Midnight Current seeks 11th win over local turf course

The popular Midnight Current will see action Sunday at Canterbury Park.

She will be looking to win her 11th race over the local turf course when she starts in a conditioned allowance for fillies and mares at a mile. Midnight Current has made 14 starts over the local lawn and the 6-year-old mare has never finished worse than third. She faces five others Sunday, including the capable Let’s Skedaddle.

Midnight Current is moving back into open company after winning the Minnesota Turf Distaff for the third consecutive year July 13. The race was run as an overnight handicap this season and Midnight Current was up for a half-length win over Let’s Skedaddle.

“She got a rail trip and just did her thing in the stretch,” said Joel Berndt, who trains Midnight Current for Runnymoore Racing.

Berndt said he is hopeful Sunday’s race will serve as Midnight Current’s springboard to the $50,000 Princess Elaine Minnesota Turf Distaff Championship that will be run at 1 1/16 miles Aug. 31 at Canterbury.

Midnight Current has won the last two runnings of the Princess Elaine. It will likely be her final start at the meet that ends in late September.

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“That will probably be her next start after this, and after that, it’s pretty much over,” Berndt said of remaining races for Midnight Current.

Alonso Quinonez has the mount from post 5 on Sunday.

The card opens with a conditioned allowance at six furlongs that drew stakes winners Thealligatorhunter, Tony’s Tapit, and Sir Sterling.

Another race of interest is a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds at five furlongs on turf. It has lured first-time starters by Yockey’s Warrior, Tapiture, Laoban, American Freedom, and Collected.

Berndt may winter in Maryland

Berndt could land in Maryland after the close of the season at Canterbury. He said a lot of it will depend on the horse Street Warrior, who has won his first two starts by more than 23 lengths and on Saturday was to have made his stakes debut in the Minnesota Derby.

“I typically go to Louisiana, to Delta,” Berndt said of plans after Canterbury. “This year, I may go to Laurel for a couple of months. This horse, Street Warrior, is eligible for the Maryland Sire Stakes and if he’s still doing well at the end of the meet, we may take six, seven horses out there and just stay out there several months. We’d go towards the end of September, early October.”

Street Warrior is a son of Barbados who has won his first two starts with Beyer Speed Figures of 84. He races for his breeder, Suzanne Stables. Street Warrior’s dam, Some Silver Gal, is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Strapping Groom.

Canterbury races through Sept. 28.

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