Gaudet Aiming Undefeated Dynamic Asset Toward 2018 Preakness
Eddie Gaudet
A winner of more than 1,700 races in a 53-year training career and patriarch of one of Maryland racing’s most successful and respected racing families, Eddie Gaudet’s lone starter in the state’s biggest race came with Concealed Identity in the 2011 Preakness (G1).
Now a multiple stakes-winning trainer in her own right, Gaudet’s eldest daughter and former assistant Lacey Gaudet is hoping to follow in her late father’s footsteps with the undefeated colt Dynamic Asset.
A bay son of Grade 3 winner Astrology – who ran third in the 2011 Preakness, seven spots ahead of Concealed Identity – Dynamic Asset will make his first start in five months in the $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds going a mile. Though yet to lose in two starts, the layoff put him at 15-1 on the morning line.
Purchased by Keith Crupper for $6,500 at Keeneland’s November 2015 breeding stock sale and co-owned by the Team Gaudet of Lacey and her mother, Linda, Dynamic Asset meant enough to his connections to be among the early Triple Crown nominees.
“He is nominated to the Triple Crown and if he were to just romp on Saturday, we would maybe think about looking at points,” Lacey Gaudet said of the series of qualifying races for the May 5 Kentucky Derby (G1), “but I think we’re mostly set on just trying to get to Preakness. I think it would be a big stretch just with the time we lost to make the Derby, but he’s always been a nice, handy horse.”
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Dynamic Asset debuted with a two-length maiden claiming victory going five furlongs July 29 in the slop at Laurel, then returned to beat winners in an entry-level optional claiming allowance Sept. 15 at six furlongs. He missed the rest of the year with a minor issue but returned to training late last month and has been working steadily for his return.
“He’s ready and he’s as fit as we can get him. He needs to get a race under his belt and at this time of year for a 3-year-old who’s already won an a-other-than, you don’t have any other options,” Gaudet said. “I think somebody would probably nab him if we ran him for the tag and other than that, everything else is 3-year-olds trying to stretch out going a mile. If that’s the route that we want to take we kind of have to do it.”
Having success with Dynamic Asset is particularly sentimental for Gaudet, who first started training in 2007 and joined forces with her mother in 2016. Eddie Gaudet passed away Jan. 4 at the age of 87.
“From the day Dynamic came in, he’s just been a super cool horse. He was the first 2-year-old to come into the barn since we’ve traveled down this road. After we had success with John Jones in the claiming field, this was the next journey we wanted to take – to have a nice 2-year-old,” Lacey Gaudet said. “He did everything right as a 2-year-old and he’s come back bigger and stronger. Hopefully he can have a great 3-year-old campaign.”
John Jones won six races, three in stakes, since being claimed for $25,000 in July 2016, most recently finishing third after being bumped at the start of the Native Dancer Jan. 27 at Laurel. Gaudet drew a comparison between the gelded 6-year-old son of Smarty Jones – who also sired Concealed Identity – and Dynamic Asset.
“He’s a lot like John Jones. He eats up my social media feed because his ears are always up. He’s always paying attention, he’s always interested in his job, he loves to go out there and train,” she said. “We were happy with his performances just because he’s such a cool horse, not because we hoped he be that nice. It’s not that he showed us anything too impressive. Concealed Identity was that way.
“We always joked the only reason we ran Concealed Identity for maiden special weight was because it was the only race at that time that was eligible for the Maryland-bred bonus,” she added. “He wasn’t an impressive horse in the morning. It’s nice to kind of have those horses. They don’t do too much to exhaust themselves in the morning. They kind of know what they’re supposed to do and save it for the afternoon. I hope he continues on with the performances that he had as a 2-year-old. He’s definitely a barn favorite.”
