IN FUTURE WAGERING, BET ON ASMUSSEN.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Maybe it's his articulate wit, his smile full of straight white teeth and his full head of gray-flecked hair that earn Steve Asmussen comparisons to modern horse racing's superstar trainer. Maybe it's his talent for managing big dreams and tiny details. Or maybe it's his unhidden ambition to win the Kentucky Derby.

``He reminds me of a young Wayne Lukas,'' said Barry Irwin, the lead owner of one of Asmussen's two horses in Saturday's 128th Derby.

And although Asmussen rejects the specific comparison to Lukas with an I'm-my-own-man assurance, what it implies is accurate.

If you're looking for the next great thoroughbred trainer, look no farther than the 36-year-old younger son of Texas' most famous family of horsemen.

Asmussen probably won't win the Kentucky Derby this year with either Private Emblem, the Arkansas Derby winner, or Windward Passage, third in the same event. But given his youth, connections and already-evident talent, he figures to be bringing contenders to America's greatest race for years to come.

``Winning the Arkansas Derby is fun, but he's got to get to that next level,'' said Wayne Lukas himself, an Asmussen family friend. ``I think he will.''

Asmussen was born into his sport as the grandson of racehorse owner Irving Asmussen, son of trainers Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, and brother of former French riding champion Cash Asmussen. Steve was a teen-age jockey before he outgrew the job.

As a kid, he did barn chores at El Primero Training Center in Laredo, where his family breaks and trains young horses, and witnessed the from-the-ground-up construction of the careers of stakes horses such as Southern California stars Tight Spot and Olympio.

``You handled those horses and you realized they were just horses. Although they were very special, they weren't a different breed,'' Asmussen said Tuesday morning outside Churchill Downs' barn 38. ``You followed their careers closely and it gave you a feeling that (winning major races) wasn't unreachable.''

Watching brother Cash go to New York to become America's champion apprentice rider and then to Europe to win titles expanded Asmussen's goals even further beyond El Primero's fences.

When Steve was 18, had a broken wrist and had just quit riding, he went to France and heard Cash deliver an acceptance speech in French at that country's Golden Whip Award ceremony.

``At that point I thought, 'He's about seven years removed from showing cattle at the fairs.' It showed that anything's possible,'' Asmussen remembered.

He added with a mixture of modesty and confidence: ``By no means have I had any success on an international level. But I plan on it and there's just a lot to do between now and then.''

Asmussen remembers being ``ridiculously impressed'' with himself in 1995, when Valid Expectations' victory in the New Year's Eve Sugar Bowl Handicap at the New Orleans Fair Grounds put his barn's purse earnings for the year over $1 million.

After steady growth, Asmussen's horses earned more than $8 million in 2001 while winning 293 races, mainly at Lone Star Park near Dallas, the Fair Grounds, and the Kentucky and New York tracks, spreading his business around as few trainers can. The dollars placed him fourth in the country behind Bob Baffert, Bobby Frankel and Bill Mott. The victories put him second to Scott Lake.

Last year, Asmussen, who has a full stable at Churchill Downs, won a training title at the track for the first time, saddling 13 winners in 56 tries at the 24-day fall meet.

He hopes, someday soon, to take more than a training title out of Churchill.

``The Derby is the ultimate test for me at this point in my life. I've grown up with this being the pinnacle of my ambitions, the most important thing in the game I've chosen to be in,'' said Asmussen, who tried the Derby last year with Balto Star only to watch the colt finish 14th and get hurt. ``It's so much fun to get to measure yourself all the time in racing. To me, the greatest thing about racing is it that isn't decided by judges. First one to the wire wins.''

Asmussen's horses have been first to the wire 24 percent of the time in 2002. His 125 victories through Friday lead the nation.

So far, Asmussen hasn't had the super-rich owners that keep Lukas and Baffert in million-dollar 2-year-olds. Private Emblem, a New York-bred of Our Emblem, was purchased for $35,000 as a yearling by James Cassels and Bob Zollars. Windward Passage, a gelding by Captain Bodgit, was bred by owner Team Valor Stables, of which Irwin is president.

But in racing, success tends to breed success.

``I think what separates the men from the boys is what happens when the stable shifts from having just regular horses to having high-class horses,'' Irwin said. ``It's a matter of how well he handles that responsibility.''

Irwin likes the fact that whenever he offers Asmussen a suggestion, the trainer seems to already have thought of it.

``He's a very talented horsemen and he's very well organized,'' Irwin said. ``He's got all the makings (of a star).''

KENTUCKY DERBY

Where: Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky.

When: Saturday, 3:04 p.m.

TV: Ch. 4 coverage, 2 p.m.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) ASMUSSEN

Box:

KENTUCKY DERBY (see text)