The Asmussen family has been involved in horseracing for many years. Steve’s parents, Keith and Marilyn, were also trainers and his older brother Cash is a trainer and former Eclipse Award-winning jockey. Steve Asmussen also began his career as a jockey at smaller racetracks in New Mexico and California. A career in the irons was not meant to be, however, as Steve’s height and weight eventually became a prohibitive factor.
In 1986, Asmussen obtained his thoroughbred trainer’s license and began to condition horses professionally. His experience, gathered mostly from his family of horsemen, allowed Steve to start his career on the right foot, but training horses and building a racing stable is a long and difficult process. Asmussen’s early years in the racing business were lean ones as he struggled to win races in New Mexico and on other small circuits.
He persisted, however, and by 2002 Asmussen led the United States in thoroughbred wins with 407. Just two years later Asmussen set a record by scoring 555 wins. Steve Asmussen has led the nation in wins a total of five times (2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009) and also won the Eclipse Award for Trainer of the Year twice (2008, 2009).
A huge turning point for the Steve Asmussen stable was forming a partnership with the late Jess Jackson. Jackson, a wine entrepreneur and businessman, turned the horses in his Stonestreet Stables over to the care of Asmussen. The results were fantastic. Asmussen and Jackson produced two of the most successful thoroughbreds of the modern era, Curlin and Rachel Alexandra. Curlin won the 2007 Preakness Stakes and Breeder’s Cup Classic. In 2008, Curlin won the Dubai World Cup, Stephen Foster Handicap, and Woodward Stakes. Curlin was named Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008. Rachel Alexandra was acquired by Stonestreet Stables after her win in the Kentucky Oaks and promptly went on to become the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness Stakes. She also defeated male horses in the Haskell Invitational and Woodward Stakes, garnering Horse of the Year honors for 2009. This gave Asmussen three wins in a row as the conditioner of the world’s top thoroughbred.
Despite a scandal in early 2014 in which PETA infiltrated the Asmussen stable to gather video evidence of the mistreatment of horses, Steve Asmussen has remained at the top of the horseracing world. He currently has more than 6,500 professional horseracing wins. (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Asmussen)
Hope you enjoyed your visit to EzHorseBetting.com take a minute to also check our Bovada racebook review, Twinspires review or even our Betamerica review as they are all great choice if you are in the United States. 5Dimes review for folks anywhere!
Steve Asmussen’s Operation and Its Betting Angles
Steve Asmussen’s high-volume training operation — which has produced multiple Eclipse Award victories as Outstanding Trainer and consistently ranks among the national leaders in wins and earnings — creates specific betting opportunities for bettors willing to study his patterns carefully. His large stable, spread across multiple tracks and circuits, means that his horses appear regularly across the country, and distinguishing between those he considers genuine winning chances and those running for experience or fitness requires attention to the specific signals his booking and preparation patterns provide.
Asmussen’s particularly strong record at specific tracks where he maintains year-round training operations — including Oaklawn Park, Keeneland, and Churchill Downs — reflects the local knowledge advantage that comes from consistent presence at a specific venue. When Asmussen enters a horse at a track where he operates regularly, with a jockey he books frequently at that circuit, and at a distance and surface where the horse’s form shows genuine suitability, the convergence of trainer-specific factors provides a stronger betting signal than any single variable alone. Tracking these convergence situations — rather than backing all Asmussen runners indiscriminately — produces better results by concentrating investment in the situations where his specific advantages are most clearly relevant. For more on trainer analysis, our articles on betting trainers in horse racing and Todd Pletcher’s trainer profile provide comparative frameworks. And our guide to what are connections in horse racing covers how to interpret trainer-jockey booking signals.
