Booth tops big-Beyer trio in Whitmore showdown
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Booth, Happy Is a Choice, and Miles Ahead will bring some superlative Beyer Speed Figures into the Grade 3, $250,000 Whitmore on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
The six-furlong sprint for 4-year-olds and up is the final local stepping-stone to the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap here April 12.
Booth established himself as the fastest horse at the current Oaklawn meet based on Beyers, when he put up a 105 winning the Commodore overnight stakes in his most recent out Feb. 24.
“He had a breakthrough race,” trainer Steve Asmussen said.
Happy Is a Choice put up the highest Beyer of the September meet at Churchill Downs when he won the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes three starts ago with a 104.
“He’s been happily training,” trainer Johnny Ortiz said.
Miles Ahead earned the same number in his last start, winning the Thanksgiving Classic in November. It ranks as the second-highest Beyer of the current meet at Fair Grounds.
Miles Ahead became a millionaire with the win and is one of three in the race Saturday. Tejano Twist has earned $1.5 million, and Jaxon Traveler has banked $1.1 million. The Grade 3 winners are salt-of-the-earth-type sprinters.
Miles Ahead is a 14-time winner from 35 starts who races for Jay Em Ess and is trained by Paul McGee. He’s won stakes at 4, 5, 6, and 7 and has been flattered since the Thanksgiving Classic, with two runners he defeated coming back to win allowances.
Jaxon Traveler has won 10 stakes, including at least one each year since he was 2. His latest such score came last out at 7, in the Fort Bliss at Sunland Park. Jaxon Traveler will look for his fifth straight win Saturday when he defends his Whitmore title for West Point Thoroughbreds and Asmussen.
Tejano Twist won the Whitmore two years ago at 4 and was second in last year’s running at 5. He’s won six stakes overall and closed from 10 lengths back last out to capture the King Cotton for partners J D Thoroughbreds and Joey Keith Davis and trainer Chris Hartman.
Others adding depth to the nine-horse Whitmore include Giant Mischief, winner of the Fall Highweight at Aqueduct in his last start Nov. 29; Grade 3 winner Durante; and multiple stakes winners Glengarry and Closethegame Sugar.
Booth set the pace in the Commodore and went on to a clear win while covering six furlongs in blazing 1:08.64. The Beyer he earned is tied for third highest in races up to a mile this year in North America. Booth figures to again be prominent when he breaks from post 4 under Erik Asmussen.
Glengarry could push the pace along when he starts from post 6 under Francisco Arrieta, while others who could show speed include fresh runners Giant Mischief and Closethegame Sugar, and perhaps the versatile Jaxon Traveler in his first start since January.
A contested pace could set the table for Happy Is a Choice, whose tactical speed enables him to sit closer to the pace than superior closer Tejano Twist. Others with tactical speed include Miles Ahead and Durante.
The Whitmore is named for the champion sprinter who earned $4.5 million. He won three runnings of the Count Fleet at Oaklawn and four runnings of the track’s Hot Springs Stakes.
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