Eyes on the prize
Keith, Darren, and Erik Asmussen with their mother Julie, wife of trainer Steve Asmussen, at the barns at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. (NTC/Richard Rodriguez)
“Forgetting all that lies behind me, and straining forward to what lies in front, I am racing towards the finishing-point to win the prize of God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13b-14).
The Asmussen family, led by Steve and Julie of Most Blessed Sacrament Parish in Arlington, knows something about finish lines — both literally and figuratively.
Steve is enshrined in the National Thoroughbred Hall of Fame for accomplishments that include being the all-time winningest trainer in North America with more than 10,000 victories.
But behind the decades of setting records and collecting trophies from Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie to Meydan Racecourse in Dubai is a family of five that lives a deeply spiritual life.
Meaningful victory
Julie explained what she and Steve teach their three sons. “Life with God is meaningful — without God it’s meaningless. To get through your trials and tribulations, you really have to have that faith. And you want to surround yourself with Jesus’ loving people, believers that rally through life with you,” she said.
Faith first
Steve grew up Catholic in Laredo. His parents raced horses at small tracks in obscure towns throughout the U.S.
“We ran at different meets every week,” Steve recalled. “No matter where we were going to race, my mom found a Catholic church and we went to church every Sunday.”
It was a firm foundation in faith — and central to dealing with the pressures of professional sport. Steve said he calls on his faith hourly. “Every day you are tested and a lot of tests I don’t pass,” he said. “My Catholic faith keeps me from giving up on myself.”
Strength in the sacraments
Steve went through a testing time in 1994, when his stable was at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. “I was in a very low place professionally and personally,” he said. “I reached out whole heartedly, was into my third novena continuously, extremely unhappy with where I was at.
“I went to confession. It was face to face and it wasn’t the normal priest. Before I felt like I’d gotten into saying anything, he said, ‘It looks like you’ve put a lot of thought into this.’
“I simply said, ‘I’m not happy with where I’m at professionally or personally and I’m struggling with this.’
“He said to me, ‘Get up tomorrow and do the best you can. You put enough of those days together and you’ll be surprised where you end up.’
“Not an alarm clock has gone off without me thinking of those words. Instead of me worrying about where I’m not or what I’m not getting done, I concentrate on what I do have in front of me. I look back on it and that was my ‘Meet God’ moment.”
Not long afterwards, the horse Valid Expectations began winning some significant races around the country for Steve, in what put his stable on the map.
What God brings together
Steve and Julie both were born in South Dakota and married there at St. Joseph in Mobridge on Feb. 4, 1997. Their relationship really took flight much earlier.
“Steve’s mom and my mom went to high school together,” Julie said. “I’ve known her since I was a little girl. And his aunt, who was postmaster in our small town of 3,000, asked me to call Steve because she just forever thought Steve and I would be wonderful together.”
Julie was a flight attendant at the time and visited Steve late in 1994. “Steve was training [in Oklahoma City] then,” she said, “so I flew there on a layover and I called him.”
Steve said from there, a few more visits ensued. “I remember giving her a ride back to the airport and telling her if you come back, ‘We’re dating,’” he said. “Somebody that beautiful, coming to visit, I’ve got to man up and ask.”
In time, the couple became engaged and Julie, who was born and raised in the Lutheran church, converted to Catholicism because Steve wanted to raise their family Catholic.
Love on the road
Travel is a staple in the Asmussen household to this day, and both Julie’s preparations to enter the Church and the couple’s preparations for marriage were conducted at racing meets by a close family friend, the late Monsignor Morgan Rowsome.
Msgr. Rowsome “would do our classes with us and then go to the races with us,” Julie recalled. “And he flew to South Dakota and married us. He’s baptized all three boys.
“Keith was baptized in Laredo. Darren was baptized in New Orleans, and Erik was baptized in the church here, Most Blessed Sacrament in Arlington.”
My three sons
Keith and Erik are professional jockeys, and Darren is an accountant for the family business. Each one said their parents have played a key part in shaping their spiritual lives. “They’ve shown me the importance of faith through just example,” said Erik, who was racing’s rookie of the year in 2024. “Horse racing is a game of such highs and lows that the consistency of having religion in your life is a necessity. They strongly encouraged it, and I saw with my two eyes the power of it and what it’s done for my life and how blessed I am.”
Trusting through troubles
Keith, who has ridden in the Kentucky Derby, said the daily devotionals and Scriptures he receives via text from his mom helped him navigate his way through a time when injuries had temporarily sidelined his career.
“When you just rely on your understanding on why things happen, or how they come to be, it’s incredibly frustrating,” he said, “so I do think there’s a lot of comfort in just trusting in His plan.”
Prayer warrior
Darren said, “Time in Scripture, prayer journaling — those are things that happen daily for me, before I sit at my desk to start working,” he said.
“My prayer for my brothers is that their identity and value is not in wins and status or numbers, but just in who God says they are. And they have inherent value because they are made in the image of God.
“My prayer is that they, and my dad, would know that they are loved — regardless if they never win another race again. They are loved by not only by me, but a Heavenly Father whose love is so much more sufficient.”
And that is being a winner in the race to eternal life.