2025.03.12 Oaklawn Racing Updates

Racing Press Release
Compiled by Robert Yates

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Booth joined Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen’s Oaklawn “1:08 Club” last month. Now, Booth will try to give Asmussen another Oaklawn stakes victory in Saturday’s six-furlong $250,000 Whitmore (G3) for older horses.

The Whitmore – named for the seven-time Oaklawn stakes winner and 2020 champion male sprinter – headlines an 11-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. (Central). Probable post time for the Whitmore, the 10th race, is 5:17 p.m. Booth is the 3-1 program favorite.

Booth exits a breakout performance in the inaugural $145,000 Commodore Overnight Stakes for older horses at six furlongs Feb. 24, when he demolished five rivals by 4 ¾ front-running lengths under the trainer’s son, Erik Asmussen.

Booth rocketed out of the starting gate and blazed through a :44.98 half-mile before stopping the clock in a meet-best 1:08.64 over a fast track. Booth earned a career-high 105 Beyer Speed Figure. The Commodore was the first career Oaklawn stakes victory for Asmussen and the record-extending 117th overall in Hot Springs for his father.

“He was flying,” said Erik Asmussen, the 2024 Eclipse Award winner as North America’s champion apprentice jockey. “I’m telling you, he was flying every step of the way.”

Booth became the eighth Asmussen horse to register a six-furlong victory at Oaklawn in under 1:09, following Majesticperfection, Mitole, Town Champ, Volatile, Strike Power, Gunite and Skelly. Mitole did it twice, running 1:08.41 – fastest for an Asmussen trainee to date at Oaklawn – in a nine-length romp in the $150,000 Bachelor Stakes for 3-year-olds in 2018.

Booth, then 2, dazzled in his October 2023 career debut at Keeneland, but fizzled in three subsequent stakes tries (all fifth-place finishes), including the inaugural $145,000 Byerley Turk Overnight for older horses at six furlongs Jan. 23 at Oaklawn. The Commodore was a restricted event (horses that hadn’t won a stakes race, other than state-bred).

Perhaps the most interested Commodore spectator was William Heiligbrodt, among the most successful owners in Oaklawn history. The Texan races Booth with wife Corinne, Jackpot Farm (Terry Green) and Whispering Oaks Farm (Carrol Castille).

William Heiligbrodt said the Feb. 24 visit was his first to Oaklawn since Mitole won the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older horses at 6 furlongs in April 2019.

“Wanted to watch that horse,” Heiligbrodt said of Booth. “He finally got a fast track.”

Booth, 4, is from the first crop of Mitole, a 2019 Eclipse Award winner for the Heiligbrodts as North America’s champion male sprinter. Mitole was also North America’s leading first-crop sire of 2023. The Heiligbrodts, in partnership with Jackpot Farm, purchased Booth for $225,000 at the 2023 OBS March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in training.

“He ran a (96) his first race at Keeneland,” William Heiligbrodt said, referring to Booth’s Beyer Speed Figure. “He was as fast as Mitole. His mother has an unbelievable pedigree.”

Booth is out of Sophia’s Song, a stakes-winning daughter of Bellamy Road who, in foal to sprint champion Jackie’s Warrior,

sold for $1,350,000 in 2023 at Fasig-Tipton’s November Sale. Booth is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Bright Future. Booth’s second dam, Dreamscape, is a full sister to two-time sprint champion Housebuster, a 2013 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Erik Asmussen said his milestone victory aboard Booth carried added significance because it came for the Heiligbrodts.

“It’s really special,” Asmussen said. “They’ve always supported me, ever since I started riding. They have over a thousand winners with my dad as a trainer. So, to be with them in the winner’s circle is super cool.”

Asmussen’s older brother, jockey Keith Asmussen, also scored his first career Oaklawn stakes victory aboard a horse trained by his father and owned by the Heiligbrodts in Ryvit, who captured the 2023 Bachelor. Ryvit finished third as the favorite in last year’s Whitmore.

Ryvit prepped for the Whitmore with a two-length allowance victory in February 2024 at Oaklawn. Ryvit was fast that day, covering 6 furlongs in a sharp 1:09.92. What turned out to be Booth’s Whitmore prep was faster. Much, much faster.

“Best race’s he run since first time out at Keeneland,” Steve Asmussen said. “Glad to see him put it together. Obviously, he likes the racetrack firm and, hopefully, the next time we run him, we get something similar.”

Overall, Booth has a 4-0-0 record from eight starts and earnings of $333,691.

The nine-horse Whitmore field from the rail out: Tejano Twist, Tyler Bacon to ride, 124 pounds, 7-2 on the morning line; Happy Is a Choice, Ramon Vazquez, 124, 4-1; Giant Mischief, Cristian Torres, 124, 5-1; Booth, Erik Asmussen, 124, 3-1; Jaxon Traveler, Keith Asmussen, 124, 10-1; Glengarry, Francisco Arrieta, 121, 20-1; Miles Ahead, Colby Hernandez, 124, 8-1; Closethegame Sugar, Julien Leparoux, 121, 9-2; and Durante, Ricardo Santana Jr., 124, 20-1.

Tejano Twist won the 2023 Whitmore for trainer Chris Hartman before finishing second, beaten a nose by Jaxon Traveler, in last year’s edition.

The Whitmore is Oaklawn’s final major prep for the six-furlong $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) April 12.

Four of a Kind

Rafael Bejarano rode four winners Sunday to set an Oaklawn career high and also became the second jockey at the 2024-2025 meeting to reach $3 million in purse earnings.

Bejarano won the first race aboard favored Man in the Can ($6) for trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs, second race aboard To too Twentytwo ($7.20) for Moquett, fifth race aboard favored Edistrudis ($3.80) for trainer Cipriano Contreras and the seventh race aboard favored Money Supply ($4.20) for trainer Joe Sharp.

Bejarano previously recorded six riding triples at Oaklawn, the last coming April 27, 2004. Bejarano, one of the winningest riders in North American history, had a career-high seven winners on a single card March 12, 2004, at Turfway Park. He is in his third season as an Oaklawn regular.

Bejarano has 36 victories in 2024-2025 at Oaklawn – second only to two-time reigning champion Cristian Torres – and $3,053,366 in purse earnings. Torres has 43 victories and a meet-high $3,578,991 in purse earnings.

Finish Lines

Racing resumes Friday at Oaklawn. First post is 12:30 p.m. (Central). … Trainer Cipriano Contreras recorded his 100th career Oaklawn victory with favored Edistrudis ($3.80) in Sunday’s fifth race. Contreras saddled his first Oaklawn winner in 2017 and won 22 races last season to finish in a sixth-place tie in the standings. He has 11 victories this season. … Entries will be accepted and post positions drawn Sunday for two stakes races March 22 at Oaklawn – $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) for older horses at nine furlongs and the $175,000 Purple Martin for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs.