Finite wins Silverbulletday, gives Asmussen 1,000th stakes win
Finite took another step forward Saturday on the Kentucky Oaks trail while notching her trainer a milestone victory.
The Munnings filly edged front-running Ursula to take the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds. The victory earned Finite 10 points toward the Kentucky Oaks and trainer Steve Asmussen his 1,000th stakes winner.
“Extremely special,” Asmussen told TVG. “A number like that is just amazing. Being with a homebred with Winchell (Thoroughbreds) makes it perfect.”
Asmussen’s 1,000th stakes score also marked Finite’s fourth straight win overall. She broke her maiden Sept. 12 at Kentucky Downs, then finished her 2-year-old campaign with wins Oct. 27 in the black-type Rags to Riches Stakes and Nov. 30 in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes, both at Churchill Downs.
Finite, who also collected 10 points in the Golden Rod, now sits third on the Road to the 2020 Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 20 total points. Only Bast (34) and British Idiom (30) rank ahead of her.
Finite went off at 3-5 odds Saturday in the Silverbulletday, a 1-mile, 70-yard route over Fair Grounds’ dirt. She bided her time early on as Ursula set opening panels of :24.23 and :48.72.
Under jockey Ricardo Santana Jr., Finite came to the front entering the stretch and looked to have the momentum. But the Michael Stidham trainee Ursula re-rallied and appeared to regain a lead in the final furlong.
Finite mounted her own charge to get back ahead of Ursula, scoring by a head. The filly crossed in 1:42.73 for a victory that returned $3.20.
Dallas Stewart-trained Tempers Rising got up for third with a late move on the outside, leaving 3-1 second choice Portrait in fourth.
Fair Grounds hosts two more points-paying Kentucky Oaks prep races: the Rachel Alexandra (G2) on Feb. 15 and the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) on March 21. There, Finite figures to encounter competition from the likes of British Idiom, an unbeaten filly working locally toward her 3-year-old debut.
Asmussen has trained a pair of Kentucky Oaks heroines in Summerly (2006) and Untapable (2014). Now the trainer is “all in” with Finite for the Oaks.
“I think the success that the fillies out of this series at Fair Grounds have had, including two of our winners of the Oaks, we’re all in on that," he said. "We expect great things from her.”