Trainer Steve Asmussen has collected plenty of trophies throughout his Hall of Fame career. But he couldn't recall a prize to match his gifts for winning the 115th running of the $150,000 Saratoga Special Stakes Presented by Miller Lite (G2) with J. Kirk Robison's Jackie's Warrior .
As he addressed the media after the race, to his right was a lawn jockey with white silks and Miller Lite logos on it. To his left was a cooler with Miller Lite emblazoned on it.
"Honestly, it's hard for a live jockey to stay and listen to me after a race, so they gave me this," Asmussen said in reference to the replica of a jockey he held in his arms during a television interview after the race. "It's a first. We're going to upgrade the cooler by filling it."
As novel as the prizes may have been, winning the Saratoga Special was nothing new for Asmussen, who claimed his fifth win in the six-furlong stakes via a familiar route. Just like Copper Bullet (2017), Kantharos (2010), Kodiak Kowboy (2007), and Cuvee (2003) before him, Jackie's Warrior last raced at Churchill Downs but took an immediate liking to the Saratoga Race Course surface to capture the Aug. 7 graded stakes for 2-year-olds.
"I think at Saratoga, there's a lot of nice form coming into it, but when you get to Saratoga, not everybody likes the circumstances," Asmussen said. "I'm glad to see he does."
A son of Maclean's Music , whom Asmussen trained, Jackie's Warrior handled the Spa as well as he did Churchill Downs, when he posted a 2 1/2-length maiden victory in his only other start.
Second in the early stages of that June 19 race at five furlongs, Jackie's Warrior brushed the gate at the break Friday but was hustled by jockey Joel Rosario to grab the early lead, and they never looked back en route to the colt's second win.
"With the babies, I just wanted him to break clean, as he did in his first start, and let his talent take over," Asmussen said.
Ahead by a length after an opening quarter-mile in a quick :22.06, Jackie's Warrior ($8.20) was challenged at the quarter pole by the duo of Therideofalifetime and Momos, but he had little trouble fending off those bids and drawing clear to a three-length victory in 1:09.62 as the 3-1 second choice.
"When they came to him, he wanted to go, and I felt even more confident at that point," Rosario said. "I knew he had something left."
Bred in Kentucky by J & J Stables out of the A. P. Five Hundred mare Unicorn Girl, Jackie's Warrior was bought by Robison for $95,000 from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is Unicorn Girl's third foal and her first stakes winner. She also has a yearling filly by Candy Ride and a weanling colt by American Pharoah .
Asmussen indicated the closing day Sept. 7 Runhappy Hopeful Stakes (G1) at seven furlongs would probably be next for the bay colt.
Stephen Fidel's Therideofalifetime, a Candy Ride colt trained by Ignacio Correas IV, was second. He wound up four lengths ahead of Ironhorse Racing Stable and Secure Investments' Momos, a son of Distorted Humor trained by Christophe Clement.
The news wasn't all good for Asmussen as he also sent out Stonestreet Stables' grade 3-winning Cazadero, the 8-5 favorite who never fired and finished fifth in the field of nine.
"(Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr.) said he didn't think he handled the racetrack at all," Asmussen said about Cazadero. "Most likely, with him being 2-for-2 at Churchill Downs, we'll get him back there."
Whether the lawn jockey and cooler also head to Churchill Downs remains to be seen.
