LEXINGTON, Ky. — Ah, the quest. The Kentucky Derby quest. Steve Asmussen knows all about it. So does Ron Winchell. Both are coming at Saturday’s 148th running from slightly different perspectives. Asmussen is the sport’s all-time winningest trainer. Winchell is a successful Thoroughbred owner. Both are united by the quest.
“Chasing that little gold trophy,” Winchell said Tuesday.
So far, they’ve come up empty. This year, however, both believe they have their best shot at success, thanks to Epicenter, the Louisiana Derby winner born on a small farm in Bowling Green, purchased at the back end of the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale catalog for $260,000, who has developed into a consistent force on the track to the point where it was a surprise when he was not made the Derby’s morning-line favorite on Monday.
“A little, yeah,” said Asmussen after the draw before joking, “Maybe I’m the reason he’s not the favorite.”
As Asmussen himself says, his Derby record is well-documented. The 56-year-old trainer owns over 9,700 career wins but is 0 for 23 when running for the roses. He’s finished in the money just four times — third with Curlin in 2007, second with Nehro in 2011, third with Gun Runner in 2016 and second with Lookin At Lee in 2017. Curlin and Gun Runner went on to be champions, just not on Derby Day.
Starting in 2007, he’s raced seven Winchell Thoroughbreds in the Derby, with Gun Runner posting the best finish. Last year, the duo entered Midnight Bourbon, who scraped the narrow stall leaving the starting gate and finished sixth. Gun Runner went on to win the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic and the 2018 Pegasus World Cup Invitational.
What makes Epicenter different than Asmussen’s previous Derby entries?
“He’s going faster sooner,” said the trainer.
Verne Winchell, the founder of Winchell Donuts, started Winchell Thoroughbreds after visiting the tracks as a boy with his father. When Verne passed away in 2002, Ron took over the operation. Since 1984, Ron Winchell has called Las Vegas home, but he has business interests across the nation, including Corinthia Farm near Cynthiana and the Kentucky Downs racetrack in Franklin.
That’s where the Bowling Green connection comes into play. Winchell said Tuesday he did not know that Epicenter had been foaled at Bettersworth Westwind Farm in Bowling Green, just 20 miles from Franklin. Winchell opened The Mint, a gaming hall, in Bowling Green last December.
“That just makes it even more special,” Winchell said Tuesday. “If we win, I’d love to take the Derby trophy on a little trip to Bowling Green and display it in The Mint and give people the opportunity to come over and see it if we’re so fortunate to find the winner’s circle.”
Asked if he had ever raced a horse from Bowling Green before, Asmussen chuckled. “With all the horses I’ve had, I’m sure I have,” he said. “But not one of this notoriety.”
After all, many believe Epicenter is the colt who can make that dream a reality. The son of Not This Time out of Silent Candy by Candy Ride has won four of six lifetime starts. After a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 22, Epicenter won the Grade 2 Risen Star on Feb. 19 and then the Louisiana Derby on March 26 at the Fair Grounds.
“He’s just a really cool horse,” Winchell said. “He has the mindset I think makes it applicable to what we need to do in the Derby. When you look at him physically and what he’s done in the races, the race he had in the Louisiana Derby, the distance he’s gone, his style of running, up toward the front with a lot of tactical speed, it really gives him a great shot at hopefully winning the Kentucky Derby.”
Should that happen, it will complete a passion project for a pair of, in Asmussen’s words, “Derby dreamers.”
“We’ve discussed this, obviously,” said the trainer. “We’ve been very fortunate to be in it at a very high level. And for us to have champions and Breeders’ Cup winners, things of that nature, we’d very much crave, want and are pursuing a Kentucky Derby winner.”
