Kentucky HBPA’s Marty Maline Reflects on John Asher

John Asher (Photo courtesy Churchill Downs)

Marty Maline, longtime executive director of the Kentucky HBPA, which represents owners and trainers at the state’s five Thoroughbred tracks, knew John Asher for almost 40 years, including both men attended Sunday Mass on the Churchill Downs backside during the track’s race meets. His thoughts on John’s passing:

“We’d always stop and trade stories. John would always ask what was going on with the HBPA, and I’d always ask what was going on with him. Everyone who knew him, you felt he was one of your best friends. He was such an engaging guy. I know going to those Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners dinners the week before the Derby, they’d always invite John to give his perspective on that year’s Derby and he’d go down all the horses and his thoughts. Any who wasn’t totally enthusiastic about Derby would be after listening to John. Just a very genuine individual.

“It wasn’t the work that John did — it’s how he did it, that enthusiasm he brought to Churchill, the Derby and everything else. He brought racing to the masses.

“He always said the right thing, in the right way and right context, no matter the situation. I remember in the wake of Eight Belles (fatal injury after the filly finished second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby). They put Larry Jones on the chopping block; people attacked him running Eight Belles against colts in the Derby. Finally somebody decided, ‘Maybe we ought to have John give his take on it.’ And it brought things back to center in the way he explained it.

“He understood the big picture and understood horsemen and fully appreciated that horsemen are equal partners with the racetrack in putting on racing. He was one of those guys who made everyone feel comfortable in talking with him. He could get horsemen to really communicate, even the guys who rarely talked. John could make them talk because they felt comfortable with him, like talking to your friend.

“One thing that’s easy for us in racing to forget is how accomplished John was as a journalist, with those five Eclipse Awards for outstanding radio coverage, and also how involved he was with the community. Not just in racing, but everyone in Louisville, Kentucky and beyond feel his loss.”