Booth and jockey Erik Asmussen have formed a special bond, and the young guns will be in action Saturday at Churchill Downs in pursuit of their fifth consecutive stakes win together in the Grade 3, $250,000 Kelly’s Landing.
Asmussen will be traveling in from his Lone Star Park base to reunite with his signature mount – and one of his best equine friends. The pair last teamed up on May 17 at Pimlico, where they won the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint.
“I’ve said it before: I hope he likes me as much as I like him,” Asmussen quipped Tuesday. “I haven’t seen him since Preakness Day. After we won, I went back to the barn and saw him and went back to Texas, and he’s been training at Churchill. I’ll be very excited to see him and go ride him.”
Asmussen and Booth have come up the ranks together. Asmussen was an apprentice jockey when he first rode Booth in December of 2024, piloting the horse to a victory off a layoff at Churchill. A month later, Asmussen took home the Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice. And the month after that, he and Booth won the Commodore Overnight Stakes at Oaklawn Park in a performance that suggested Booth might be a superior sprinter.
From there, the pair picked off the Grade 3 Whitmore in March and the Grade 3 Count Fleet in April before the Maryland Sprint to improve their record together to 5 for 6.
The whole Booth experience has been a meaningful one for Asmussen, who has long worked closely with the horse in the mornings for his father, trainer Steve Asmussen.
“He’s been my first horse ever to win a graded stakes, and he’s owned by the Heiligbrodts, who have supported me since I started riding,” Erik Asmussen said. “And if I’m being totally honest, he makes me feel really good about myself because he kind of took off with me. I realize I am nothing without a horse, and it’s all his doing, but me being a part of his career taking off, it’s something that I’m very proud of and I hope to keep it going and moving forward.”
Booth is ranked seventh among North American sprinters in Daily Racing Form’s weekly divisional ratings, which are compiled by Marcus Hersh.
Asmussen’s trip to Churchill on Saturday will be a taste of what is to come. He plans to resume riding in Kentucky on a regular basis next month after the close of the Lone Star meet.
“I am 99 percent positive I will go back to Ellis and ride at Ellis and Indiana for the summer,” he said. “I wanted to come back to Texas. This is home. I’ve shown I’ve had success in Kentucky in the past and I would love to go back and try and grow in that success. It’s extremely competitive, and it’s a place I want to be.”
Ellis Park opens July 3 and races through Aug. 24.
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