Steven Asmussen
Steven Mark Asmussen (born November 18, 1965) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. The leading trainer in North America by wins, he is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016. His horses have won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, Breeders' Cup Distaff, Kentucky Oaks and Dubai World Cup. Background Asmussen was born in Gettysburg, South Dakota, then moved to Laredo, Texas at age two. His father, Keith, is a retired jockey and his mother Marilyn is a trainer who became the first woman to win a major quarter horse race with Vespero in the 1978 Kansas Futurity. They now operate El Primero Training Center and the Asmussen Horse Center, a breeding and sales operation, both in Laredo. The family was close-knit; Asmussen's grandmother, Helen M. Asmussen, died at the age of eighty-three, on Mother's Day, 2007. Asmussen attended her fu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jockey
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual who rode horses in racing. They must be light, typically around a weight of 100-120 lb., and physically fit. They are typically self-employed and are paid a small fee from the horse trainer and a percentage of the horse's winnings. Jockeys are mainly male, though there are some well-known female jockeys too. The job has a very high risk of debilitating or life-threatening injuries. Etymology The word is by origin a diminutive of ''jock'', the Northern English or Scots colloquial equivalent of the first name ''John'', which is also used generically for "boy" or "fellow" (compare ''Jack'', ''Dick''), at least since 1529. A familiar instance of the use of the word as a name is in "Jockey of Norfolk" in Shakespeare's ''Richard III''. v. 3, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Haskell Invitational Handicap
The Haskell Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run over a distance of miles on the dirt held annually in July at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey. The event is a signature event at Monmouth Park during their summer racing season and a major race for three-year-olds in between the U.S. Triple Crown series and the Breeders' Cup. The event currently offers a purse of US$1,000,000 and awards one of the most prestigious trophies in U.S. thoroughbred racing in the Haskell Trophy. History The inaugural running of the event was on 3 August 1968, closing day of the Monmouth Park summer meeting, as the Monmouth Invitational Handicap with a field of eleven horses. The event was won by 33-1 longshot Balustrade ridden by Canadian jockey Eric Walsh in a time of 1:50 flat with the favorite Iron Ruler finishing fourth. In 1973 when The American Graded Stakes Committee was founded by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association with t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. All sites have been in the United States, except in 1996, when the races were at the Woodbine Racetrack in Canada. The attendance at the Breeders' Cup varies, depending mainly on the capacity of the host track. Santa Anita Park set the highest two-day attendance figure of 118,484 in 2016. The lowest two-day attendance was 69,584 in 2007 at Monmouth Park. The attendance typically only trails the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Oaks (and in some years, the Belmont Stakes); for more information see American Thoroughbred racing top attended events. With the addition of three races for 2008, a total of $25.5 million was awarded over the two days, up from $23 million in 2007. With the subsequent r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed The Test of the Champion, The Test of Champions and The Run for the Carnations, is the traditional third and final leg of the Triple Crown. It is usually held on the first or second Saturday in June, five weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks after the Preakness Stakes. The 1973 Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown winner Secretariat holds the track record (which is also a world record on dirt) of 2:24. The race covers one full lap of Belmont Park, known as "The Championship Track" because nearly every major American champion in racing history has competed on the racetrack. Belmont Park, with its large, wide, sweeping turns and long homestretch, is considered one of the fairest racetracks in America. Despite the distance, the race tend ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () on dirt. Colts and geldings carry ; fillies . It is the second jewel of the Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes. First run in 1873, the Preakness Stakes was named by a former Maryland governor after the colt who won the first Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico. The race has been termed "The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" because a blanket of Maryland's state flower is placed across the withers of the winning colt or filly. Attendance at the Preakness Stakes ranks second in North America among equestrian events, surpassed only by the Kentucky Derby. History Two years before the Kentucky Derby was run for the first time, Pimlico introduced its new stakes race for three-year-olds, the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American Classic Races
