AMERICAN GRADED STAKES STANDINGS brought to you by Keeneland: RACING’S JUGGLING JUGGERNAUTS
By Ray Paulick
Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher have a lot in common: both were born into hands-on racing families; they have incredible work ethics but also maintain a family life away from the track; they’ve won Eclipse Awards (Pletcher has four, Asmussen is odds-on to get his second next month); and both are destined for future induction into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame.
They also have more grey hairs than the average man of their age (Asmussen is 44, Pletcher is 42). That may come from the pressures of maintaining massive Thoroughbred stables involving high-profile owners and dealing with problems of multiple operations in different states, subject to varying rules and regulations. Both Asmussen and Pletcher have had well-publicized medication violations in recent years.
Going into the final day of 2009, Asmussen started a whopping 2,927 runners, winning 648 races and $21,821,225. He’s won 21 American Graded Stakes with 13 different horses for 11 different ownership groups.
Pletcher has “only” had 1,104 starts, winning 237 races and $15,394,111, ranking him second behind Asmussen in the money-won category. He’s won 24 American Graded Stakes with 15 different horses for 10 different owners. He leads in both of those categories among all trainers.
Though I concede that Asmussen will win the Eclipse Award, in large part because of the heroics of Horse of the Year contender Rachel Alexandra, I believe Pletcher has had the better year overall. His average earnings per start are $13,943. nearly double Asmussen’s $7,455. And his percentage of American Graded Stakes wins from all starts is 2.17%, three times higher than Asmussen’s percentage of 0.71%.
The biggest difference is that Asmussen has shown that he loves winning at all levels, from the bottom of the claiming ranks to Grade 1 races. Maintaining a large number of claiming horses weights down his average earnings per start and percentage of AGS winners from starts.
What is truly amazing about both men is their ability to juggle, to keep so many owners happy and in their stable year after year, and to make each one of them feel as though they are important to their operations.
Cot Campbell, the owner of Dogwood Stable, was one of Pletcher’s earliest supporters when the son of trainer J.J. Pletcher left as an assistant to D. Wayne Lukas and formed a public stable in the mid-1990s. Campbell admits to being a bit tough on trainers, especially if things aren’t going well, and he’s not shy about moving on to someone else if he’s not happy. “I’ve never given that a thought with Todd,” Campbell said. “I sent him four or five horses when he only had a stable of eight or nine at Hialeah in the spring of 1996. I don’t notice any difference in the attention now than it was then. I stopped being nervous about Todd’s heavy load of horses and his other owners a long time ago. It’s been 13 years and we’ve never had a hiccup. He’s never failed to return a call. I’ve never observed him when he’s flustered or in a hurry, and I don’t know how he does it.”
David Fiske, who has managed the bloodstock operation of the Winchell family for over 25 years, began working with Steve Asmussen and his family in the late 1980s, when Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally recommended the Winchell horses be sent to the Asmussens’ breaking and training center in Laredo, Texas. He says his longstanding relationship with Steve Asmussen is quite simple.
“Whenever I call him up he answers the phone,” said Fiske, “and whenever I ask him a question he answers it with remarkable accuracy, whether it’s about a Graded Stakes winner or a claiming horse at Remington.”
Both men have an ability to recall the smallest details about their horses and races. “Todd has the most incredible memory of any human being I’ve ever met in my life,” said Campbell. “It’s unbelievable. He will remember your telephone number at Saratoga from four years ago. He is able to cite chapter and verse of every animal in the barn. That is a weapon that has served him very well.
“He also has remarkable discipline and is just a brilliant horseman.”
Fiske says Asmussen also has an “amazing” memory. “Obviously the stakes horses are pretty easy,” Fiske said. “The other horses are a little more difficult, but no matter where they are—Woodbine, Remington or wherever—he’ll tell you how fast they worked and what day, complete with splits, with incredible accuracy.
“From a management standpoint where I am, that gives you a tremendous amount of confidence. And I never have a problem getting in touch with him, even with all the traveling he does. If he’s in the air he’ll call me right back.”
