Call Me Midnight's rally nips Epicenter in Lecomte
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NEW ORLEANS – In the 2021 Lecomte Stakes, Santa Cruiser, ridden by James Graham for trainer Keith Desormeaux, made a decent run from the back of the field to finish fourth. In the 2022 Lecomte on Saturday at Fair Grounds, Graham and Desormeaux went several places better.
Call Me Midnight, eighth of nine bending into the second turn, rallied down the center of the track and won a photo finish over a dead-game Epicenter to land the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte.
Epicenter, the 8-5 second choice, was beaten a head and had three-quarters of a length on Pappacap, third as the 3-2 favorite.
Behind the top three came a substantial 3 1/2-length gap to Trafalgar, who turned in a solid enough performance and was followed home by Presidential, a disappointing Cyberknife, Blue Kentucky, Unified Report, and Surfer Dude.
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Winning time for 1 1/16 miles over a fast track was 1:44.36, which was .85 seconds faster than a first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds run earlier on the card over the same distance. Two 1 1/16-mile 3-year-old maiden races produced slightly slower clockings, while 4-year-old Mandaloun won the Louisiana Stakes in 1:42.52.
A wicked pace set by Epicenter helped propel Call Me Midnight to victory. Epicenter initially tracked Surfer Dude, the first quarter going in 23.40, and then took over to lead through a half-mile in 47.01, which was 1.25 seconds faster than the older horses went in the Louisiana. The tempo slowed from there, giving Call Me Midnight his chance, a fact very much present in Desormeaux’s post-race thoughts.
“Without trying to be too negative, the pace scenario is so fast, and James is just sitting on him turning for home. He should have blown by them a little stronger with that pace scenario,” Desormeaux said. “I thought he’d go by a little easier, but it took all he had to win a race that was set up perfectly for him, so I’m not going to jump over the moon yet. He beat some nice horses, it’s early, and he’s still developing, so there’s plenty to be excited about.”
Call Me Midnight paid $59 to win because the two favorites took so much money and because in his most recent start, the Nov. 27 Kentucky Jockey Club, Call Me Midnight had finished seventh, beaten 10 lengths. Call Me Midnight, by Midnight Lute out of the First Defence mare Overseen, had made steady progress before the KJC, finishing a good second to talented Giant Game in a Keeneland maiden race before winning his maiden in a Churchill one-turn mile. The maiden win came on Nov. 13 and Desormeaux hoped he’d just run Call Me Midnight back too quickly, triggering the step back in the KJC.
“We had plenty of confidence in him today, and it was the horse who was giving us confidence. He was very calm in the paddock,” Desormeaux said.
Epicenter, keyed up in the paddock but clearly blooming physically, sat off a horse winning the Gun Runner Stakes here last month, but Saturday he was undone by going too fast, too soon. He turned back Pappacap, who came up the rail to make a run at the lead in the stretch, and nearly held off the winner.
“Considering the pace of the race, the fractions, I thought he continued on well,” said Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. “He’s going to keep getting better. It was just circumstances today. It’s only January - we’re going to move forward and not worry about it too much.”
Pappacap was making his first start since a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last Nov. 4. He started from post 3 and stalked the pace from the inside, and when Epicenter came off the fence in upper stretch, Joe Bravo gave Pappacap a run up the rail, nearly reaching Epicenter before being turned away. In the Juvenile, Pappacap also found himself stuck along the rail his entire trip.
“We were third-best today, but I’d like for him one time to not be inside,” trainer Mark Casse said. "He keeps getting pinned down inside.”
Connections of the top three finishers all initially expressed an intent to run back in the Risen Star Stakes here Feb. 19.
Call Me Midnight, an $80,000 yearling purchase owned by Peter Cantrell and bred by Hartwell Farm, earned 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. Epicenter gained four, Pappacap got two, and Trafalgar earned one. Epicenter and Pappacap now top the current Derby points leaderboard with 14.
Graham, always among the leading Fair Grounds riders, missed last racing week with an illness, and two races earlier Saturday had finished a close third with favored Two Emmys in the Colonel Bradley Stakes. He gave Call Me Midnight a sweet trip, cruising into contention about three paths off the rail approaching the quarter pole and swinging wide to mow down the five rivals still in front of him.
“He settled real nice and halfway down the backside I said, ‘Oh I’m going to get a piece of this,’ ” Graham said. “He was getting to them so easy without me having to ask him, and when we turned for home, I wheeled him out and he flew.”
Graham, while acknowledging the favorable setup in his post-race glow, was willing to go a little farther than Desormeaux. “He might be the real deal, this one,” he said.