Steve Asmussen, a former jockey who became a trainer after growing too big to continue riding competitively, earned his 4,000th career victory when J J’s Bud won the third race at Oaklawn Park on Sunday.
Asmussen, 42, obtained his jockey’s license at age 16 and spent three years riding in New Mexico, California, and New York. He began his training career in 1986 in New Mexico.
A Gettysburg, South Dakota, native who now lives in Arlington, Texas, Asmussen oversees multiple divisions of horses that annually place him among the leading North American training by wins and purse earnings. He had 22 starters at six different tracks on Saturday.
Asmussen saddled 555 winners in 2004 to shatter Jack Van Berg’s record of 496 wins that was set in 1976. Asmussen also led all North American trainers by wins in 2005 with 474 victories and repeated the feat last year with 488 wins.
Asmussen’s 18,961 starters have also earned 3,221 runner-up and 2,717 third-place finishes and compiled $110,856,103 in purse earnings through Saturday. He has earned 76 of his wins in graded stakes races, and he trains 2007 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male Curlin.
After posting a 12 3/4-length debut win last year in a maiden special weight race at Gulfstream Park for trainer Helen Pitts, Curlin joined Asmussen’s barn. The Smart Strike colt won five of his next eight starts, including victories in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (G1).
Asmussen’s stable also includes three-year-old Triple Crown hopefuls Pyro and Z Fortune, the first- and second-place finishers, respectively, in the Risen Star Stakes (G3) on February 9 at Fair Grounds.
Asmussen’s father, Keith, is a former jockey and trainer and his mother, Marilyn, trained horses. He began helping his parents at age five by walking horses and cleaning stalls and lost part of a thumb in a childhood accident while holding a horse through a fence.
Asmussen’s brother, Cash, won the Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding apprentice jockey in 1979 and was also a champion jockey in Europe. The Asmussen family operates El Primero Training Center in Laredo, Texas.