Midnight Bisou California bound on heels of Beldame triumph

ELMONT, N.Y. – Midnight Bisou was scheduled to ship to Southern California on Monday to continued preparations for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita where the 4-year-old mare will look to complete an undefeated season and state her case for potential Horse of the Year consideration.

Midnight Bisou won her seventh graded stakes of the year Saturday, running away from Wow Cat in the final three-sixteenths of a mile to take the Grade 2, $300,000 Beldame by 3 1/4 lengths at Belmont Park. Midnight Bisou added the Beldame to a résumé that includes Grade 1 victories in the Ogden Phipps, Personal Ensign, and Apple Blossom. She also won the Grade 2 Azeri and the Houston Ladies Classic and Molly Pitcher, both Grade 3 events. Her seven victories have come over five different tracks.

Midnight Bisou earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure for the Beldame, a drop of 13 points from her win in the Personal Ensign.

“So, if I separate myself from being the owner, I don’t know how you wouldn’t include her as one of the leading candidates for Horse of the Year comparing what she’s done and what some of the others haven’t done,” said Jeff Bloom, whose Bloom Racing owns Midnight Bisou in partnership with Madaket Stables and Allen Racing.

Bloom believes that top older male McKinzie losing Saturday’s Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita “helps our position.”

Bloom said the Breeders’ Cup Distaff has been the primary goal for Midnight Bisou since the beginning of the year. Bloom said there are no plans to also pre-enter the Classic and a possible start against males.

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“It’s not like we even had that conversation,” said Bloom, referring to himself and trainer Steve Asmussen. “All along, at the start of the season it was ‘Let’s win the Distaff and how do we do that?’ At this point, we’ll ship out and train up to the Distaff as best we can.”

Bloom said the prospects of having a horse complete an undefeated season hit him Saturday after the Beldame.

“It kind of hit me after the race yesterday, when she held that win streak intac,t if she did complete an undefeated season that she’d really be in the space of the really good ones,” Bloom said. “To take down eight graded stakes in one season, it would really mean a lot.”

To date, Midnight Bisou has a record of 12-3-3 from 18 starts and she has earned $3,410,000.