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three races were inaugurated in different years, the last being the Kentucky Derby in 1875. The Triple Crown Trophy, commissioned in 1950 but awarded to all previous winners as well as those after 1950, is awarded to a horse who wins all three races and is thereafter designated as a Triple Crown winner. The races are traditionally run in May and early June of each year, although global events have resulted in schedule adjustments, such as in 1945 and 2020. The first winner of all three Triple Crown races was Sir Barton in 1919. Some journalists began using the term ''Triple Crown'' to refer to the three races as early as 1923, but it was not until Gallant Fox won the three events in 1930 that Charles Hatton of the ''Daily Racing Form'' put the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to international classifications, behind only the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. First held in 1864, it is the oldest stakes race in the United States specifically for 3-year-olds, and was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers. The race was not run in 1896, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1911, and 1912. The race is the highlight of the summer race meeting at Saratoga, just as the Belmont Stakes is the highlight of the spring meeting at Belmont Park. The purse was increased to $1,000,000 in 1999 and then to $1,250,000 in 2014. The purse for the 2015 renewal was increased to $1,600,000 due to the presence of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Since 2018 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Whitney Stakes
The Whitney Stakes (run as the Whitney Handicap through 2013 and still sometimes referred to as such) is an American Grade 1 stakes race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of miles. The current purse is $1,200,000. Held annually in late July/early August at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, the race is named for the Whitney family, whose members were and remain prominent participants and supporters of the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. History The Whitney Stakes is administered by the New York Racing Association: Named after the family that for generations has had so much to do with racing at Saratoga, the Whitney Handicap was first run in 1928. The Whitney family’s involvement with thoroughbreds began when William Collins Whitney, one of the founders of The Jockey Club, began campaigning racehorses in 1898, bearing the familiar Eton blue-and-brown silks. His legacy was carried on by his son, Harry Payne Whitn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clark Handicap
The Clark Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Among the oldest races in the United States, it was first run in 1875, the year the racetrack opened for business. Currently a Grade I event, it is open to horses age three and older and is contested on dirt over a distance of miles (9 furlongs). It was known as the Clark Handicap through 2018 before the race conditions were changed to set weights and allowances in 2019. The race is named in honor of Colonel M. Lewis Clark, founder of the Louisville Jockey Club which built Churchill Downs. Through 1901, it was restricted to three-year-old horses. Since inception, the Clark Handicap has been run at various distances: * 2 miles : 1875–1880 * miles : 1881–1895 * miles : 1896–1901, 1922–1924, 1955–present * miles : 1902–1921, 1925–1954 The race was run in two divisions in 1953. Records Speed record: (at current distance of miles) * 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Apple Blossom Handicap
The Apple Blossom Handicap is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares that are four years old or older, run under handicap conditions over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt track held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The 2022 running carried a purse of $1,000,000. History The race over the years has become the premier event for distaffers in the Spring, however its beginnings were inconsistent and were far from what we see today. Nonetheless, the inaugural running was on 21 March 1958, as the Apple Blossom Purse, for horses three-years-old or older over the current distance and was won by the three year old colt Count De Blanc in a time of 1:43. The event at that time was a preparatory event for the Arkansas Derby because in his next start Count De Blanc duly proceeded to win that event. The current preparatory event for the Arkansas Derby is the Rebel Stakes but that event was not first run until 1962. Th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cotillion Stakes
The Cotillion Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Parx Racing and Casino in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. It is run in late September or early October as a prelude to the annual Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. The race is open to three-year-old filles, willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles (eight and a half furlongs) on the dirt. The Grade I event carries a purse of US$1 million. From 2006 to 2010 it was called the Fitz Dixon Cotillion to honor Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr. of the prominent Widener family of Philadelphia, who have been major figures in Thoroughbred racing since the early part of the 20th century. This race, which was inaugurated in 1969 at Liberty Bell Park in Northeast Philadelphia before thoroughbred racing moved to the then-Keystone Racetrack (later known as Philadelphia Park) in nearby Bensalem in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, has produced multiple Eclipse Award winners including Shuvee, Susan's Girl, Revidere, Ashado, Hav ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frizette Stakes
The Frizette Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-old fillies raced annually at Belmont Park in October. It is currently a Grade I stakes race at a distance of one mile. The Frizette is the female counterpart of the Champagne Stakes. The race is currently part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series. The winner automatically qualifies for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The Frizette was named for the James R. Keene owned and bred racing filly who won the Rosedale Stakes in 1907 and one of the most important foundation mares of the twentieth century. Sired by Hamburg, Frizette was the granddam of the Hall of Fame inductee, Myrtlewood. Inaugurated in 1945, the Frizette was first run at the Jamaica Race Course, then ran at Aqueduct Racetrack in 1960, 1961, and from 1963 to 1967. There was no race run from 1949 through 1951. Since inception, it has been run at various distances: * 5 furlongs : 1948 * 6 furlongs: 1945–1947, 1952–1953 * 1 mile : 19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |