Oaklawn Barn Notes: Asmussen Moves Closer to Another Record with Huge Saturday

by Robert Yates —-

Photo Credit: Coady Photography

Asmussen Moves Closer to Another Record with Huge Saturday

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen took a bite out of the apple Saturday at Oaklawn. A record-setting bite.

Asmussen won four races on the 12-race card, including the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) with Clairiere, who used an electrifying late kick under Joel Rosario to edge favored Secret Oath by a neck in the 1 1/16-mile event for older fillies and mares.

Clairiere ($5) represented a record-tying third Apple Blossom victory for Asmussen, following Untapable in 2015 and Midnight Bisou in 2019, and carried added significance because of her connections, resume and pedigree.

“Absolutely,” Asmussen said approximately 10 minutes after the race. “Being a Curlin out of Cavorting that’s won a couple of Grade 1s, in training as a 5-year-old, I mean that is the Stonestreet sportsmanship ultimate – keeping something like her racing. And that’s why when you’re allowed to do something like that, you feel the responsibility of it and how much it means. That’s what she’s back in training for, a race just like that.”

Clairiere is a homebred for Stonestreet Stables (Barbara Banke), among Asmussen’s most treasured clients, and by two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. Stonestreet campaigned Curlin – Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008 – with Asmussen. Cavorting is a millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner.

After finishing second in last year’s Apple Blossom, Clairiere won the $500,000 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) last June at Belmont Park in her next start and was poised for an Eclipse Award as the country’s champion older dirt female when she entered the starting gate for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 5 at Keeneland. Clairiere was denied the hardware after finishing third, beaten two noses, in the 1 1/8-mile race.

Asked if he would be discussing Clairiere – the racehorse, not the broodmare – 5 ½ months following a Breeders’ Cup victory, Asmussen said, “I don’t know.”

“It would have made her champion,” Asmussen said. “Who knows? But I’ve known them (Stonestreet) to put a Horse of the Year (Curlin) back in training. Lucky me.”

Clairiere opened her 5-year-old campaign with a runner-up finish, beaten 2 ¾ lengths by Secret Oath, in the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles March 11 at Oaklawn.

In the rematch, Clairiere trailed Secret Oath by four lengths in midstretch before collaring the 2022 Kentucky Oaks winner in the shadow of the wire. The winning time over a fast track was 1:43.36.

“It (Azeri) was the first race of the year,” Asmussen said. “Of course, you wanted to win. I never want her to lose. When you have her, you don’t think she’s going to lose. She gives you that sort of confidence. We watched the race run. Kudos to Secret Oath. She’s a great mare.”

The Apple Blossom, Clairiere’s seventh victory from 18 lifetime starts, increased her earnings to $2,831,392. Asmussen said Clairiere will join his string at Churchill Downs, with next-race plans pending. The $500,000 Ogden Phipps (G1) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles is June 10 at Belmont Park.

“We have the beautiful luxury of having Pauline’s Pearl for Stonestreet, also,” Asmussen said. “I think Clairiere held up her end of the bargain today and we’ll go from there.”

A millionaire Grade 1 winner, Pauline’s Pearl won the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies in 2021 at Oaklawn and finished second in last year’s Azeri.

Asmussen also won Saturday’s fourth race with Kingdom ($10.20), fifth race with St. Andrews ($16.40) and the ninth race, the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older horses at 6 furlongs, with Skelly ($14).

The four-bagger pushed Asmussen’s career Oaklawn victory total to 864. Asmussen entered Sunday, Day 59 of the scheduled 68-day meeting, needing only four victories to surpass the late Bob Holthus (867) as the all-time winningest trainer in Oaklawn history. Asmussen became the first trainer in Oaklawn history to reach $50 million in career purse earnings Saturday. Skelly represented Asmussen’s record-extending fifth Count Fleet victory and the 100th stakes victory in his Oaklawn career, which is also a record. Asmussen, who has collected a record 12 Oaklawn training titles, waited only a little more than an hour for No. 101 with Clairiere.

“She’s a tremendous mare,” Asmussen said.

Oaklawn Handicap Field Taking Shape

Post positions for the Oaklawn Handicap and two other stakes races April 22 – $200,000 Bath House Row for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles and the inaugural $150,000 Valley of the Vapors for 3-year-old fillies at 1 mile – will be drawn Monday.

Expected to enter the Oaklawn Handicap are Charge It for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, Classic Causeway (Kenny McPeek), Last Samurai (D. Wayne Lukas) and Proxy (Michael Stidham).

Last Samurai, then trained by Dallas Stewart, won the 2022 Oaklawn Handicap. Under the care of Lukas, Last Samurai won the final two local preps for the Oaklawn Handicap – $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 18 and the $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles March 18. Grade 1 winner Classic Causeway finished second, beaten a length, in the Essex.

Scheduled starters in the Bath House Row include Victory Formation for trainer Brad Cox and Red Route One for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

Victory Formation won the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at 1 mile Jan. 1. The Smarty Jones was Oaklawn’s first Kentucky Derby points race. Red Route One ran in the final three legs of Oaklawn’s four-race Kentucky Derby points series, finishing second in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 28, second in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 25 and sixth in the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles April 1.

The Bath House Row winner, providing it’s Triple Crown nominated, will receive automatic entry into the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, May 20 at Pimlico.

Finish Lines

Benton, Ark., owners Heath and Sheena Campbell recorded a career-high three victories Saturday at Oaklawn. The Campbells won the first race with favored R Doc ($4), eighth race with Legendary Gift ($18) and the 10th race with Joe Frazier ($10.40). The triple vaulted the Campbells into a second-place tie in the 2022-2023 Oaklawn owner’s standings with 13 victories through Saturday, Day 58 of the scheduled 68-day meeting. Jerry Caroom of Hot Springs topped the standings through Saturday with 14 victories, one more than the Campbells and Ten Strike Racing (founding partners Marshall Gramm and Arkansas native Clay Sanders). Trainer Robertino Diodoro won with R Doc. Trainer Tim Martin saddled Legendary Gift and Joe Frazier. Martin recorded his 150th career Oaklawn victory Friday with Cost Basis ($9). … Newcomer Ramsey Zimmerman recorded his first career riding double Saturday, winning the third race aboard Promising Shoes ($70.20) for trainer Karl Broberg and the eighth race on Legendary Gift. … Airtime will “more than likely” make his next start in the $300,000 Texas Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles May 29 at Lone Star Park, Diodoro said Sunday morning. Airtime, in his last start, finished fifth in the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles April 1 at Oaklawn. … Millionaire multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Lone Rock worked 5 furlongs in 1:03.40 over a fast track Sunday morning at Oaklawn for Diodoro in advance of the $175,000 Isaac Murphy Overnight Stakes May 3 at Churchill Downs. Lone Rock has won the Isaac Murphy, a 1 ½-mile race for older horses, the last two years. … Key of Life, winner of the $150,000 Purple Martin Stakes for 3-year-old filly sprinters March 25 at Oaklawn, was entered in the $400,000 Beaumont Stakes (G2) Sunday at Keeneland for co-owner Staton Flurry of Hot Springs. The Beaumont was for 3-year-old fillies at about 7 furlongs.