SPORTS

Rees | Let voters decide if Asmussen is worthy

Jennie Rees
@CJ_Jennie

The National Museum of Racing Fame for the second year has tabled the nomination of trainer Steve Asmussen to its Hall of Fame pending results of investigations by Kentucky and New York regulators into the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' allegations of horse mistreatment and law-breaking.

Asmussen is a strong Hall of Fame candidate on paper. His 6,930 victories (through Tuesday) rank second only to the late Dale Baird's 9,445, while his career purse earnings of $224 million rank No. 5 all-time. He has trained the Horse of the Year three times: Curlin (2007 and 2008) and Rachel Alexandra (2009). Among his 178 graded stakes are the Preakness and Kentucky Oaks twice apiece; his five Breeders' Cup victories include Untapable in the 2014 Distaff.

"It makes no sense; his accomplishments speak for themselves," Clark Brewster, Asmussen's attorney as well as one of his horse owners, said of the continued nomination tabling. "He's certainly been one of the most successful trainers at every level of the game, including last year, particularly under the incredible storm with this PETA expose. I was hopeful once that expose was revealed for what it was — a highly dramatized piece to portray horse racing as some kind of evil enterprise — and after (nine) months that Steve is not accused of a single rules violation, that they would recognize the injustice to pull his name from the Hall of Fame ballot."

Asmussen is never going to win Mr. Congeniality, but that's not a Hall requirement. He has served suspensions, but so have other past (and surely future) inductees.

The Baseball Hall of Fame has allowed Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa on its ballot despite implications of performance-enhancing drug use.

However, some ballots from the racing Hall of Fame's 100-plus voters had already been cast last year when the New York Times wrote about PETA's allegations and ran the link to a nine-minute video compiled from what PETA said was seven hours of secret taping by an investigator who got hired by the barn as a hotwalker.

Most of the video was of Asmussen's top assistant, Scott Blasi, with his profanities used to maximum shock value. While those who know racing saw the video's obvious distortions and misrepresentations, the Hall of Fame made the right call last year, given the timing and the fact that some people might have changed their vote.

But now it has been almost 10 months. You'd think if Kentucky or New York thought Asmussen seriously threatened the integrity of the sport they would have taken action by now. Presumably all the voters know about the PETA allegations, the investigations and the questions that have surfaced about the video. If they don't know, they shouldn't be voting for the Hall of Fame.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is expected to discuss the case next week. A New York Gaming Commission spokesman wrote in an email response: "While it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation, it is important to note that the Commission has been conducting a full, comprehensive investigation into the matter, which involves verifying the multiple serious allegations that were documented by PETA over a lengthy period, with more than 7 hours of video and hundreds of pages of material."

Ed Bowen, chairman of the committee that decides after the open nominating process who ultimately makes the ballot, said the museum's executive committee made the decision to table Asmussen's nomination last year because of the promised investigations.

"We didn't feel like we could possibly abrogate that decision without any results of those investigations," Bowen said. "… We were told to expect those reports to be out fairly soon a couple of months ago. We waited as long as we could before we started the process for 2015."

If people don't want to vote for Asmussen because he served a six-month suspension in 2006, I get that. If they think there is merit to PETA's charges, their ballot can reflect that.

The time lag by Kentucky and New York authorities put the racing museum in a tough spot. But it's time to let the voters decide if Steve Asmussen belongs in the sport's Hall of Fame.

Contact Jennie Rees at 502-582-4042 and at jrees@courier-journal.com.