Asmussen Horses at Presque Isle Downs

Curious about what kind of horses are in training at the new Presque Isle Downs, I did a little digging about those posted in official workouts at Equibase. Interesting lot—a number of two year olds, but also a little more seasoned horses who underachieved overall last year.

One that worked on Friday was Sonoma Cat, an apparently yet-unraced three-year-old full brother to Bluegrass Cat, who shipped in from Churchill Downs recently. He was a $625,000 purchase for Stonestreet Stables, thus I assume he is one of Steve Asmussen’s charges.

As is Napa Cat, also owned by Stonestreet, an $800,000 colt who won his maiden at first asking at Churchill Downs in May 2006 (finishing third in that race, in his career debut, was Southwestern Heat). He has not raced since then, however.

Another Asmussen trainee at Presque Isle is Doctor Decherd, 14-1 winner of the 2006 Aventura Stakes at Gulfstream who subsequently disappeared off the Derby trail, finishing sixth in the Holy Bull (to winner Barbaro), then way out of the money in both the Borderland Derby and WinStar Derby at Sunland.

Yet another Asmussen charge training at PID is Admiral’s Arch (owned by Padua Stables) who won the Northern Spur BC on the 2006 Arkansas Derby undercard, then finished third in the Lone Star Derby. He has been running up-and-down in allowance company this year at Aqueduct, Oaklawn, Lone Star and Remington (where he won last out on August 2).

So, with just about a week yet before racing starts at Presque Isle Downs, I’ll be keeping my eye on the workout tab to hopefully gauge the quality of horses we will see there.