Trainer Steve Asmussen In Pursuit of His Sixth Victory in the Championship for Fillies and Mares
(PRESS RELEASE)
HOUSTON, TX- The fields are set for the premier day of Thoroughbred racing at Sam Houston Race Park. The Houston Racing Festival will take place on Saturday, January 25 with an afternoon post time of 1:00 pm (Central).
The Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic, presented by PENNWomen, at a mile and one-sixteenth on the main track, attracted nine fillies and mares, some proven stakes winners and an impressive group of nationally prominent conditioners, who confirmed their nominated runners at the post-position draw conducted on Saturday, January 18
Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen has three prospects in the field as he hopes to add to his domination in the most prestigious Thoroughbred race at Sam Houston Race Park. A victory on Saturday would be his sixth win in the 13th running of the Houston Ladies Classic. He scored last year with Kaleem Shah Inc.’s Bellamore under three-time Sam Houston leading rider Stewart Elliott.
Asmussen, who celebrated his 1,000th Sam Houston Race Park win on January 18, 2025, has the following three entrants: Winchell Thoroughbred LLC’s homebred Recharge a 4-year-old Gun Runner Filly; Our Pretty Woman, a 4year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro owned by Courtlandt Farms (Donald Adam) and Flashy Lass, a 5year-old Street Sense mare, bred in Kentucky by Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. Ben Curtis, who is currently riding at Fair Grounds, will pilot Recharge, who has two wins here, and will break from the rail. Our Pretty Woman, who ran in the 2024 Kentucky Oaks, will be ridden by Isaac Castillo and Flashy Lass, who wrapped her 2023 campaign with a 5-length victory in the She’s All In Stakes at Remington Park, has been stabled here since the end of December. She has posted a series of works over the main track and will reunite with Elliott
“We have high hopes for another win in the Houston Ladies Classic,” said Asmussen. “This spot on the calendar has been very good for us and we look forward to a good effort from each of our mares.”
Last year’s runner-up, Free Like a Girl, returns off a record-setting year for trainer Chasey Deville Pomier, who owns the Louisiana-bred mare in partnership with Gerald Bruno Jr. and Jerry Caroom. The 6-year-old daughter of El Deal was bred in Louisiana by retired jockey Kim Stover and her sister Lisa Osborne, the Louisiana Horse of the Year became the first Thoroughbred in Louisiana to bank $1 million in a single year. She enters her 2025 campaign with 21 wins and earnings of $2,105,978.
“She is no stranger to graded stakes company and really liked Sam Houston’s surface last year,” stated Pomier.
“Freddy (Mannrique) rode her well and she’s been training well since her last race (the Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint on December 14 at Fair Grounds).”
She will van over from Louisiana on Friday and her connections are hopeful that she will finally get her first graded stakes win on Saturday.
Pomier, a mother of two, grew up in a racing family and knows that training a two-million-dollar earner does not come easily.
“People ask me what makes her so special, and I always say it’s her heart,” she added. “We always get a little nervous before she runs; but she has rewarded us more that we could have ever imagined.”
Eclipse Award conditioner Brad Cox, who won the 2018 Houston Ladies Classic with John Gunther’s Tiger Moth, is sending in the very talented Alpine Miss, owned by Full of Run Racing and Madaket Stables. Sold for $190,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the Kentucky-bred daughter of Classic Empire, out of the Curlin mare Le Moine, broke her maiden status at one of the most prestigious tracks in the country at Saratoga in upstate New York in her second career race in 2023. She had some issues requiring her to take some time off but came back with a resounding victory in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks last September.
Cox, who has tabbed top New York jockey Manny Franco to ride the bay filly, was pleased with her runner up finish in the Grade 3, $200,000 Comley at Aqueduct, marked the Ladies Classic for her next start.
“She’s doing very well, and we have been pointing for this race since her run at Aqueduct,” explained Cox. “We look forward to getting her 4-year-old campaign kicked off on Saturday.”
Trainer Tom Amoss will be represented by Hoosier Philly, owned by Gold Standard Racing Stable, LLC. The 5 year old mare by Into Mischief out of the Tapit mare Tapella sports plenty of back class, including a start in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. With six wins from 16 efforts, her earnings of $924,4 are the second highest in the field. She returns to action off a win in the $100,000 Joseph E. “Spanky” Broussard last month at Fair Grounds.
