Midnight Bisou sharp working in company for Personal Ensign

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The champion Midnight Bisou worked a strong six furlongs in 1:12.69 Monday morning over Saratoga’s main track, her last serious move before she seeks a repeat victory in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes here on Aug. 1.

Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. was aboard Midnight Bisou, who was the among the first on the track shortly after 5:30 a.m. Going in company with Tenfold, Midnight Bisou broke off at the five-furlong pole and went her opening three furlongs in 35.72 seconds. She hit the wire in 59.78 and with Santana asking the five-time Grade 1 winner just a touch, she got her last furlong in 12.91 while pulling away from Tenfold. Midnight Bisou galloped out seven furlongs in 1:25.78.

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“It’s amazing the consistency and the form that she has, and her willingness to continue to want to do this is overly impressive,” said Scott Blasi, the assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. “Steve wanted a good work in her today. The boys did a great job. They were off perfect, finished up well, and galloped out strong. Watching her work on this surface, it’s more favorable than last year’s. She seemed to get over it really well.”

Saratoga’s main track was refurbished over the winter and spring, and, according to Glen Kozak, NYRA’s senior vice president of operations, the track should be more similar to the downstate surfaces at Belmont and Aqueduct.

Though Santana worked Midnight Bisou, Blasi and Jeff Bloom (via text) indicated no decision has been made on who will ride Midnight Bisou in the Personal Ensign. Mike Smith is Midnight Bisou’s regular rider but he is not in Saratoga and, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only jockeys who have been based here since the meet began are eligible to ride at Saratoga.

John Velazquez rode Midnight Bisou to victory in the Beldame last September at Belmont Park when Smith was riding McKinzie in the Awesome Again at Santa Anita.

Tenfold, who won the Jim Dandy here in 2018, is nominated to both the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 1 and the Alydar on Aug. 8. He has not won since taking the Grade 3 Pimlico Special in May 2019.

Shortly after Midnight Bisou and Tenfold finished their workouts, Echo Town and Shoplifted went five furlongs in 59.56 seconds together in preparation for the Grade 1, $300,000 H. Allen Jerkens on Aug. 1. With Santana on Echo Town and working outside of Shoplifted, the pair went in splits of 23.46 seconds and 47.21, got their last eighth in 12.45, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.68, also over the main track.

“They were solid to the wire, galloped out extremely well,” Blasi said. “Both of them seem to be thriving up here.”

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Later in the morning, Volatile, who has been dominant in two starts this year, blew out three furlongs in 37.36 seconds over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for his graded stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt.

“We’re just trying to keep it in him right now, “ Blasi said. “He had a solid work in a minute last week on the main track. We weren’t looking for much today.”

Volatile, a 4-year-old son of Violence, is coming an eight-length victory in the Aristides Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 6, for which he earned a 112 Beyer Speed Figure.

A five-horse field is expected for the Vanderbilt, including two-time Saratoga Grade 1 winner Mind Control, who is the 123-pound co-highweight with Grade 1 Forego winner Whitmore. Firenze Fire was assigned 122 pounds followed by Volatile at 121 and Lexitonian at 118.

Diamond Oops was the runner-up in last year’s Vanderbilt, but is not coming in for this race. Instead, trainer Patrick Biancone is looking at the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar on Aug. 1.