Booth, Concrete Glory to Throw Down in Maryland Sprint

The $150,000 Maryland Sprint Stakes (G3) cannot compete with the $1 million Churchill Downs Stakes (G1)—run two weeks earlier at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day at seven furlongs—for purse or prestige. But the May 17 Maryland Sprint on Preakness Stakes day has something else to lure quick horses to Pimlico Race Course: its six-furlong distance. Two of Saturday's favorites—Booth and Concrete Glory—are speedsters, highly effective when racing three-quarters of a mile. Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm, and Whispering Oaks Farm's Booth brings a three-race win streak into the Maryland Sprint, having rattled off victories at six furlongs at Oaklawn Park in the Feb. 24 Commodore Overnight Stakes, the March 15 Whitmore Stakes (G3), and the April 12 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3). Those efforts improved his six-furlong record to 5-for-7 and his overall mark to 6-for-10. Booth was a $225,000 purchase from the 2023 Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. He is quick, just as his sire Mitole was for the Heiligbrodts and trainer Steve Asmussen. Mitole won the Eclipse Award as champion male sprinter in 2019, and he is now one of the leading third-crop stallions in the country, standing at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. "We chose to come (to Pimlico) because the race fits in the middle of his long-term plan. He needs a good race, and that's a good one. We've won a lot of races there," Bill Heiligbrodt said. "He's a pretty exciting horse. The numbers he's been running have been really, really good." Since 2017, two eventual Eclipse Award winners have won the Maryland Sprint, though in years preceding their Eclipse Award and Breeders' Cup Sprint-winning success. Whitmore captured the 2017 Maryland Sprint, three years before his championship season in 2020, and two years ago, Straight No Chaser scored in the Maryland Sprint. Straight No Chaser is the reigning champion male sprinter. Asmussen's son, Erik, retains the mount on Booth. "He knows the horse. Steve and I have been together a long time, back to the '70s, and I was around when the boys were born, so they're kind of special to me," Heiligbrodt said. "I think Erik's an especially good, aggressive rider. For his age and what he's done he's very, very good. This horse runs for him." Booth carries 126 pounds in the Maryland Sprint Stakes, spotting his rivals from 4-6 pounds. While Booth last raced in Arkansas, Concrete Glory heads to Maryland from Florida, where he won an allowance optional claiming race Jan. 12 before a runner-up finish in the Feb. 22 Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Like Booth, Concrete Glory often dares his rivals to catch him from the start. A $6,250 claim in December 2022 by Joseph and Big Frank Stable, Concrete Glory soon afterward developed into a starter allowance standout. The 6-year-old son of Bodemeister is a 15-time winner from 35 career starts. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides the gelding, who is in pursuit of his first stakes victory. Besides Booth, other stakes winners in the seven-horse Maryland Sprint include Prince of Jericho, Celtic Contender, Ninetyprcentmaddie, and Epic Ride. As part of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series, the Maryland Sprint Stakes will award $30,000 to the winner, $15,000 to the runner-up, and $7,500 to the third-place finisher to apply toward entry fees for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar.