Ky. Derby alumnus Publisher seeks maiden win in Indiana Derby

A victory by Arkansas Derby runner-up Publisher in Saturday’s $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby would also produce a welcome loss, as in the colt’s distinction of being America’s most accomplished 3-year-old who has yet to win a race.

Owner Gus King went to a high bid of $600,000 for the son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah at the 2023 Saratoga yearling sale, with the estate of breeder and former Kentucky governor Brereton C. Jones retaining 25%. Publisher had three rallying thirds and a second in his first starts as a 2-year-old. As he turned 3 and having shown the type of talent to compete in Oaklawn Park’s Kentucky Derby prep series, trainer Steve Asmussen opted to bypass more maiden races in favor of graded stakes, where the distances would get longer and there might be more early pace to set up Publisher’s late kick.

Publisher has improved each race. He was seventh, but impeded in mid-stretch and placed sixth, in Oaklawn’s Southwest Stakes (G3). He closed from 20 lengths back to be fourth in the Rebel Stakes (G2). Adding blinkers, he once again rallied from far back to take second in the Arkansas Derby (G1). The colt brought earnings of $407,756 into the Kentucky Derby. If Publisher was bumped around early and wound up being no factor while winding up 14th, so did a lot of other horses in the bulky field of 19.

“Obviously his last race was the Kentucky Derby; we gave him a little bit of a freshening after that,” Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday at Churchill Downs after Publisher worked an easy half-mile by himself in 49.2 seconds. “His last few weeks, he’s had some beautiful works in company with Magnitude. I thought he went really nice (Sunday), and I expect him to run extremely well in the Indiana Derby. It would be nice for him to get his first win ever.

“A couple of his races this spring, he showed his quality. If anything, I think he’s considerably better now than he’s ever been.”

And how do horses show those they’re better? “They’re faster,” Asmussen said. “They’re capable of going faster easier. It was something expected from his pedigree, from who he is physically. He was always an extremely laid-back horse, and I think he’s just now maturing into the racehorse that we’ve always wanted him to be.”

Magnitude, the front-running 9 3/4-length victor of the Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds but who subsequently missed the rest of the Kentucky Derby season after having an ankle chip removed, was nominated for the Indiana Derby but is returning to the races in Saturday’s $250,000 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows. Asmussen said he thought Horseshoe Indianapolis is a better fit for Publisher’s running style, in addition to having graded-stakes status.

“The timing of it, proximity of it, the way (he’s) doing, I think it was just the right race off of the Kentucky Derby,” he said. 

Hall of Famer Mike Smith will ride Publisher. Asmussen is shooting for his third Indiana Derby after prevailing in 2011 with Wilburn and in 2007 with Zanjero.

Asmussen also has Our Pretty Woman in the $100,000 Mari George Hulman for older fillies and mares and Track Phantom in the $100,000 Michael G. Schaefer for older males. 

Courtlandt Farm’s Our Pretty Woman was a close second in last year’s Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and, after finishing off the board in the Kentucky Oaks, finished her 3-year-old season by taking Churchill Downs’ Monomoy Girl Stakes. She has a pair of fifths in stakes in two starts this year.

The front-running Track Phantom won the Fair Grounds’ Gun Runner and Lecomte (G2) last year, then was second in the Risen Star, fourth in the Louisiana Derby and set the pace in the 2024 Kentucky Derby before tiring to 11th. He has a seventh and third in two starts this year for co-owners L And N Racing and Clark Brewster.

Our Pretty Woman “looked beautiful (Sunday) morning working as well,” Asmussen said. “I think it’s a good spot for her. It’s about time for Track Phantom to get back on track as well. We’re trying to find the right spots and get them back in the mix. Both are previous stakes winners, and it’s time to get back in the winner’s circle.”