HOT SPRINGS — Steve Asmussen reached the Mount Everest of horse racing Monday with his North American record 10,000th victory as a professional trainer.
Bet He's Ready won the fifth race on Presidents Day at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, achieving the milestone for Asmussen, 57, at the track where he has a record 12 season championships. A Hall of Famer from Laredo, Texas, and part of a large racing family that includes his parents, Asmussen was joined in the winner's circle by his wife and children.
Eight-time local champion Ricardo Santana Jr. won aboard Bet He's Ready for owner Mike McCarty. Getting away quickly from post three over a fast track, the previous seven-race maiden drew off by 3 3/4 lengths with 6 furlongs in 1:10.58. More Than Ready's son was claimed from the race for $40,000 by trainer Matt Shirer for a group including Ten Strike Racing, the meet's leading owner starting the day.
The victory was the 14th of the 31-day season for Asmussen, starting the day third in the Oaklawn standings behind Robertino Diodoro and Chris Hartman. The winningest trainer in track history, he had scored with only 8% of his meet starters through Sunday compared with a 20% lifetime clip.
Asmussen, in 2021 at Saratoga Race Course, broke the career record of 9,541 training victories by the late Dale Baird. Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, with a string at Oaklawn after years of dominance on the West Coast, was third with 7,759 victories as of Sunday, according to Equibase Co., the sport's statistical base.
Asmussen has won the last two Oaklawn titles, taking his third Arkansas Derby two years ago with Super Stock, which son Keith Jr. rode to a stakes win at Texas' Lone Star Park in 2020. The elder Asmussen also won Oaklawn's oldest and richest race (now $1.25 million) with Private Emblem in 2002, Curlin in 2007 and Creator in 2016.
Asmussen has trained three horses with four Horse-of-the-Year awards: Curlin in 2007 and 2008, the filly Rachel Alexandra in 2009 and Gun Runner in 2017. All won Oaklawn stakes, Rachel Alexandra beating males in the Preakness Stakes after joining Asmussen's barn following her Kentucky Oaks victory for the retired Hal Wiggins.
Although the Kentucky Derby, in which he is 0-for-24, has been the one that got away, Asmussen has won the Preakness twice, first with Curlin, and the 2016 Belmont Stakes with Creator.