'Unbelievably disappointed' Asmussen now 0-for-24 in Derby

Louisville, Ky.

Everything set up for Saturday to be Steve Asmussen’s moment of Kentucky Derby glory. North America’s winningest trainer, but 0-for-23 in North America’s biggest race, watched as Epicenter led 19 rivals into the stretch under the roar of a Churchill Downs crowd.

And when the 4-1 favorite turned back game foe Zandon, Asmussen thought he had the race won. A late-running, 80-1 long shot named Rich Strike then swooped in to steal the show.

Asmussen smiled as he talked on the track to a handful of reporters moments after Epicenter finished second, 3/4 of a length shy of a former claimer. But through his smile, the trainer acknowledged he was “unbelievably disappointed.”

“I thought it was ours this year,” said Asmussen, now 0-for-24 in the Kentucky Derby. “I really did.”

No domestic trainer has won more races than the 9,731 scored by Asmussen. Two of those were Grade 1 scores he achieved on Kentucky Derby weekend, Friday in the La Troienne Stakes with Pauline’s Pearl and Saturday in the Churchill Downs Stakes with champion sprinter Jackie’s Warrior.

But success in the Kentucky Derby itself has eluded Asmussen. He has now saddled Derby runners-up Epicenter, Lookin At Lee (2017) and Nehro (2011), third-place finishers Gun Runner (2016) and Curlin (2007) and 19 3-year-olds who missed the board.

“I can’t believe it after Epicenter’s effort,” Asmussen said of his Kentucky Derby woes. “And the scenario in which I went 0-for-24, you couldn’t make up. I got beat by the horse that just got in.”

That horse is Rich Strike, a former maiden claimer who squeaked into the Kentucky Derby field as an also-eligible after Ethereal Road scratched Friday morning. While Epicenter was winning the Louisiana Derby (G2) and Risen Star Stakes (G2), Rich Strike was finishing fourth and third in lesser-heralded Derby preps at Turfway Park.

“Congratulations to the winners,” Asmussen said. “Disney couldn’t have wrote that story.”

Epicenter broke from post No. 3 on Saturday under reigning champion jockey Joel Rosario. While long shot Summer Is Tomorrow went through the first quarter-mile in a race-record 21.78 seconds, Rosario settled Epicenter in eighth place, saving ground along the rail.

Summer Is Tomorrow quickly faded, and new leader Messier also gave way. Epicenter was there to pick up the pieces. He waited briefly near the quarter-pole, angled out into the stretch and shook clear with the lead.

Zandon, a Grade 1 winner who went off Saturday at 6-1 for trainer Chad Brown, also was well-positioned into the stretch. He took aim at Epicenter, but Asmussen’s colt turned back that rival.

While Epicenter looked like the Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike had other ideas. Under jockey Sonny Leon, the long shot took command in the final sixteenth of a mile.

“Everything was perfect,” Rosario said. “We thought we were home. Too bad (Rich Strike) got us right at the end.

“I thought Epicenter ran a tremendous race. He did everything. He responded when I asked him. We ran too good to get beat.”