Nine years ago Steve Asmussen brought Gun Runner to Oaklawn Park for the Razorback Handicap (G3) after a promising 2016 campaign from the colt at age 3 that included a third-place finish in the Travers Stakes (G1), a second in the Pennsylvania Derby (G2), and a win in the Clark Handicap (G1).
Gun Runner won the Razorback on his way to earning a trip to the Middle East in the Dubai World Cup (G1), where the colt ran second, before rattling off five consecutive wins to close out his racing career. Honored as the 2017 Horse of the Year, Gun Runner would later be inducted into the Hall of Fame, where his trainer also is honored.
Flash forward, and Asmussen has a runner who finished in those precise positions in the aforementioned races: Magnitude. The colt even races for Winchell Thoroughbreds, who co-owned Gun Runner with Three Chimneys Farm, where he now stands at stud. Fittingly, Magnitude began his 4-year-old season Feb. 28 at Oaklawn Park just as Gun Runner did—with a resounding victory in the $500,000 Razorback Handicap.
Tracking second favorite and class-rising Nu What's New through splits of :23.68, :47.38, and 1:11.28 in the 1 1/16-mile dirt race, Magnitude and jockey Jose Ortiz always seemed to have the leader at their mercy. Once Ortiz cut him loose in the stretch, the Not This Time colt pulled away, scoring by 3 3/4 lengths in 1:42.10. Ortiz only struck Magnitude ($3.60) once with his riding crop, choosing instead to flash it at him in encouragement.
"He's getting really good since last year in the Clark," Ortiz said from horseback in a postrace interview on Fox Sports. "He (showed) developmentally that he can rate a little bit. And I think that's a huge advantage for us."
Magnitude wasn't flawless. He swapped his leads down the lane, though no rival came close to capitalizing on this apparent loss of focus. He carried high weight of 123 pounds, spotting the opposition 3-9 pounds.
"The horse always had a tremendous amount of talent, but I think today was his best performance," Asmussen said.
North America's winningest trainer notched his third victory in the race. Before Gun Runner and Magnitude, he captured the Razorback in 2011 with It Happened Again.
For Magnitude, the Razorback serves as an intended prep for the March 28 Dubai World Cup (G1) in the United Arab Emirates. It remains to be seen if armed conflict in Iran that began Saturday will affect Middle East travel in the weeks ahead.
Nu What's New, making his stakes debut, finished a clear second ahead of Gould's Gold in third. Sandman, now winless in six starts since closing to victory in the Arkansas Derby (G1) last spring at Oaklawn, finished last of six.
Magnitude improves to 6-2-1 in 12 starts with earnings of $1,584,365. Bred in Kentucky by Ron Stolich out of the Bernardini mare Rockadelic, he was a $450,000 purchase by Winchell Thoroughbreds from the Gainesway consignment to the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Magnitude is the fifth graded/group stakes winner this year for Not This Time, who stands for $250,000 at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky.
