Lecomte winner Call Me Midnight under radar approaching Louisiana Derby
Epicenter, after winning the Feb. 19 Risen Star Stakes by nearly three lengths over highly regarded Smile Happy and posting a 98 Beyer Speed Figure – among the best in his class – rose toward the top of most Kentucky Derby lists. His closing odds in Pool 4 of the Derby Future Wager, which closed March 13, were 13-1.
Epicenter in December won the Gun Runner Stakes, but in the Jan. 22 Lecomte Stakes he was beaten a nose by Call Me Midnight. Granted, Epicenter was done in by a taxing early and middle pace that aided late-running Call Me Midnight. Still, Call Me Midnight was all but ignored by future bettors, going off at 68-1 in the recently closed pool, second-longest price among 23 individually listed horses.
“That’s all right. Just to be in the Derby pool is cool,” Call Me Midnight’s trainer, Keith Desormeaux, said Sunday.
Following the Lecomte, Desmormeaux and owner Peter Cantrell elected to skip the Risen Star and aim for the March 26 Louisiana Derby. Call Me Midnight had made six starts at age 2, and though he came out of the Lecomte in good shape, Desormeaux decided spacing the colt’s races late this winter was the best plan.
“Like I said before, we’re looking at the big picture. The third race back off his short layoff would be the Kentucky Derby. This is not usually my MO – I usually run them. I see nothing wrong with running a sound young horse every three or four weeks, but in this case, we took a different angle because he had so many starts last year,” Desormeaux said.
Call Me Midnight has done well on the schedule.
“His weight is good, his coat is good,” said Desormeaux, who gave Call Me Midnight his major Louisiana Derby work on March 12. The in-company breeze on a busy morning officially was recorded as six-furlongs in 1:14. Desormeaux said the time on his watch was 1:12.80. He clocked Call Me Midnight getting his final furlong in 12.60 seconds, galloping out seven furlongs in 1:26 and one mile in about 1:42.
“That was a serious work in my book,” he said.
The Saturday work came immediately after the morning renovation break. Call Me Midnight’s break came immediately after a career-best race. “It’s working out,” his trainer said.