Coming off grade 1 stakes victories at Saratoga Race Course this summer, Steve Asmussen trainees Max Player and Yaupon are early arrivals in Southern California to prepare for Breeders' Cup races Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
The Hall of Fame trainer said Sept. 21 that the pair had already trained a couple of days at Santa Anita Park, though he does not plan to run either before the Breeders' Cup. They will remain for over a month at Santa Anita before proceeding to Del Mar, whose fall meet begins Nov. 3. Del Mar's backstretch opens Oct. 23 for training that begins Oct. 25, according to Tom Robbins, the track's executive vice president and its director of racing and industry relations.
Both Asmussen horses breezed Sept. 17 at Saratoga over its Oklahoma Training Track before departing for California. A :49.86 half-mile breeze from Max Player was his first since taking the Sept. 4 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1). A five-furlong work from Yaupon over the same track in 1:01.70 was his second since capturing the Aug. 28 Forego Stakes (G1).
"Max Player is going to train straight up to the Classic," said Asmussen. "The spacing in his races has proved extremely effective with his Suburban (G2) win and his Jockey Club Gold Cup.
"Yaupon, the same thing. Spacing in his races has been key to getting them both back running at the top of their game."
Max Player, an Honor Code 4-year-old owned by George Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp., is expected to be one of the secondary betting choices behind early favorites Knicks Go and Essential Quality in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt's 4-year-old Yaupon (Uncle Mo ) goes next in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), a race in which he was eighth last fall at Keeneland.
With their final preps complete, Asmussen thought it prudent to get them to California.
"You know where you are going to run? Get there," he said. "It takes out one of the biggest variables there is—acclimation."
Asmussen hopes to expand his lineup of Breeders' Cup starters in the coming weeks following races from some of his other top prospects.
