Tag: Midnight Bourbon

Midnight Bourbon finished a game third in February's Saudi Cup, the 13th and final time in 16 races he finished in the money. The 4-year-old Tiznow colt died suddenly in his Churchill Downs stall Sunday. (Image: Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia/Mahmoud Khamed)

Gritty Stakes-Placer Midnight Bourbon Dies Suddenly in His Stall

Midnight Bourbon, a presence in some of the biggest races of the last 17 months, died suddenly in his Churchill Downs stall due to what Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen called “an acute gastrointestinal situation.” The Tiznow colt was 4. The Daily Racing Form reported that Midnight Bourbon breezed […]

Life Is Good works out this week before Saturday's $12 million Dubai World Cup. He is the 4/5 international morning line favorite. (Image: Erika Rasmussen)

Life Is Good Leads Strong American Parade Into Dubai World Cup

The Dubai World Cup features Life Is Good and his better-than-good speed, Hot Rod Charlie and his better-than-good tenacity, Country Grammer and his better-than-good ability at this distance and Midnight Bourbon and his better-than-good money finishes. All competing for a better-than-great $12 million purse at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. Post […]

Wigoberto Ramos celebrates a 99/1 upset aboard Emblem Road in the Saudi Cup. He may follow Americans Country Grammer and Midnight Bourbon to the Dubai World Cup in March. (Image: Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia/Mathea Kelley

Dubai the Next Destination for Country Grammer, Midnight Bourbon

It’s off to Dubai for Country Grammer and Midnight Bourbon, back to the US for Mandaloun and Art Collector and a roving question mark for Emblem Road and Mishriff. This is the post-Saudi Cup itinerary for several of the principals of the third edition of the world’s richest horse race, according to […]

Mandaloun, seen here holding off rival Midnight Bourbon to win January's Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds, is the 5/2 favorite to win the third running of the Group 1 Saudi Cup, the world's richest race. (Image: Hodges Photography/Amanda Hodges Weir)

Horseplayers Get Plenty of Familiarity In This Year’s Saudi Cup

When handicapping the Saudi Cup, your typical first inclination is to lock in on the familiar. After all, it’s a race offering the unfamiliar in an unfamiliar-to-North American-bettors site. Two years ago, in the first iteration of the $20 million race, it was the familiar site of Maximum Security crossing […]

After winning last year's Saudi Cup, Mishriff can set a career earnings record with a victory in Saturday's Group 1 $20 million race. (Image: Coady Photography)

Mishriff Returns to Saudi Cup With Eyes On a Monster Prize

Should Mishriff conquer his outside post, the formidable presence of Mandaloun and the 12 other rivals stalking shares of the $20 million Saudi Cup purse, he’ll become the highest earning horse in Thoroughbred racing history. Read that sentence back. Should Mishriff defend his Saudi Cup title, the 5-year-old Irish-bred, British-trained […]

Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz Racetrack and the Saudi Cup open this week's Cross Country Pick 5. (Image: Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia/Neville Hopwood)

Saudi Cup Opens This Week’s International Cross Country Pick 5

The $20 million Saudi Cup, a.k.a. the world’s richest race, opens this week’s opportunity for horseplayers to get rich via the New York Racing Association’s Cross Country Pick 5. This week’s five-race sequence takes on a cross-global flavor. It features races from the home of the Saudi Cup — King Abdulaziz Racetrack […]

Midnight Bourbon hasn't won a race in 13 months. But trainer Steve Asmussen thinks the 4-year-old Tiznow colt is due for a breakout year. (Image: Coady Photography)

Hard-Luck Midnight Bourbon Tries for Redemption Again at Saudi Cup

Steve Asmussen hasn’t missed a beat when it comes to talking up Midnight Bourbon to anyone who will listen. And given what the heretofore snakebit colt has done to bettors, avid listeners are becoming harder and harder to find. “The only time he’s missed the break in his life was […]

Mandaloun finished second to Medina Spirit in last year's controversial Kentucky Derby. He takes on rival Midnight Bourbon for the sixth time in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds Saturday. (Image: Coady Photography)

Cue Round Six for Mandaloun, Midnight Bourbon in Louisiana Stakes

The Louisiana Stakes, starring Mandaloun vs. Midnight Bourbon, sounds like deja vu all over again. And again. And again. And again. And, yes, again. This latest duel — the sixth between the newly minted 4-year-olds and 2021 Triple Crown rivals — returns the pair to Fair Grounds and the $150,000 […]

Steve Asmussen won a record five races on Churchill Downs' Thanksgiving Day card. (Image: Coady Photography)

Asmussen Bags Record Five Wins on Churchill Downs’ Thanksgiving Card

In August, Steve Asmussen took the mantle as North America’s winningest career trainer. On Thanksgiving Day, he went from macro record-setter to micro record-setter, winning what is believed to be a record five races on one card at Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs officials said records prior to 1991 are incomplete, […]

Midnight Bourbon comes into Friday's Grade 1 Clark at Churchill Downs with five runners-up finishes. That includes this Travers Stakes outing in August. (Image: Anne M. Eberhardt)

Clark Stakes Provides A Juicy Grade 1 Opportunity for Familiar Names

The Grade 1 Clark Stakes provides the final opportunity for Maxfield to grab a Grade 1 win. It’s an opportunity for Midnight Bourbon to shake his seconditis and grab his first Grade 1. And it provides a great opportunity for Dr. Post and King Fury to grab validation in their […]

