- Steve Asmussen has already started over 100 horses this year; the number was 102 going into Friday, and he already had 32 winners, six of them in stakes! I'm sure there are a fair amount of trainers would be thrilled to have those stats for a year! It's amazing, isn't it, and it gives you an idea of the scope of Asmussen's operation.
And you can make it at least seven winners now after Carson's Legacy won the 5 1/2 furlong Dixieland Stakes on opening day at Oaklawn, with a crowd just over 20,000 on hand. I read this today in Robert Yates' Oaklawn Report in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, and it kinda blew my mind.
Handle on Instant Racing, the electronic pari-mutuel game that allows fans to bet on recycled races, continues to creep closer to on-track handle during the live season. The difference was only a little more than $75,000 last year, but Bobby Geiger, Oaklawn’s director of wagering and simulcast, said he believes the live product again will have the edge when the 54-day live season ends April 12. Geiger said the growth of Instant Racing has slowed, but that has more to do with the introduction of other electronic games and, most recently, table games.As I mentioned yesterday, they'll be building a new facility after this meeting, and doubling the 1,000 machines there now.
“We’re just don’t have any more room,” Geiger said, referring to adding more Instant Racing terminals. “We’re bumping our head on the ceiling now.” Geiger said Oaklawn has 375 Instant Racing terminals, 130 terminals for other electronic games and 29 positions for table games.
eventually could push purses at Oaklawn to more than $ 400,000 daily. [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]Carson's Legacy came off the pace, circling widest of all and determinedly running down leader Yonegra inside the sixteenth pole. This was a really nice run; it was not a fast pace, with a half of 45.93 after a 13.80 second second furlong. From there, Yonegra picked up the pace to 12.27, and the final sixteenth was 6.37, so it was a nice rally indeed.
This son of Carson City has faltered twice when run around two turns, but has now won two stakes in sprints. He has a speed favoring dosage index of 6.0, so I think we'll see this one sticking to shorter distances.
2 Comments:
Should we put an asterisk next to Asmussen's name for 2007 and for the performance so far in 2008?
He served 6 months! In this sport, 6 months is the baseball equivalent to a lifetime ban. Okay, maybe a 2 year slap on the wrist, and Selig will make it run concurrently.
We need a one strike and you are out for life ban based on positives for certain thresholds and certain drugs. You use cobra venom and you are toast.
How many believe we'll see Biancone back in the winner's circle on Breeders' Cup Day(s) 2008?
Pletcher: done several weeks in recent past.
Dutrow: ditto.
Asmussen: several months in recent past.
And these guys have all won Eclipses or have been a part of Horse of the Year in the recent past.
Hiss, hiss..........
Anonym,
It's a cyclical cycle.
You win races, you get tested. You get tested enough, your eventually going to throw a positive in. Why? Because every horse is running with the same or similar substances in them.
More importantly, none of this is new material on the backside. Horses don't bulk up on fruits and berries. Since the 30's they have been peeked machines. The more advance we get the more advanced testing gets. Sounds very similar to the MLB doesn't it.
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