Asmussen hoping accomplished Publisher gets first win in $300,000 Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis

A victory by Arkansas Derby runner-up Publisher in Saturday’s $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby would also produce a welcome loss: As in the colt’s distinction of being America’s most accomplished 3-year-old who has yet to win a race.

Owner Gus King went to a high bid of $600,000 for the son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah at the 2023 Saratoga yearling sale, with the estate of breeder and former Kentucky governor Brereton C. Jones retaining 25 percent.

Publisher (photo) had three rallying thirds and a second in his first starts as a 2-year-old. As he turned 3 and having shown the type of talent to compete in Oaklawn Park’s Kentucky Derby prep series, trainer Steve Asmussen opted to bypass more maiden races in favor of graded stakes, where the distances would get longer and there might be more early pace to set up Publisher’s late kick.

Publisher has improved each race. He was seventh — but impeded in mid-stretch and placed sixth — in Oaklawn’s Southwest Stakes (G3), closed from 20 lengths back to be fourth in the Rebel Stakes (G2) and, adding blinkers, once again rallied from far back to take second in the Arkansas Derby (G1).

The colt brought earnings of $407,756 into the Kentucky Derby. If Publisher was bumped around early and wound up being no factor while winding up 14th, so did a lot of other horses in the bulky field of 19.

“Obviously his last race was the Kentucky Derby; we gave him a little bit of a freshening after that,” Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday at Churchill Downs after Publisher worked an easy half-mile by himself in 49.20 seconds. “His last few weeks, he’s had some beautiful works in company with Magnitude. I thought he went really nice (Sunday), and I expect him to run extremely well in the Indiana Derby. It would be nice for him to get his first win ever.

“A couple of his races this spring, he showed his quality. If anything, I think he’s considerably better now than he’s ever been.”

And how do horses show those they’re better?

“They’re faster,” Asmussen said. “They’re capable of going faster easier. It was something expected from his pedigree, from who he is physically. He was always an extremely laid-back horse, and I think he’s just now maturing into the racehorse that we’ve always wanted him to be.”

Magnitude — the front-running 9 3/4-length victor of the Fair Grounds’ Grade 2 Risen Star in New Orleans but who subsequently missed the rest of the Kentucky Derby season after having an ankle chip removed — was nominated for the Indiana Derby but is returning to the races in Saturday’s $250,000 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows.

Asmussen said he thought Horseshoe Indianapolis is a better fit for Publisher’s running style, in addition to having graded-stakes status.

“The timing of it, proximity of it, the way (he’s) doing, I think it was just the right race off of the Kentucky Derby,” he said.

Hall of Famer Mike Smith will ride Publisher. Asmussen is shooting for his third Indiana Derby after prevailing in 2011 with Wilburn and in 2007 with Zanjero.

Asmussen also has Our Pretty Woman in the $100,000 Mari George Hulman for older fillies and mares and Track Phantom in the $100,000 Michael G. Schaefer for older males.

Courtlandt Farm’s Our Pretty Woman was a close second in last year’s Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks and, after finishing off the board in the Kentucky Oaks, finished her 3-year-old season by taking Churchill Downs’ Monomoy Girl Stakes. She has a pair of fifths in stakes in two starts this year.

The front-running Track Phantom won the Fair Grounds’ Gun Runner and G3 Lecomte Stakes last year, then was second in the Risen Star, fourth in the Louisiana Derby and set the pace in the 2024 Kentucky Derby before tiring to 11th. He has a seventh and third in two starts this year for co-owners L And N Racing and Clark Brewster.

Our Pretty Lady “looked beautiful (Sunday) morning working as well,” Asmussen said. “I think it’s a good spot for her. It’s about time for Track Phantom to get back on track as well. We’re trying to find the right spots and get them back in the mix. Both are previous stakes winners, and it’s time to get back in the winner’s circle.”

Red-hot Sharp to run three in undercard stakes

If Kentucky-based Joe Sharp didn’t have the absolute hottest stable in the country for the first half of 2025, he’s certainly on a very short list. Fresh off his first Churchill Downs training title — which came on the heels of his first Fair Grounds training title — Sharp will try to keep the momentum going when he runs three horses in undercard stakes on Saturday’s Indiana Derby program at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Money Supply won last year’s $100,000 Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial on turf, with Sharp cross-entering this year in the Schuster and the Michael G. Schaefer on dirt. Money Supply, a $400,000 yearling purchase, has won eight races for owner Jordan Wycoff since being claimed for $35,000 almost two years ago.

Now 6, the horse has won on turf and dirt, both fast tracks in the slop.

“I lean toward trying to repeat in the grass race, unless on paper it looks like the dirt is a better choice,” Sharp said. “But he’s doing really well. We just need a little more racing luck. Because the horse is trying to fire big races, and he’s just had some tough trips.”

Sharp brings back Highlander Training Center’s $359,700-earner Strikingly Spun for the Indiana General Assembly Distaff, in which she was a close seventh last year, and also is running $336,723-earner Fantastical, fourth in stakes in her last two starts.

“Fantastical seems to be the filly that likes to be closer (to the pace),” he said. “So maybe we’ll have bookends as far as early on in the trip: Have one out close to the pace and one coming from off the pace.”

Strikingly Spun was uncharacteristically close to the pace in her last start, Churchill Downs’ Keertana Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf before weakening to eighth.

“We’re taking the blinkers off this time and just hoping we get the right setup,” Sharp said. "She’s a filly that comes running and needs a pace to develop to be her most effective. But she’s training really well, and we’re looking forward to trying to get more ‘black type’ (stakes placings) for her.

“I do think the farther the better. But last time she was really sharp, she broke (near the front) and took pressure the whole way. There was some early pressure like the half-mile pole. She had to start her run a little farther out than I would have liked.”

Sharp also entered Kavod in Friday’s $100,000 William Garrett Handicap at five furlongs on grass. Kavod won the Fair Grounds’ off-the-turf Duncan F. Kenner and was second by a head in the Colonel Power.

After several seconds and thirds in the Fair Grounds’ final meet standings in his decade of training, Sharp had a breakthrough winter in New Orleans, winning that title 40-31 over multiple titlist Brad Cox. He came right back and won the Churchill Downs training crown 20 wins to 19 over Cox’s powerful barn.

“What I’ve learned is that you have to have fresh horses to win races, period,” Sharp said. “Obviously, you never want the roll to stop, but I’m very grateful and very appreciative of it. Because I have ridden the highs and lows throughout my career. There are a lot of top guys who have been a model of consistency and maintain consistent high, solid (win) percentages, such as Brad, such as Steve (Asmussen), Todd (Pletcher), Chad (Brown), those guys. I’m trying to stay focused and work to evolve into a barn like that. Hopefully we can continue to maintain.”

Including at Horseshoe Indy.

“We love going up to Indiana,” Sharp said. “It’s close, and they’re very accommodating. And their surfaces are very good.”

The 31st running of the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby is set for a first post time of noon Saturday at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The race is joined by the Grade 3 $200,000 Indiana Oaks along with six other premier racing events with purses topping $1.1 million.

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