HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Booth backed up a meet-best Beyer Speed Figure performance from last month with a stakes victory Saturday in the Grade 3, $250,000 Whitmore at Oaklawn Park. He set the pace throughout in the six-furlong race for 4-year-olds and up for a 2 1/4-length win over Giant Mischief. It was another 3 1/2 lengths back in third to Tejano Twist. The Whitmore – named for the champion sprinter – was the final local stepping stone to the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap. It was run before an estimated ontrack crowd of 35,000, according to numbers provided by Oaklawn. Booth established himself as the fastest horse at the current Oaklawn meet based on Beyers last month, when he earned a 105 winning the Commodore overnight stakes on Feb. 24. He covered six furlongs in a blazing 1:08.64 under Erik Asmussen, who was aboard again Saturday for his father, trainer Steve Asmussen. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “He ran huge,” Erik Asmussen said in a post-race interview conducted by Oaklawn. “Props to my dad getting him ready. He was acting great, did everything right.” Booth ($7)  broke on top and set fractions of 22.13 seconds for the opening quarter and 45.18 for the half-mile before going on to cover the distance on a fast track in 1:09.79. It was the first graded win for the son of Mitole and for Erik Asmussen, who in January picked up the Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice jockey of 2024. Erik Asmussen, who his now a journeyman, also thanked the ownership group for supporting him from the start of his career. Booth is a son of champion sprinter Mitole who races for Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm and Whispering Oaks Farm. Booth was Erik Asmussen’s third straight winner on the card, after he took the eighth with Jackman ($10.40) and the ninth with She’s a Dreamer ($11.80). Booth, who is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Bright Future and Grade 2 winner Musical Mischief, has now won 5 of 9 starts for earnings of $476,191. Earlier on the card, Where’s My Ring ($6.80) romped by 12 1/4 lengths in a first-level allowance route for fillies and mares. Last year, she won the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct.   *Apprentice Tyler Bacon won the first three races on the card Saturday.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.