Asmussen is one of those people who seems to have more than 24 hours in each of his days. “I’ve been with him early in the morning at Churchill Downs on Derby week,” said Fiske, “and we might have had a horse run somewhere the night before in another time zone and I know it went off around midnight our time. He’ll have watched the race and tell me how the horse ran.”
In 2004, when Asmussen broke Jack Van Berg’s single-season record for most wins by a trainer, Fiske asked if he might cut back and focus more on quality over quantity. Asmussen’s response? “I want to win them all.”
Tags: American Graded Stakes Standings, cot campbell, David Fiske, Dogwood Stable, eclipse awards, Keeneland, Laredo, National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, Ron McAnally, steve asmussen, todd pletcher, Winchell
December 31st, 2009 at 7:41 pm
All interesting stats, but glaring in their omission are the rest of the stats that tell the rest of the story.
As consignor, Taylor Made had double the winners as Eaton, but did they sell double the number of horses? Triple? Quadruple?
As breeder and owner, Darley/Godolphin sits at the top with winners, but from how many total starters and horses in training, or from how many broodmares, as compared to others on the list?
As for trainer, how do the far-flung stables of Asmussen and Pletcher really stack up to Pletcher and Mott when we also are given the number of horses in training and starters in their stables?
As for sales and sales companies, Keeneland and two of its sales sit atop the standings, but how many more horses than Fasig went through Keeneland’s ring?
We need this data to see beyond the numbers to the true excellence.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
It’s amazing to me, Ray, that you can cheerlead like this without any context whatsoever. It is true that Pletcher appears to be unflappable, is a superb organizer, and has a fantastic memory. He also undoubtedly has a number of other fine qualities. But you and other journalists in the game fastidiously avoid touching on the most important and glaring aspect of his training career as if it were a third rail.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you should go on the warpath and focus regularly on the period of his career when his horses were running as if they were drugged – because they were. Nor am I suggesting that you should focus on the stunningly well-defined juncture at which his horses began to race like normal horses again. But frankly, the near hero-worship without any context is far short of what you are capable of as a journalist.
Furthermore, no matter how well-organized a trainer may, with stables the size of Asmussen and Pletcher’s, they are simply unable to put their hands and eyes on most of their horses on a daily basis. And that is a distinct disadvantage, unless you believe that their assistants are all of equal ability.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:39 pm
what’s pretty amazing is that both of these guys were positive on drugs that the pilot’s of Air Force One could fly on and not be in violation of anything! Get a grip on it guys
December 31st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
“what’s pretty amazing is that both of these guys were positive on drugs that the pilot’s of Air Force One could fly on and not be in violation of anything! ”
Really, John? That’s odd – I had no idea that Dr. Alday was also on the U.S. government payroll. You learn something new everyday in this game.
January 1st, 2010 at 2:11 am
Tinky
I have no idea about Dr Alday’s involvement with Mr Asmussen
I stand behind my statement about the ability of those positives to enhance the performance of those horses involved. Hence the statement about the pilots of Air Force One
I have had 7 horses with Mr Pletcher and 3 of them won Gr I races. The 4 that didn’t win had higher Vet Bills combined than the 3 that did win.
I will be glad to meet with you at my office and show you each Bill and see if you can come up with anything that points out something that helped those horses. BTW…those other 4 sure could have used some help!
I pay trainers and vets each month and I have been doing this for a long time. Let’s try to assume that I have some idea what I am paying for
Please let me know when you are coming by the office
January 1st, 2010 at 3:59 am
I don’t know about Tinky, John, but I’d love to come by. U.S. vet bills just fascinate me - and so does the fact that owners are willing to pay vet bills that routinely top the trainer’s day rate. I don’t get to America very often, so it might be awhile before I can stop by wherever you are, but in the meantime, if you find yourself in Europe, you have an open invitation to come to my yard, see my horses and see my vet bills (I’ll see if I can find any). It’s true, I haven’t won any group (graded) races this year, and I’m not likely to soon with the quality of horses I have. But they win in their category, medication free.
