the continent’s first trainer to reach five digits.

Asmussen had 9,992 victories going into Thursday, when two of his horses were entered in maiden races at Delta Downs. Another who was drawn into a maiden test at Fair Grounds was scratched.

He conceivably could reach the milestone Friday, when he had 13 horses entered at four tracks, six at Sam Houston, five at Oaklawn, one at Fair Grounds and one at Turfway.

With at least 15 more horses drawn onto Saturday cards and no fewer than six more Sunday, it seemed more likely Asmussen might reach the 10,000 plateau before the end of the weekend.

Since Asmussen broke Dale Baird’s North America record of 9,445 on Aug. 7, 2021, he has added 546 wins in the last 550 days. At that rate of almost exactly one per day, he would reach 10,000 late next week. But Asmussen clustered six wins into two days of racing Saturday and Sunday to raise his strike rate, so this weekend might not be out of the question.

Asmussen still trails Juan Suárez Villaroel for the world record in training wins. Suárez Villoroel, who is based in Perú, had 10,317 victories through Wednesday, according to the Página de Turf website that tracks international racing superlatives. If they were to keep winning at their current rates, Asmussen would break the world record in the summer of 2027.

These are the upcoming entries for Asmussen as reported by Equibase: