Midnight Bisou works five furlongs in company under Mike Smith

ARCADIA, Calif. – One week after a deliberately slow half-mile work in her return to Santa Anita, Midnight Bisou turned it up a notch early Monday morning.

The early favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Midnight Bisou worked a solid five furlongs in company and answered a key question – how will she handle a surface that is slower than when she last raced at Santa Anita a year and a half ago?

“She likes this track,” jockey Mike Smith said after the workout. “She handled it really good. Not too many do. She just cruised.”

Working at 6:40 a.m. under cloud cover in near-darkness, while trainer Steve Asmussen and co-owner Jeff Bloom watched from the grandstand, Midnight Bisou and workmate Comedian broke off together and raced as a team to the wire. The work time was 1:01.60.

Midnight Bisou was on her toes leaving the track, and appeared happy and content while cooling out afterward. Asmussen was likewise.

“It’s very comforting to get her out here and [work with] Mike – who’s so familiar with her, and so familiar with the racetrack,” Asmussen said. “With the racetrack, and the changes, we want her to be comfortable.”

Smith is Midnight Bisou’s regular race rider, but Monday was the first time he worked her since she was transferred to Asmussen early last year. Since then, Santa Anita deliberately slowed the main track.

While some horses, such as Midnight Bisou, handle slower going, others do not. Midnight Bisou, who returned to Santa Anita on Sept. 30, handled the track perfectly on Monday, while working much faster than her 51.60-second work a week earlier.

She still has two more works to complete and nine furlongs to race to extend her unbeaten 2019 campaign to eight races by winning the BC Distaff on Nov. 2. The way Midnight Bisou worked on Monday, she seems to be right at home.