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In 2002, Steve Asmussen won his first national training title by number of victories, with Steve Asmussen Racing Stables having saddled an impressive 407 winners. In 2004, he outdid himself, winning a record 555 races, over 180 more than his closest competitor. He had another banner year in 2005, taking 474 races and earning $13.3 million in purses. His training career began with both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses in New Mexico in 1986. He has won training titles at Lone Star Park, Keeneland, Fair Grounds, Churchill Downs, Remington Park, Sam Houston, and Retama Park, and is the all-time leading trainer at Lone Star. Steve Asmussen has the pedigree to be a leading trainer, and like the best bred horses, has fulfiled the promise of his championship blood. His father, Keith, a former jockey and his mother, Marilyn, a trainer, break some of the best Thoroughbreds in the world at their Laredo, Texas training center. His brother Cash was a champion rider in the U.S. and Europe before returning to the United States to begin a bloodstock agency. He has had five starters in the Derby until this year: Fifty Stars (9th, 2001), Private Emblem (14th, 2002), Quinton’s Gold Rush (18th, 2004) and the unplaced duo of Storm Treasure and Private Vow last year. He also won the 2005 Kentucky Oaks with the great filly Summerly. This year he has both Curlin and Zanjero in the Kentucky Derby.
COURTESY OF THE NTRA
Scott Blasi was born in 1973 and attended Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University majoring in pre-veterinary studies. "My heart just wasn't in it because I knew what I really wanted to do was train racehorses," he said. "So I left school for the racetrack."
His father trained Quarter Horses in Kansas at the fair meets and he grew up in the barn. When he was 18, his dad began training Thoroughbreds in Omaha and he was also involved in the stable. "I've been around horses and racing all of my life," he said.
About a dozen years ago, he met trainer Steve Asmussen through his older brother who was working for Steve, and decided to leave Oklahoma State University to work for Asmussen as well. "I knew where I wanted to be," he said. "Steve and I clicked right away and it's worked out well ever since." ... Over the last decade plus, he has worked with all of Asmussen's top horses and graded stakes winners, and has been his top assistant for all of the stable's six previous Breeders' Cup starters .
When Asmussen was hit with a six-month suspension this year for a medication violation in Louisiana, he took over as trainer of record on July 10 for the vast stable, which races all over the country. "It has been a smooth transition," he said. "It's business as usual, absolutely. I'm very familiar with the entire operation. I have a very good relationship with all of our owners, and most importantly, I have a very good relationship with all of the horses."Asmussen's longtime prominent owners, including Heiligbrodt Stables, Vinery, Al Gold, Winchell Thoroughbreds and Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stable, have remained loyal through the suspension. "He's good with everything," Bill Heiligbrodt, who owns Spinaway Stakes-winning Appealing Zophie in addition to a large number of horses with the Asmussen/Blasi operation, told Thoroughbred Times. "He's a great horseman and he knows what he's doing and he's a hard worker. If he weren't working for Steve, he'd have horses for me. He's the best. I don't know of another assistant who has that kind of quality." ... Buzz Chace, who is Gold's adviser, added, "He's just a good, straightforward, honest kid who does a good job training horses. He's my kind of guy. He's loyal to Steve, and that's what I like about him. Loyalty is hard to come by."
So are graded stakes wins, but Blasi picked up the first grade 1 under his name when Appealing Zophie won the Spinaway and then Chace City took the Saratoga Special Breeders' Cup Stakes, a grade 2 at the Spa this summer. "Those two made our meet at Saratoga," said Blasi, who had posed for winner's circle photos with 11 different horses in 11 stakes victories since taking over through Sept. 24. As for that first grade 1 win in the record books next to his name, he said, "Zophie is a very nice filly. She's special and it was a real thrill. But I honestly felt the same when (Asmussen was in charge) and Summerly, Lady Tak, and the other real good ones won their grade 1s. It's a real thrill to have horses like that in the barn and work with top caliber talent like those horses are. Those are the ones you wake up for in the morning." ... In addition to Appealing Zophie, who finished fourth in the Juvenile Fillies, he became the trainer of record for Super Frolic, 12th in the Mile.
He said that he does not think about how taking over so admirably for Asmussen during the suspension will affect his career in the future. "I am not thinking about myself down the road," he said. "I've got a lot on my plate right now and a lot to deal with from day to day. My only goal is to do my job, and do the best job I can for the horses and the owners."
And now he has Curlin!
COURTESY OF THE TIMES ONLINE, UK
Scott Blasi, Asmussen's No 2, is a proper midwest horseman, like his boss. He was brought up on a farm in southeast Kansas, where his father trained quarter-horses. Twelve years ago, he found a fellow traveller in Asmussen, who had been a low-rank apprentice jockey before turning to training in 1986, round Lone Star Park in Texas and Sunland Park in New Mexico. "We both started at the bottom, $5,000 claimers in downtrodden tracks, we've done that," says Blasi. "It makes you appreciate all the more when a horse like this comes along. When you come from the bottom up to the top, you see a lot of things and you learn quickly." "Curlin's a true professional," says Blasi. "When he steps on the track, he goes to work. I'm learning to relax too and be patient with people. We don't want to hide away, we want people to enjoy Curlin as much as we do."
