Tejano Twist Among High-Quality Field in Whitmore

Nine of the Midwest's top sprinters, all stakes winners, will line up March 15 to compete for the winner's share of a $250,000 prize in the Whitmore Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park. Despite the high quality, every contender knows to win the six-furlong contest, they'll have to withstand the late charge of JD Thoroughbreds and Joey Keith Davis' Tejano Twist .

The son of Practical Joke   always tends to run his best when traveling over the Oaklawn dirt, sporting a record of 4-5-1 from 10 starts with three stakes victories in Hot Springs, Ark. The Chris Hartman trainee won this race in 2023 and just missed a repeat victory when a nose short of Jaxon Traveler  in 2024. He teams up with apprentice jockey Tyler Bacon for the first time from the rail position

West Point Thoroughbreds' Jaxon Traveler is also back this year as he bids for repeat Whitmore success. The 7-year-old son of Munnings   sits at 10-1 on the morning line despite riding a four-race win streak that includes stakes wins at Remington Park, Zia Park, and Sunland Park at the same six-furlong distance. Keith Asmussen gains the mount for his Hall of Fame father, Steve.

Steve Asmussen is also the trainer of 3-1 morning-line favorite Booth . The 4-year-old son of Mitole   has always held big expectations since his impressive maiden score at Keeneland in 2023 but had been unable to carry that form into stakes company.

That misfortune was finally reversed Feb. 24 when the chestnut colt owned by William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm, and Whispering Oaks Farm posted a 119 Equibase Speed Figure for six furlongs in 1:08.64 while winning the Commodore Overnight Stakes at the same track and distance he'll see Saturday.

The Commodore was the first career Oaklawn stakes victory for jockey Erik Asmussen.

"He was flying," said the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice rider of 2024, who is now a journeyman. "I'm telling you, he was flying every step of the way."

Booth, 4, is from the first crop of Mitole, a 2019 Eclipse Award winner for the Heiligbrodts and Asmussen as North America's champion male sprinter. Mitole, standing at Spendthrif Farm, was North America's leading first-crop sire of 2023 and was the third-ranked crop sire of last year. The Heiligbrodts, in partnership with Jackpot Farm, purchased Booth for $225,000 from the 2023 Ocala Breeders Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds In Training.

Booth is out of Sophia's Song, a stakes-winning daughter of Bellamy Road. He is related to two graded stakes winners, including grade 1 winner Bright Future  . 

The field also features the return of Adam Rice and Sugar Diaz's Closethegame Sugar , one of the nation's top sprinters in 2024 who has been off since a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes at Churchill Downs in September.