Steve Asmussen      Birthdate:  Nov. 18, 1965      Birthplace:  Gettysburg, S.D.      Residence: Arlington, Tex.      Family: wife Julie; sons Keith, Darren and Eric

2007 Gulfstream Record

• Saddled Gunfight to a fifth-place finish in the Swale last February a couple races after convincing some of his owners to buy a horse who stunned the crowd earlier on the card with a nearly 13-length victory. That horse was named “Curlin,” a colt who would go on to win Horse of the Year honors ... Curlin gave Asmussen his first win in a Triple Crown race with his victory over Kentucky Derby champ Street Sense in the Preakness ... He would finish in the money in all three Triple Crown races, including a runner-up finish to Rags to Riches in the Belmont Stakes. He also won the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

• Other 2007 graded stakes winners for Asmussen: Appealing Zophie, Gaff, Inca King, Rated Fiesty, Rolling Sea and Zanjero and leading juvenile Kodiak Kowboy ... First major star was Valid Expectations, who won seven stakes races from 1995-97.

• Won the first Grade 1 race of his career in 1999 with Dreams Galore in the Mother Goose at Belmont.

• Trained the now-retired millionaire Lady Tak, winner of the 2003 Test and 2004 Ballerina. Other stakes stars include 2005 Kentucky Oaks winner Summerly, Cuvee, Real Dandy, He’s Got Grit, Quintons Gold Rush, Private Emblem, Effectual, Lunarpal, Bwana Charlie, Chace City and Private Vow.

• Has won training titles at Lone Star Park, Oaklawn Park, Keeneland, Fair Grounds, Churchill Downs, Remington Park, Sam Houston Race Park, Ellis Park and Retama Park.

• Is the all-time leading trainer at Lone Star and was inducted into that track’s Hall of Fame in 2007.

• In 2004, won a record 555 races in a year, breaking Jack Van Berg’s 1976 record of 496 … Repeated as the nation’s leading trainer in 2005 with 474 victories and was an Eclipse Award finalist in 2004 and 2005.

• Second to Todd Pletcher in earnings in 2007 and second to Scott Lake in wins for the year

Other:

• Learned the business from his parents: Keith, a former jockey and trainer, and Marilyn, a trainer ... He helped his parents walk horses and muck stalls by the time he was 5. He lost part of his thumb in a childhood accident while holding a horse through a chain link fence … He took out his jockey’s license at age 16 and rode for three years in New Mexico, California and New York before growing too big ... He began training Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses in New Mexico in 1986 ... His brother, Cash, earned the Eclipse Award as leading apprentice jockey in 1979 and was a champion jockey in Europe ... The Asmussen family operates El Primero Training Center in Laredo, Tex.
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