Ky. Derby prep: 43-1 Magnitude follows plan, jolts Risen Star
New Orleans
After watching eight races on the main track Saturday at Fair Grounds, trainer Steve Asmussen knew what the plan had to be for 43-1 long shot Magnitude in the Grade 2, $500,000 Risen Star Stakes. Get to the front and get to the rail.
The biggest problem with that plan? Magnitude was starting from post 12 of 12, but jockey Ben Curtis “understood the assignment,” as the kids say.
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“We saw all day how the bias played,” Asmussen said. “You wanted to be forward and on the rail. I love how decisive Ben was from the start. He got immediately out front and immediately over right where I wanted him to be.”
Magnitude received early pressure from 3-5 favorite East Avenue, the beaten Breeders’ Cup Juvenile favorite making his 3-year-old debut. But East Avenue capitulated on the second turn, and from there Magnitude was gone after cutting fractions of 23.42, 46.92, 1:10.95 and 1:36.13 before completing the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.35 on a track rated as fast. He won by 9 3/4 lengths to all but mathematically clinch his place in Kentucky Derby 2025.
“Steve’s instructions made it easy,” Curtis said. "We drew a terrible post, especially considering how good the rail was, but he overcame it. When I asked him early to get position, he responded. When I asked him at the three-eighths to put away East Avenue, he responded. When I turned for home at the quarter pole and didn’t hear anyone around me, I knew we had them. I asked for run through the eighth pole to make sure and keep his mind on business, but then I enjoyed the final eighth.”
Asmussen summed up the race in one word. Legit.
“One-48 and change for a 3-year-old going a mile-and-an-eighth is legit,” he said. "He was perfect today. It’s not that we’ve ever had a problem with him, but he was a total professional from the paddock to the post parade.”
That 1:48.35 final time was not only legit but also a stakes record since the Risen Star was extended to 1 1/8 miles in 2020. Winchell Thoroughbreds-owned, Asmussen-trained Epicenter held the previous mark of 1:49.03. In fact, Magnitude’s final time was the first time a 3-year-old broke the 1:49 barrier for nine furlongs at Fair Grounds since at least 1991.
Ron Stolich bred Magnitude in Kentucky and sold the Not This Time colt for $450,000 to Winchell via the 2023 Keeneland September yearling sale.
Asmussen said the plan from here is unquestionably the Louisiana Derby (G2) March 22 as the colt’s final Kentucky Derby prep.
“We know where we’ve been with this colt, we know where we are now, and we know where we’re going,” Asmussen said. “The circumstances favored him today. He got the trip that was winning races today. Whether that will happen again is in God’s hands.”
It was the biggest Risen Star upset since I’ve Struck a Nerve won at 135-1 in 2013.
Magnitude was not the only long shot to crash the party. Terry Stephens’s Chunk of Gold, a modest $2,500 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale, shipped from trainer Ethan West’s Turfway Park base to make his dirt debut in the Risen Star. The Preservationist colt did not disappoint, making a resolute rally down the rail to pip Gun Runner Stakes winner and Lecomte Stakes (G3) runner-up Built on the wire for second to complete a huge exacta worth $2,629.40 for a winning $2 bet.
“We are absolutely thrilled at the massive race he ran,” West said. “We asked a lot of him shipping down here, and trying dirt for the first time, and he came with a massive run. Jareth (Loveberry) rode him perfectly.”
Magnitude paid $88.40, $33.00 and $14.80; Chunk of Gold $32.20 and $12.80; and third-place Built $4.00. The $1 trifecta returned $6,850.90, and the $1 superfecta was worth $53,988.50.
Vassimo finished fourth and American Promise fifth in the race worth 50-25-15-10-5 Derby qualifying points for the top five finishers.
East Avenue faded to finish in a dead heat for 10th.