January 1st, 2010 at 10:37 am
Tinky,
You would be doing a tremendous service to the industry to come out from behind your screen name and present the evidence that you seem so sure exists about Todd Pletcher (or any other trainer for that matter). Pictures, video tape evidence, test samples, witnesses…whatever you’ve got that has convinced you would be valuable information and could elevate you to being the hero we’ve all been hoping would some day step forward and incriminate any of these trainers who win at a higher rate than what seems normal.
Others have tried, using win percentage, speed figures, innuendo or third-hand “knowledge,” but I’m afraid that doesn’t cut it.
Perhaps owners don’t know the full story of what goes on in a barn, but I’ve talked with enough of Pletcher’s owners (and Asmussen’s) to believe that the “rocket fuel” theories are a myth. As Bobby Frankel once said when I asked during his hottest streak in NY if he used EPO on his horses (paraphrasing here because I don’t have my original notes in front of me), “How stupid do you think I am to risk losing the best job in the world (training for Juddmonte Farms) by using that stuff?”
January 1st, 2010 at 11:54 am
John –
As those paying attention know, Pletcher abruptly stopped cheating in August of 2007, and his horses were no longer able to sustain hard drives that began at the 3/8 pole, or re-break after having been involved in intense speed duels. I have no knowledge of his having cheated since that time, so your recent experiences are in no way relevant to the discussion.
Also, the drugs to which you are referring – those for which their horses actually tested positive – are not the ones to which I am referring. It should be obvious that such drugs were ahead of the testing curve.
Finally, do you seriously believe that a trainer and/or vet would list an illicit drug on a vet report that was sent to an owner?
Wake up.
Ray –
There are two distinct aspects worth exploring in response to you. First, I, like more than a few insiders, were well aware of which trainers were cheating during that period, and even, in some cases, what substances and methods were being employed. I made the choice early on to attempt to alert the (in-house) authorities, rather than to go public in some manner. And while there were many frustrations along the way, I will take some credit for having helped to open the eyes of some who were in a position to address the problem. The problem still exists, but some good progress has been made.
The second, and in some respects more interesting aspect of the issue, is that you (and other apologists) insist on arguing that without actual “proof” of some sort, innocence should be assumed, and the topic is not worth exploring. Well, thankfully there were plenty of sports journalists around the country who didn’t apply such unnecessarily high standards when discussing and probing the obvious fact that Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and others were cheating.
You see, there actually does reach a point when circumstantial evidence reaches such mountainous proportions, that it does, for all practical purposes, constitute proof of sorts. we’re not talking about proof that would necessarily be sufficient for conviction in a court of law, but proof in any other reasonable sense.
Those of us who have been in the business for decades, have watches countless thousands of races, are aware of cutting-edge medications that are being used, etc., can tell with certainty when a given trainer is cheating. Not by observing a single horse, but be observing many horses run, over long periods of time. When horses are given milkshakes (or an equivalent), or have had their blood doped, they perform differently than ordinary horses. It’s not just that they run faster – it’s how they run. Perhaps you haven’t developed an eye for it, but almost every serious gambler has, and adjusts his wagering accordingly.
If you wanted to, you could call up the replays on Pletcher’s horses, and watch how they performed in 2007 through the Belmont meet, and how they performed from late August on that year. There was a glaringly obvious difference that any seasoned race watcher would notice. There is, of course a reason for this abrupt change, which, predictably, led to a rather long dry spell for him, during which he lost a number of owners. I won’t go into detail, but I will say that his barn was under tight surveillance at Saratoga that year, and not only by NYRA.
This was night and day, Ray, and they are facts. Watch the races.
As for hard evidence, I don’t know how many (if any) blood samples are still available from that period and the years preceding it. But I can assure you that if they are available, and state-of-the-art tests were to be performed, you’d have evidence. But of course the various racing jurisdictions want nothing to do with that tyupe of exposure, so it won’t happen.
There are people who could provide direct testimony, but as you know, few would consider doing so, and some have skeletons of their own.
