Glatt's gamble on Magic At Midnight paying off

ARCADIA, Calif. – One could spend hundreds of thousands on a yearling filly that might someday win a Grade 3 turf sprint, or tens of thousands to claim a maiden with the same chance.

Regardless of who wins the Senator Ken Maddy Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, it turns out that Jo Jo Air and Magic At Midnight both were bargains.

Jo Jo Air, a $325,000 Scat Daddy filly with two stakes wins to secure residual value, returns for the Maddy. Her chief rival in the turf sprint is speedster Magic At Midnight, claimed first out for $30,000. Now 4 for 4, she has earned $90,000 since claimed.

The field also includes comebacker An Eddie Surprise, a stakes winner working well for her first start since removal of a bone chip. Others are Biddy Duke, Lakerball, Aqua Seaform Shame, and Zee Drop.

Wesley Ward trains Jo Jo Air, who arrived Monday from Keeneland to aim for a second California stakes win. She won the Daisycutter Handicap in July at Del Mar.

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Jo Jo Air subsequently misfired, with an excuse. Odds-on at Pimlico, she did not handle the “yielding” course and finished sixth. The 4-for-12 filly benefits from firm ground Saturday and figures for an inside trip just off the pace. Flavien Prat is her rider.

But the most likely winner of the Maddy is fleet-footed Magic At Midnight, who has not been headed in four starts and is making her stakes debut. Her class ascent is as unlikely as the story behind her acquisition.

Closing day of the 2019 summer meet at Los Alamitos was July 14, and most horsemen already had relocated to Del Mar. But trainer Mark Glatt had action at Los Al, and drove up to saddle four runners. He also was looking for something to claim.

Glatt’s interest was piqued by an unraced Midnight Lute 3-year-old filly, owned by her breeders and entered for $30,000. Glatt remembered her dam, Magical Band. “She was a tough, gritty . . . she wasn’t a great horse, but she ran in allowance races and was kind of a nice mare around here. And I’m a big fan of Midnight Lute, especially his fillies.”

Glatt saw Magic At Midnight walk over, and thought to himself: “What the [heck] is she in for $30,000 for? She looks like a stakes horse. So now I’m thinking, she must have something wrong with her. I called the guys up and said, ‘We should gamble.’ ”

Glatt dropped the claim for owner Joe Moran and family, and watched Magic At Midnight win by 13 lengths. She is lightly raced, and has not lost yet.

“If I didn’t have to be [at Los Al] that day, it’s unlikely I would have driven up just to look at her,” Glatt said. “When you look at a first-time starter, you’re going to claim maybe one or two out of 10. You get lucky every now and then.”

Abel Cedillo rides Magic At Midnight, a large-sized filly who recently won back-to-back allowance races.