Midnight Current takes Minnesota Turf Distaff for second consecutive year
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Midnight Current edged stablemate Let’s Skedaddle by a head to give breeder and owner Bob Lothenbach the exacta in the $50,000 Minnesota Turf Distaff on Saturday night’s Hall of Fame card at Canterbury Park.
Midnight Current won the race for fillies and mares for the second year in a row. The stakes was one of four on the card for Minnesota-breds and purses for those races totaled $200,000.
Lothenbach entered the Canterbury Park Hall of Fame on Friday along with retired jockey Ry Eikleberry and multiple stakes winner Mr. Jagermeister. The inductees were feted at the races Saturday.
“For me, to have my family and kids here is just incredible,” Lothenbach said in a post-race interview simulcast by Canterbury.
Lothenbach said he acquired his first racehorse in 1986. And then he acquired a second horse.
“All of the sudden I got bit by it,” he said of the racing bug.
Lothenbach has since won multiple owner titles at Canterbury. The owner is to be honored Sunday with multiple breeder awards during the annual banquet of the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association.
Midnight Current ($2.80) was Canterbury’s horse of the meet last year for going 5 for 5. She ran second in her first two starts of this year’s meet, but landed back in the winner’s circle for the Minnesota Distaff. Midnight Current was moving back to the statebred ranks after facing open stakes company and settled just off She’s My Warrior as that one set fractions of 24.06 for the opening quarter, 47.38 for the half-mile, and 1:10.71 for six furlongs. Midnight Current came three wide into the stretch and dug in to edge Let’s Skedaddle. The winner covered 7 1/2 furlongs on firm turf in 1:28.39.
Harry Hernandez was aboard the daughter of Midnight Lute for trainer Joel Berndt. Berndt also won an overnight race on the card for Lothenbach; the two wins put the trainer eight victories from a milestone of 1,000 career wins in North America.
The $50,000 Ralph Strangis for 3-year-olds and up over 7 1/2 furlongs on turf was scratched down three horses from the original field of eight and Xavey Dave ($5.40) rallied up the rail for a half-length victory over Lothenbach homebred Stagecoach Boys. It was another three-quarters of a length back in third to pacesetter Thealligatorhunter. The winner is a son of Temple City and covered the distance in 1:28.22, after tracking leader Thealligatorhunter through six furlongs in 1:10.68.
Eduardo Gallardo was aboard Xavey Dave for Linda Bush and trainer Nathaniel Quinonez.
The win was the second stakes victory of the night for Quinonez and Gallardo. Cupids Crush romped by 11 3/4 lengths in the $50,000 Francis Genter for 3-year-old fillies to nail down her fourth straight win for Xtreme Racing Stables. She tracked fractions of 22.34 seconds for the opening quarter and 45.26 for the half-mile before going on to cover six furlongs on a fast track in 1:10.15.
It was the first career stakes win for Quinonez. He has taken over the training of 70 horses for Canterbury’s perennial leading trainer Mac Robertson after the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit provisionally suspended Robertson for a medication violation, according to a press release from Canterbury. Robertson is awaiting adjudication, the release stated. Cupids Crush, who is by Cupid, paid $2.40.
Sir Sterling ($4) led throughout for a 2 1/4-length win over Roses by Liam in the $50,000 Victor S. Myers for 3-year-olds at six furlongs. The winner set fractions of 22.15 seconds for the opening quarter and 44.91 for the half-mile and kept going to complete the course in 1:10.26. Lindey Wade was aboard the son of Sam Lord’s Castle for trainer Tony Rengstorf. Chad Kuehn is the breeder and owner of Sir Sterling.
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