Elite company: Not only has Steve Asmussen broken the single season record for wins by a trainer and earned 4,000 victories, he is one of only three trainers to win 400 races in a year, the others being Jack Van Berg and Scott Lake. As of November 20, 2004, he was at 497 wins and counting. When he broke the record he was third in earnings behind Todd Pletcher and Bobby Frankel, and his horses were winning 24% of the time, and finishing in the top three 55% of the time.
4,000 wins and counting: After a 2007 season where he was North America's winningest trainer with 488 victories, Asmussen recorded win number 4,000 with J J's Bud in the 3rd race at Oaklawn Park on February 17, 2008. He became just the 8th trainer in Thoroughbred racing history to score 4,000, and quickly earned win 4,001 later in the same card when Sky Mom won the 1st division of the Martha Washington Stakes. Asmussen now ranks eighth on the all-time list for wins by a trainer.
From a family of horsemen: The Asmussen name has always been associated with racing. Steve, father Keith, and brother Cash all had stints as jockeys and then switched to training upon retirement from riding. As well, mother Marilyn is a trainer, and the family operates the 150-horse El Primero Training Center in Laredo, Texas. Cash was the most accomplished as a jockey, winning the 1979 apprentice Eclipse and then winning riding titles in Europe.
Starting off in the family business: At the age of 5, Steve began mucking stalls and walking horses for his parents in his native Gettysburg, South Dakota. During this time, he lost part of his thumb in an accident when holding a horse through a chain link fence. At the age of 16, he took out his jockey licence and rode in New Mexico, New York, and California, but after 3 years in the saddle, he had grown too large to make weight and had to retire.
The development of a top trainer: Steve's training career began in New Mexico with a stable of both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. Over time, he began collecting training titles wherever he raced horses. Eventually, his success led him to expand his operations across the country, with divisions in the top American racing circuits of New York, Chicago, Kentucky,
Texas, and Louisiana, training for such high-profile owners as Stonestreet Stable, Padua Stable, Golden Eagle Farm, Nelson Bunker Hunt, Richard Englander, Gary Tanaka, Zayat Stable, and Team Valor.
Top horses in his stable: Asmussen is best known as the trainer of 2007 Horse of the Year, Curlin, who won the Preakness, Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Breeders' Cup Classic, despite never making any starts as a juvenile. His first major horse was Valid Expectations, owned by Ackerly Brothers Farm. Valid Expectations won seven stakes races from 1995 to 1997. Other standouts he trained include Lady Tak, Appealing Zophie, Summerly, Cuvee, Dreams Gallore, and Posse. In 2008, his top Kentucky Derby hope is Pyro, winner of the Risen Star Stakes.