Finally, it’s deeply ironic that you would cite Frankel, given that he admitted to milkshaking horses. You think he only milkshaked the non-Juddmonte horses during that time? And really, talking to owners of the trainers in question has led you to the conclusion that it is all a “myth”? That’s some great investigative journalism there! Ever consider interviewing Doug Feith about whether or not Dick Cheney fixed intelligence to pave the way to war? Let us know how that goes.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: for a smart guy, you sure are naïve.
January 1st, 2010 at 12:29 pm
We’ll just have to guess that “Tinky” is or was a regular loser at the training game.
January 1st, 2010 at 2:16 pm
The cheaters always get caught. eventually. Mistakes happen with large multiple stables. These guys are not cheats.
January 1st, 2010 at 4:22 pm
AS I STATED BEFORE>>THESE PEOPLE THAT USE STAGE NAMES, USER NAMES, NUTTY NAMES, BABY NAMES OR WHATEVER NAMES ARE HIDING BEHIND WHATEVER..ALL ONE HAS TO DO IS>>DONT EVEN READ WHAT THEY PUT UP ON THIS SITE..MOST OF THEM ARE EITHER SORE LOSERS, JEALOUS, OR THEY KNOW WHAT KIND OF UNDERWEAR THE “UNKNOWN SOLDIER” HAS ON IN HIS CASKET IN “ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETARY”
January 1st, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Eugene –
The breathtaking quality of your incisive post has rendered me (relatively) speechless.
January 1st, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Aunt Bea –
Tough beat! You were narrowly edged out by Eugene for the most ignorant ad hominem attack of thread.
January 2nd, 2010 at 10:59 am
Sack up and say it yourself or don’t I don’t care, but don’t hijack comment threads.
Back on subject.
Too much is made of Rider/ Trainer earnings and that helps to lend the negative stigma about racing.
$21,821,225 Asmussen’s 10% would be 2,182,122.50
$15,394,111, Pletcher’s 10% would be 1,539,411.10
Not counting day money of course, or other deals that someone like me wouldn’t know about.
Point is that for every Steve Asmussen or Todd Pleatcher or Bob Baffert there are maybe 25 or 50 hard knocking trainers that are going to make a living but more sadly 100 maybe a 1000 guys who arn’t handling their business or who should have never been given a trainers license in the first place.
The racing media has to come together and first point out the fact that these guys are the exception and not the rule and second adjust the total horse earnings to what stake the trainer actually makes.
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:22 am
All stats should include both sides of the coin: victories and failures.
Awards should be earned based on the good, the bad and the ugly and should always reward quality over quantity, to better serve the industry. Best owners, trainers and jockeys should be honored regardless of the size of their pocketbook, stable or fame.
January 2nd, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Tinky
He never was cheating…better look at his earnings this year
Maybe you ought to look at the size of the Vet Bill instead of thinking something illegal has been added.Some way or other the cost has to be factored! Unless you believe the trainer and vet absorb the costs~! LOL
One last thing…there are different horses each year…some are faster some are slower…ya can’t win them all every day
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:38 am
John –
Presumably you believe that Pat Byrn simply had “faster” horses when he trained Champions and won Breeders’ Cup races, and was a 10% trainer both before and after that brief period. And the fact that Alday was treating the horses is a coincidence.
For someone who is deeply involved ion the game, your ability to delude yourself in order to rationalize your choice of trainers is notable.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Tinky
We seem to have moved from Steve and Todd to what really bothers you and that is Dr Allday. As I have said, I don’t know who does Steve’s work so the connection is dubious at best.
I asked you about the size of my Vet Bill and I will stand behind it. No Trainer or Vet is going to absorb those costs that you imply. They are going to pass them along and the size of my Vet Bills will speak for itself..come look!
When Todd is at Churchill, Belmont, Deleware, Monmouth and Saratoga at the same time, how is Dr Allday supposed to treat them all? And good horses ship in to run in Stakes even if they are not quartered there so don’t try and pass that off
Good Horses make good Trainers even better
January 5th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
What a wonderful blog! Please continue this great work I will be sure to check back regularly…