Midnight Bisou scores at 1-20 in Molly Pitcher

OCEANPORT, N.Y. – Midnight Bisou won her fifth race without a loss this year in the Grade 3, $150,000 Molly Pitcher Stakes at Monmouth Park on Saturday.

A 1-20 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, Midnight Bisou was using the Molly Pitcher to tune-up for the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign, a 1 1/8-mile race at Saratoga on Aug. 24.

Midnight Bisou was hemmed in along the rail behind early leaders Coach Rocks and Cosmic Burst. Jockey Mike Smith stayed to the rail in the stretch and Midnight Bisou shot through a narrow opening in midstretch under an enthusiastic hand ride. She went on to win by a length over Coach Rocks, who was clearly second best.

The Molly Pitcher was the eighth race on the Monmouth card but instead of going off at 3:27 p.m. was delayed to 6:27 p.m. as Monmouth management canceled six races Saturday and pushed back post time on the afternoon’s six stakes because of the ongoing heat wave in the Northeast.

Midnight Bisou is trained by Steve Asmussen.

“Her race today was beautiful,” Asmussen said. “The hard part was us showing patience. We were very anxious. She’s a very special filly and you want everything to go well. But she was great in the post parade, beautiful in the gate, and she traveled very well under Mike the whole way and finished very well.

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“Pure professionals overcome obstacles. She’s better equipped to handle them than the people.”

The top-ranked filly or mare in North America, Midnight Bisou came into the Molly Pitcher off wins in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps and Grade 1 Apple Blossom. She paid $2.10 across the board and had $498,000 of the $534,000 show pool riding on her. Midnight Bisou was timed in 1:43.55.

Cosmic Burst was third, 5 1/4 lengths behind Coach Rocks.

Oceanport: Just Howard holds off Divisidero

Just Howard stalked the early leaders in the four-horse Oceanport Stakes, wheeled outside horses for the stretch run, then held off Divisidero by a head after a spirited battle in the Grade 3 turf race.

Jevian Toledo, the rider of Divisidero, lodged an objection against Just Howard and jockey Trevor McCarthy for interference in the stretch, but the stewards ruled there would be no change. Just Howard may have come out and made light contact with Divisidero entering the final furlong of the 1 1/16-mile race.

Just Howard, who is trained by Graham Motion, paid $5.40 and was timed in 1:42.62 over firm turf in the $150,000 race. Bird’s Eye View finished third, 1 1/2 lengths behind Divisidero.

“My horse showed nice determination in the stretch,” Motion said. “He’s a cool horse and he deserved a win. He’s been sitting on a win for a long time. It was a nerve-wracking day but we got through it.”

Wolf Hill: Justaholic wins stretch battle

Justaholic won a stretch-long duel with Fig Jelly to take the $75,000 Wolf Hill by a length.

The Wolf Hill, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint, was hand-timed in 1:01.39.

Justaholic, who is based at Monmouth with trainer Thomas Clark, paid $5 as the favorite in the eight-horse field. The Wolf Hill was the second win on the card for jockey Jose Ferrer, who returned to the saddle Friday after a 12-day injury-related layoff.

Mai Ty One On finished third, 2 3/4 lengths behind pacesetting Fig Jelly.