Midnight Bisou wins thrilling stretch duel in Apple Blossom

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Midnight Bisou pushed past a stubborn Escape Clause to win the Grade 1, $750,000 Apple Blossom Handicap in a classic finish Sunday at Oaklawn Park.

Midnight Bisou won by a nose to remain undefeated in three starts this year. She also went over $2 million in earnings and gave her rider, Mike Smith, a seventh win in the Apple Blossom.

Elate finished third, 2 3/4 lengths behind Escape Clause.

The Apple Blossom closed out the Racing Festival of the South, a $3.6 million collection of six stakes that ran from Friday through Sunday. Oaklawn moved the race to Sunday this year as a reminder that the season, in a new dates structure, will run through May 4.

Midnight Bisou ($3.80) settled off the pace in fifth, with Wonder Gadot jumping out to a clear lead in the 1 1/16-mile race and setting fractions of 23.07 seconds for the opening quarter and 47.08 for the half-mile on a track rated “good.” Midnight Bisou advanced three wide as Escape Clause traveled along the rail and took over through six furlongs in 1:12.12. In the stretch, the race was on between the filly and the mare.

Midnight Bisou, 4, took after Escape Clause, 5, and from the sixteenth pole to the wire, it was impossible to predict the winner. In the end, the photo went to a surging Midnight Bisou, the 122-pound highweight who gave five pounds to Grade 3 winner Escape Clause.

“Obviously, I was very anxious,” winning trainer Steve Asmussen said of the run to the wire. “It was definitely worthy of a Grade 1. It was extremely competitive and hard fought every step of the way.”

Midnight Bisou finished in 1:43.88.

“She’s just an amazing mare, and we’re just blessed to be around her,” said Asmussen, who trains Midnight Bisou for Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables, and Allen Racing.

Midnight Bisou put her name in the Oaklawn record books alongside a who’s-who list of fillies and mares who have won the Apple Blossom. The race is one of the most significant on the calendar for fillies and mares, and heading into the Apple Blossom, Midnight Bisou sat second in her division this year behind champion Monomoy Girl in rankings put out by Daily Racing Form national handicapper Mike Watchmaker.

Midnight Bisou started her season with a win in the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston in January. She proceeded to win the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri last month at Oaklawn.

Asmussen said plans for Midnight Bisou are to be determined. He said she will ship this week to his division at Churchill Downs.

“We’ll discuss with Jeff Bloom and with the ownership group what we think is best for her,” Asmussen said Sunday.

Smith’s other wins in the Apple Blossom have come with Zenyatta in 2008 and 2010; Azeri in 2002, 2003 and 2004; and Nine Keys in 1994. Asmussen also won the Apple Blossom in 2015 with Untapable.

Midnight Bisou earned $450,000 for the win Sunday. She has a record of 8 wins from 14 starts for earnings of $2,405,000.