“It looks like a terrific group of horses,” commented Amoss on the Houston Ladies Classic field. “Her run in the Broussard was very good, but she will face a much tougher group on Saturday.”
The highly consistent Miss Code West, a $12,000 Texas Thoroughbred Sale Graduate won the TTA Oaks here last year and went on to a very successful season at Remington Park, where she was honored as Remington Park Horse of the meet. Her lone loss was to Alpine Princess in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks on Sept. 29 against open company. Owned by Jeffry L. and Julie Puryear, the 4-year -old filly by Code West, out of the Kipling mare Inca Miss, is trained by Kevin Scholl and will be ridden by regular rider Floyd Wethey, Jr. She would be the first Texas-bred winner in the history of the Houston Ladies Classic,
“She pretty much toyed with them in her last stakes win at Remington,” said Scholl. “This filly has made quite a bit of money for her owners; they are looking forward to her return to Sam Houston.”
Family Stone Racing’s Our Davina, who will make her fifth start for trainer Scott Young and Kara who ran fourth in the Zia Park Oaks last month for owners Glen and Wendy Voorhees and conditioner Matt Hebert, round out the field.
The Houston Ladies Classic, presented by PENN Women, will run as the ninth race of the afternoon, with an approximate post time of 5:00 pm (Central). Here are the entrants, from the rail out (with jockey, trainer and odds):
1. Recharge (Ben Curtis) Steve Asmussen; 20-1
2. Our Pretty Woman (Issac Castillo) Steve Asmussen; 7-2
3. Our Davina (Lindey Wade) Scott Young); 30-1
4. Alpine Princess (Manny Franco) Brad Cox; 9-5
5. Hoosier Philly (Edgar Morales) Tom Amoss; 3-1
6. Free Like a Girl Freddy Manrrique) Chasey Pomier; 6-1
7. Miss Code West (Floyd Wethey, Jr.) Kevin Scholl; 12-1
8. Flashy Lass (Stewart Elliott) Steve Asmussen; 8-1
9. Kara (Iram Diego) Matt Hebert; 30-1
Inaugurated in 2013, the Houston Ladies Classic was awarded its graded status by the American Graded Stakes Committee in 2016. The stakes has produced exceptional champions who have advanced to Grade 1 victories and captured national headlines. Joyful Victory, owned by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms, trained by Larry Jones was the first winner of the Houston Ladies Classic. Eclipse Award winner Midnight Bisou, trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Steve Asmussen, captured the 2019 edition of the championship and surpassed the $7 million earnings mark with five Grade 1 victories. St. George Stable LLC’s Letruska, went on to win five consecutive stakes, including four Grade 1 titles before completing her 2021 campaign in the Grade 1, Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The complete list is as follows:
Houston Ladies Classic Champions
2024BellamoreStewart ElliottSteve Asmussen1:46.24
2023Pauline’s PearlStewart ElliottSteve Asmussen1:45.69
2022Pauline’s PearlJoel RosarioSteve Asmussen1:44.43
2021LetruskaJesus CastanonFausto Gutierrez1:45.02
2020Lady AppleRicardo Santana Jr.Steve Asmussen1:44.19
2019Midnight BisouMike SmithSteve Asmussen1:44.52
2018Tiger MothFlorent GerouxBrad Cox1:46.01
2017Unbridled MoJose OrtizTodd Pletcher1:42.89
2016Forever UnbridledJoel RosarioDallas Stewart1:43.74
2015CassattKerwin ClarkLarry Jones1:44.96
2014Rose to GoldJesus RiosSal Santoro1:43.87
2013Joyful VictoryRosie NapravnikLarry Jones1:42.30
Four Additional Stakes Set for Saturday, January 25
In addition to the Houston Ladies Classic, four additional stakes will be contested on the Houston Racing Festival card. Twelve turf specialists will vie in the Listed $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup, at the distance of one and one-half miles. A competitive field was also drawn in the $100,000 Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile for three-year-olds. The remaining stakes include the $75,000 Bara Lass and $75,000 Gexa Groovy Stakes featuring accredited Texas-bred 3-year-olds competing at six furlongs on the main track.