Steve Asmussen said Midnight Bourbon would be a considerably better 3-year-old than he was a 2-year-old, and not even three weeks into the colt’s sophomore season, that prediction looks prescient. Racing for the first time since he finished third, beaten more than 14 lengths by stablemate Jackie’s Warrior in the Oct. 14 Champagne Stakes – and starting for the first time in a two-turn race -- Midnight Bourbon led gate to wire under Joe Talamo and captured the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes by one length Saturday at Fair Grounds. “We were very much looking forward to getting him into two-turn races,” Asmussen said. “I think he’s going to develop into an excellent 3-year-old.” Ricardo Santana Jr. was booked on Midnight Bourbon but was unable to ride Saturday after getting sick, Asmussen said late Saturday morning. Talamo was named as replacement just before the card got underway. The Lecomte was the last of 13 races and was run under lights as the bulk of the betting attention shone on Mandaloun. A winner in both his races, sprints at Keeneland and Churchill, and making both his stakes and two-turn debut Saturday with no real speed-figure edge, Mandaloun nonetheless was bet down to 4-5. The hype train went off the rails, if not catastrophically, in the Lecomte. Mandaloun came under heavy urging with more than a quarter-mile to run in the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte and responded to the encouragement, but he never looked like he would run down Midnight Bourbon and after getting his nose in front of Proxy was edged for second by that rival. Midnight Bourbon earned 10 points toward eligibility to the Kentucky Derby for his Lecomte win, and now has 16 points total, good for third in the standings. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2021: Point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Breaking from the rail, Midnight Bourbon went to the lead and by the midpoint of the clubhouse turn had opened a clear advantage, Proxy racing second on the outside, Mandaloun outside and behind Proxy, and Arabian Prince snugged along the rail in fourth. Fractions in the dirt-route stakes on the second half of the card were bizarrely slow. Splits in the Louisiana, Silverbulletday, and Lecomte were all much more pedestrian than would be expected, and meaningfully slower, even, than maiden and allowance races earlier in the day. Midnight Bourbon appeared to be clipping along decently, but after an opening quarter in a modest 24.68, the half-mile went in a sluggish 48.99. Midnight Bourbon, his ears up, his stride smooth, led by 1 1/2 lengths bending into the far turn. Proxy and jockey Mitchell Murrill made their bid past the three-furlong pole, drawing nearly abreast Midnight Bourbon at the five-sixteenths, but when the horses hit the quarter pole and straightened up for the wire, it was Midnight Bourbon who had bounded back to a clear advantage. Talamo hand rode until he gave one left-handed crack of the crop before the eighth pole, went to the whip seven times without really getting super serious in the final half-furlong, and had plenty of horse to take care of business. Midnight Bourbon drifted slightly in the final sixteenth, perhaps tiring slightly making his first start in three months, then proceeded to gallop out in front. “He’s a very, very classy horse,” said Talamo. “He broke like a rocket out of there. I just tried to be a good passenger. He settled like a champ, and when a horse came to him down the lane he really fought him off and galloped out well.” Midnight Bourbon, who paid $9.40 to win, was timed in 1:44.41, .17 second slower than the accomplished older horse Title Ready had run three races earlier in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes. Proxy, who had beaten maidens and first-level allowance horses in two-turn dirt races already this meet, was a head better than Mandaloun. Almost nine lengths farther back in fourth came Santa Cruiser, who was pinched at the start and raced from far behind the leader. He was followed home by Arabian Prince, Game Day Play, Regular Guy, and Red N Wild. Beep Beep, Manor House, and Dyn O Mite were scratched. Midnight Bourbon is by Tiznow and out of Catch the Moon, an 11-year-old Malibu Moon mare who never raced but has become a broodmare extraordinaire. Her four foals to start are this colt, Grade 3 winner Pirate’s Punch, Grade 1 winner Girvin, and Grade 3 winner Cocked and Loaded. Midnight Bourbon was bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbreds and purchased by owner Winchell Thoroughbreds at auction for $525,000. Winchell and Asmussen won the 2008 Lecomte, Risen Star, and Louisiana Derby with Pyro, and Asmussen said the plan is to run Midnight Bourbon through the same series. “He’s a lovely horse, a beautiful individual,” Asmussen said. “I think going farther will help him.” The Risen Star is contested at 1 1/8 miles, the Louisiana Derby at 1 3/16 miles. An improved 3-year-old already, perhaps there’s more still to come.