Hot Rod Charlie and trainer Doug O'Neill get a prime opportunity to win their first Grade 1 in Saturday's Pennsylvania Derby at Parx. (Image: Sarah Andrew)

Hot Rod Charlie and Midnight Bourbon Seek Grade 1 Glory in Penn Derby

The Pennsylvania Derby, your traditional last major 3-year-old race of the season, returns after a COVID-related year absence. And the Penn Derby returns, asking the pressing question concerning a couple of decorated sophomore runners: Will either Hot Rod Charlie or Midnight Bourbon finally get that elusive Grade 1 victory? If […]

You saw Medina Spirit and John Velazquez capture August's Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. You won't see the pair in Saturday's Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby. Trainer Bob Baffert scratched the Kentucky Derby winner after he drew an outside post. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Citing Post Draw, Baffert Scratches Medina Spirit from Penn Derby

Bob Baffert scratched Medina Spirit from Saturday’s Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Tuesday after the Kentucky Derby winner and 2/1 morning-line favorite drew an outside post that Baffert found troubling. Medina Spirit drew post 9 in the 10-horse Pennsylvania Derby field. That put his two chief competitors, Hot […]

Firenze Fire bit off more than he could chew, savaging Forego Stakes rival Yaupon in deep stretch. Yaupon survived the sudden savaging, winning as the 2/1 favorite. (Image: Skip Dickstein)

Essential Quality Leads Chalk Parade to Travers Day Winner’s Circle

On a chalky betting day where favorites beat a path to the Saratoga winner’s circle, the New York Racing Association announced an all-sources Travers Day handle of $51,381,515. That came from a paid crowd of 44,507, which generated an on-track handle of $9,406,526. This provided an obvious boost from last […]

Can anyone stop the runaway train that is Essential Quality? Six others try derailing the 4/5 favorite in Saturday's Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga. (Image: Joe Labozzetta/Coglianese Photos/NYRA)

The Travers: Can Anyone Catch History-Making Essential Quality?

Brad Cox and Essential Quality are simultaneously chasing Travers Stakes history and running from it at the same time. This counterintuitive feat illustrates Cox’s training prowess, Essential Quality’s running prowess, and the Travers’ recent prowess as a destroyer of favorites. Cox, who trains the prohibitive 4/5 favorite for Saturday’s headline […]

Essential Quality nipped Keepmeinmind to win last month's Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga. The two tangle again in Saturday's Travers Stakes, one of six Grade 1s on Saratoga's Saturday card. (Image: Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo)

Saturday at Saratoga: One of Racing’s Biggest Days of 2021

The names of those racing on Saturday’s Travers Day at Saratoga sound like a Thoroughbred all-star team: Essential Quality, Gamine, Letruska, Tribhuvan, Jackie’s Warrior, Life Is Good, Whitmore, Swiss Skydiver. All of them – and others you may have heard of – are set to run in one of Saratoga’s […]

Hot Rod Charlie (back) finished ahead of Mandaloun by the proverbial nose in Saturday's Haskell Stakes. But the 4/5 favorite was taken down moments later for interfering with Midnight Bourbon. Mandaloun was declared the winner of his first Grade 1 amid questions about New Jersey's no-crop rule. (Image: Bill Denver/EQUI-SPORT)

Controversy, Near-Catastrophe, Marks Haskell Stakes Finish

The inherent danger of riding horses combined with a controversial rule change to create a frightening finish to Saturday’s Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. Hot Rod Charlie crossed the finish line first, nipping Mandaloun by a nose. That apparently gave him his long-sought first Grade 1 victory. However, the 4/5 […]

Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie hasn't finished worse than third in his last six races. He looks for his first Grade 1 victory as the 6/5 favorite in Saturday's Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. (Image: Jamie Newell/TwinSpires.com)

A Triple Crown Placers War by the Jersey Shore Headlines Haskell Stakes

The first thought that comes to mind when you see Mandaloun, Midnight Bourbon and Hot Rod Charlie lined up as the three headliners for Saturday’s Grade 1 Haskell Stakes is that deja-vu sense of familiarity. You’ve seen these three clash repeatedly, but there’s something else about them that stands out. […]

With his Kentucky Derby-champion mount Medina Spirit out, John Velazquez will ride Rombauer in the June 5 Belmont Stakes. (Image: AP File Photo)

Velazquez Takes Rombauer’s Reins for the Belmont, No Midnight Bourbon

With no Medina Spirit, Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez will take Rombauer’s reins for the June 5 Belmont Stakes. The Daily Racing Form reported that trainer Mike McCarthy grabbed Velazquez’s services for the Belmont. He’ll take the reins from Flavien Prat, who returned to the horse he rode in […]

Malibu Moon was the grandson of one Kentucky Derby winner and the sire of another. He died of an apparent heart attack Tuesday afternoon. (Image: Spendthrift Farm)

Standout Sire Malibu Moon Dies of Apparent Heart Attack

Malibu Moon, the grandson of a Kentucky Derby winner and the sire of another one, died late Tuesday of an apparent heart attack in his Spendthrift Farm stall. He was 24. The prolific sire of 126 black-type winners and 51 graded stakes winners was one of the most influential sires […]

Midnight Bourbon could be one of only two horses to run all three 2021 Triple Crown races.(Image: AP Photo)

Belmont Stakes Field Remains in Flux as Connections Ponder Options

While the Belmont Stakes field remains an early work in progress, several trainers with possible sights on the final jewel of the Triple Crown have either indicated interest or put their horses through workouts with that June 5 race in mind. The Belmont Stakes field of possibles starts with Kentucky […]