SARATOGA SPRINGS – It’s no accident Midwest-based trainer Steve Asmussen is second in the nation in winners, and he’s shown New Yorkers why during his first foray to the Old Spa.
Asmussen, despite a slow start, has six victories and six seconds from 25 starters at this stand. Today, his 2-year-old filly Cashier’s Dream can add to that score in the Grade 1, $200,000 Spinaway at seven furlongs.
Coming off an incredibly game effort in the Aug. 13 Adirondack, in which Cashier’s Dream was second by a neck at 3-5 to You while giving her seven pounds, she will be favored again in a field of seven carrying equal weight of 121 pounds.
“We came here to win the Adirondack and didn’t,” Asmussen said. “We’ve been fortunate in some areas, disappointed in others. We came in here a little wide-eyed, and the first week we went over there, we were victims. So we made a few adjustments. Some horses responded greatly, some backed off.”
Most Asmussen horses that did respond won off as much the best, such as Miss Indiana by 3 1/4 lengths, Pagan Place by 7 3/4 and Descapate by 11.
Even Cashier’s Dream’s losing effort in the Adirondack was superior. She and You finished 15 lengths clear of the horse in third, and they ran the 6 ½ furlongs in a dazzling 1:15, just three ticks off the track record and more than two full seconds faster than the colt Jump Start ran winning the Saratoga Special two days later.
Immediately after the Adirondack, Asmussen said running right back in the Spinaway might be asking too much of his small filly after such a taxing race. But yesterday he noted, “If she wasn’t eating or wavered in her training since then, we’d never consider it. But this filly has not missed one bite of food and she’s breezed great.
“Winning a Grade 1 here with a Michigan-bred is a great opportunity, and we’re going over there with a lot of confidence. But the last race taught us that you don’t load an empty gate at Saratoga. Your horses better be on, or they won’t get a sniff.”
Asmussen also said yesterday he’ll keep a string of horses in New York for the Belmont Park fall meet.
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Defending Horse of the Year Tiznow will ship to Belmont on Tuesday for the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward a week from tomorrow. The winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic hasn’t run since winning the March 3 Santa Anita Handicap, sidelined by a bad foot and sore back, but he worked seven furlongs at Del Mar yesterday in a snappy 1:25.4.
