Churchill Downs Press Release
LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm and Whispering Oaks Farm’s brilliant 5 ¼-length maiden winner Booth is set to make his stakes debut against eight 2-year-olds that entered Saturday’s third running of the $225,000 Ed Brown Stakes at Churchill Downs.
The 6 ½ furlong Ed Brown is slated as Race 9 of 12 with a post time of 4:57 p.m.
Saturday’s Stars of Tomorrow II program features all 2-year-old races and the Ed Brown is one of four stakes contests on the card. The co-featured races are the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) and $400,000 Golden Rod (GII). The Ed Brown’s counterpart, the $225,000 Fern Creek for 2-year-old fillies, will complete the stakes action.
Booth, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, dazzled in his Oct. 7 debut at Keeneland at odds of 5-1. The 2-year-old son of champion sprinter Mitole earned a stout 92 Brisnet Speed Rating for his victory. The runner-up in that race, Nash, returned Nov. 12 at Churchill Downs to break his maiden by 10 ¼ lengths and earn a 97 Brisnet Speed Rating. Booth will be ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr. from post No. 9.
The Ed Brown field in order of post-position (with jockey and trainer): Bowstreet (Gerardo Corrales, Paulo Lobo); Agoo (Declan Cannon, Whit Beckman); Molly’s Town (Fernando De La Cruz, Genaro Garcia); Gabarra (Luis Saez, Joe Sharp); Bye Bye Liam (Jose Ortiz, Asmussen); Normandy Hero (Alex Achard, Rodolphe Brisset); Just Steel (Joel Rosario, Wayne Lukas); Divieto (Tyler Gaffalione, Antonio Sano); and Booth (Santana, Asmussen).
