Booth's Maryland Sprint Victory a Family Affair

For trainer Steve Asmussen, the $148,500 Maryland Sprint Stakes (G3) was truly a family affair. There in the winner's circle at Pimlico Race Course after the top-quality sprinter Booth extended his winning streak to four, all in stakes, were his parents. Then, adding to Asmussen's pride and joy, was the sight of his son Erik, sitting aboard the son of Mitole after a winning ride. Yes, the family that races together, stays together, and wins together. "People have asked, when you give (Erik) a leg up are you a parent or a trainer? And it's made me reflect," Steve Asmussen said. "I'm a trainer. So I am proud when I step away, because I am extremely difficult and demanding of everyone around me. And it's double fold when it's family for them to put up with me and listen to me. And to have your parents in the winner's circle today, I'll be sitting somewhere on a porch thinking about it." Erik Asmussen, the 2024 recipient of the Eclipse Award for the outstanding apprentice jockey, has been a key figure in Booth's ascent to the top of the sprinter ranks for owners William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm, and Whispering Oaks Farm. He has been aboard for all four wins in the current winning streak, a bundle topped by the 4-year-old's victory in the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) at Oaklawn Park. "He's making his dad proud," Steve Asmussen said of Booth, the son of Mitole, the 2019 champion male sprinter he trained for the Heiligbrodts. The speedy Booth broke sharply and when he was able to open a length lead on his four rivals after an opening quarter in :23:30, Steve Asmussen was feeling pretty good about the outcome. "When he broke well I was extremely (happy)," he said. "How hard he ran the last three times and then shipped, I was worried. But when he broke like that he was himself." A 4-5 favorite, Booth ($3.80) was chased by 3-2 second choice Epic Ride throughout but the margin was never less than a length. Final time for the six furlongs was 1:10.39. Welch Racing's Epic Ride, a son of Blame trained by John Ennis, was second by 6 3/4 lengths over Lewis Family Racing Stable's Celtic Contender, an Irish War Cry colt trained by Hamilton Smith. Concrete Glory had his head turned at the start and broke belatedly, then veered in badly and was pulled up. Asmussen ruled out the June 7 True North Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course but said he would work backwards from the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) to plot out a schedule for Booth, which works out well. Saturday's race was part of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen, which netted Booth $30,000 toward starting fees for the Nov. 1 Sprint at Del Mar. The second- and third-place finishers received a credit of $15,000 and $7,500, respectively, if they start. Bred by Clearsky Farms out of the Bellamy Road mare Sophia's Song, Booth was purchased for $225,000 at the 2023 Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training from the Wavertree Stables consignment. Third-crop sire Mitole stands for $10,000 at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington.