Gun Runner got his second graded stakes winner of the day when Red Route One rolled to a 4 ½-length victory in the $500,000 Essex H. (G3) at Oaklawn Park.
A little earlier on Saturday Mercante was his sire’s first graded winner of the day in the Kentucky Cup Classic (G3) at Turfway Park. Gun Runner is leading the 2025 General Sire list with eight stakes winners, five of them at the graded level.
Unhurried from his inside post in the field of six, Red Route One dropped back to last as the field entered the first turn. He was some 10 lengths from the front midway down the backstretch before beginning to make up ground entering the final turn. He rapidly closed in on the leaders and moved off the rail coming into the stretch for clear running. He took the lead with a furlong to go and cruised from there to stop the timer in 1:51.67 for the nine furlongs on a fast track.
“In the first turn I could see they were kind of, not exactly fighting, but it was somewhat of a bar fight up front, and I’m just sitting behind them with a world of confidence,” said the winning rider Keith Asmussen. “I’ve been getting on him for the duration of his career. And this week I was telling the boss, ‘Oh he’s breathing fire. He’s ready to go.’”
The “boss” is the jockey’s father, Steve Asmussen, who trains the homebred 5-year-old for Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC.
Red Route One has won or placed in 12 stakes and earned $2,127,857.
