Midnight Bourbon dies suddenly at 4

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Midnight Bourbon, one of the top 3-year-olds of 2021, died suddenly Sunday morning in his stall at Churchill Downs after suffering from what his trainer, Steve Asmussen, termed “an acute gastrointestinal situation.”

Owned by the Winchell Thoroughbreds of Ron Winchell, Midnight Bourbon earned $3,557,970 from 16 career starts. The 4-year-old colt had been training at Churchill – and in fact had breezed earlier Sunday morning – after finishing third in the Feb. 26 Saudi Cup and fifth in the March 26 Dubai World Cup.

“It’s a devastating situation to the whole barn and everyone who was involved with him,” Asmussen said Wednesday. “He’s an irreplaceable horse, in more ways than one. It’s beyond sad.”

Asmussen said the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory are investigating the particulars of the death. He said Midnight Bourbon suddenly took ill after working Sunday, with the horse succumbing “around 10:30 or 11 that morning.”

Under Kentucky regulations, all horses that die at a licensed racing or training facility are required to be necropsied.

“It all came on very quickly,” said Asmussen.

Midnight Bourbon, a bay colt by Tiznow out of Catch the Moon, was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. He was purchased by Winchell for $525,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sales.

Midnight Bourbon won just twice while always keeping elite company. Last year at 3, he was second in the Louisiana Derby, Preakness, Travers, and Pennsylvania Derby, finishing his season with a third-place finish in the Clark at Churchill in November in his first try versus older horses. In his first start at 4, he was second to Mandaloun in the Jan. 22 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds prior to his two starts in the Middle East. He had worked twice at Churchill since returning, the most recent being a five-furlong drill in 1:01.20 early Sunday.