Golden Hare ~ a fun read on the other Curlin

[my miss storm cat]

Claiming a reward
Asmussen assistant calls 8-year-old 'my Curlin'

By Jennie Rees
jrees@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal


When trainer Steve Asmussen talks about the "big horse" while conversing with chief assistant Scott Blasi, don't assume he's referring to Preakness Stakes winner Curlin.

Blasi, who oversees Asmussen's operations at Churchill Downs and Saratoga, is the owner of Golden Hare. When the 8-year-old gelding won a $5,000 starter allowance race recently at Churchill Downs, it marked his 11th victory in 12 races since Blasi acquired him. That lone defeat came by a nose.

Asmussen trains 200 horses, and none has won more this year than Golden Hare, whom Blasi claimed for a bottom-level $3,500 last August upon the recommendation of Asmussen's Remington Park assistant Darren Fleming, who retains bragging if not ownership rights. The gelding's six victories in seven races tie him as the second-winningest horse in the country this season.

This from a horse who had lost 20 straight races when Blasi claimed him.

Golden Hare makes Asmussen both Blasi's boss and employee. Unlike his other horses, Asmussen gets no training fees or a commission on earnings for Golden Hare. Call it payback for the notoriously long hours the trainer's made Blasi and his staff put in.

"I've got breeding rights, they told me," Asmussen said of the castrated horse. "It's all good will. He's so much fun to have. Believe me, I owe them more than that."

"One of the perks of the job," said Blasi, who does pay veterinary and blacksmith bills.

The perks get spread around, including to Asmussen's exercise riders. Parker Buckley rode Golden Hare to a 5 1/2-length victory in a $4,000 starter race on June 11 at Indiana Downs, Jose Figueroa won on him twice at Sam Houston and Dominic Terry won by 9 3/4 lengths at Evangeline Downs.

"He's like a stakes horse," said Buckley, who surprised Blasi this week with a batch of Golden Hare ballcaps. "He's all class. He doesn't think he's 8 years old. When I rode him (at Indiana Downs), I felt the pressure of the whole barn. He is the barn pet."

Blasi calls Golden Hare "my Curlin."

"He's the second-best horse Steve has in his barn," quipped Robby Albarado, who is Curlin's jockey and is 2 for 2 on Golden Hare. "Scott might say he's the best one. He is such a confident horse. When he warms up, he thinks he's the man. And he shows it, just keeps pounding them at that level. And they claimed him for $3,500. You look at him physically, he's good-looking, bows his head. He warms up like a really good horse in the post parade, like a Curlin-type horse."

Golden Hare doesn't have a Triple Crown or a Breeders' Cup, Curlin's season-ending objective. But he does have the Claiming Crown, which comes to Kentucky for the first time on Aug. 4 at Ellis Park. Golden Hare will run in the $50,000 Claiming Crown Express for horses that have started for a claiming price of $7,500 or less since Aug. 1, 2006.

The son of sprint champion Gilded Time, out of the Storm Cat mare Bugs Rabbit, started racing in 2002 at Santa Anita. The gelding, owned by country music star Toby Keith, was a good allowance horse who finished fourth in the Grade I Malibu for trainer Richard Mandella.

Golden Hare moved on to trainers at Louisiana Downs and Oaklawn Park, dropping out of unsuccessful stakes ventures and working down the claiming ranks until he was a bad fifth for $10,000 two years ago. His next race was 14 months later in a $3,500 claimer for horses that hadn't won a race that year.

The gelding who had never finished a race in front in consecutive starts ripped off eight straight victories -- all in starter events -- for his new owner. Golden Hare's Beyer speed figures have routinely been in the low 90s or upper 80s. Blasi believes the gelding could win against $30,000 or $40,000 claimers right now.

"It's awesome, incredible," Asmussen said. "He's won a race a month. I think he's very proud of himself right now."

Blasi has no idea why Golden Hare was off 14 months. But Fleming, his best friend, saw the horse had some back class and was intrigued when he surfaced in Remington's entries after training on a farm.

"There was definitely some risk," said Blasi, who won Churchill Downs' fall training title when he took over the stable while Asmussen served a six-month suspension. "I called up Darren the next morning and asked what was wrong with him? He said, 'I wish I could tell you, but nothing.'

"Whatever it was, time cured it. … We got lucky."

Golden Hare finished second the day he was claimed, but racing at such a low price made him eligible for the starter allowance races for the next year.

Sometimes when a horse changes hands, simple things spark improvement: different shoeing, an equipment change, throat operation, filing down sharp teeth.

"Nothing," Blasi said with a laugh. "It's funny. Some horses like that, when they get into your program, they just thrive. You look at his work pattern, and he works every seven days. He's fallen into the routine, and he's gotten happy."

Both Blasi and his boss say Asmussen makes the decisions where to run the gelding. For instance, Asmussen was the one who found the Indiana Downs race -- Golden Hare's first on turf.

"Although I have to refer to him as the 'big horse' when discussing him with Scott," Asmussen joked.

Golden Hare has won at seven tracks in six states for Blasi. The nature of Asmussen's sprawling operation makes it easy to get to whatever track is offering a starter race.

"That's what makes it work," Blasi said. "Every now and then we'll get Steve on the speaker phone and say we need to map out a plan for Golden Hare, but we're just teasing. The horse has been managed very well; what am I going to complain about? That he got beat a nose?"


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