Midnight Disguise emulates half-sister in Bouwerie

ELMONT, N.Y. – Following in her sister’s footsteps, Midnight Disguise rallied from far back to an impressive 2 3/4-length victory over English Soul in the $125,000 Bouwerie Stakes for 3-year-old New York-bred fillies Monday at Belmont Park. Midnight’s Disguise’s half-sister Holiday Disguise won the 2017 Bouwerie and captured the one-mile Critical Eye Stakes earlier on today’s card.

Midnight Disguise had only one horse beaten during the opening half-mile of the seven-furlong Bouwerie, came widest while advancing strongly into the stretch, then readily overtook English Soul near midstretch to win going away. The latter also rallied wide to challenge for command inside the eighth pole, but proved no match for the winner while three parts of a length better than Split Time to be second.

Both Midnight Disguise, by Midnight Lute, and Holiday Disguise are daughters of the Yes It’s True mare Thin Disguise. Both fillies are trained by Linda Rice. The Bouwerie was the fifth win in seven starts for Midnight Disguise, who defeated open company in both the Busher and Busanda stakes earlier this year.

Midnight Disguise, owned by her breeders Dr. William Wilmot and Dr. Joan Taylor, had been pointing for the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico earlier this month, but was scratched after contracting a slight temperature earlier in the week. She raced with blinkers for the first time in the Bouwerie.

Ridden to victory by Jose Ortiz, Midnight Disguise returned $6.20 as the favorite in a field of nine 3-year-old fillies. She completed the distance in 1:22.86 over a fast track.

“I put the blinkers on because in her previous races she’d been a little lost early, and was kind of looking around and had her head cocked in the backside of the race, and seemed a little intimidated,” Rice explained. “I just thought the blinkers would help get her better focused, and I thought she responded very well today.”

Rice said missing the Black-Eyed Susan might have been a blessing in disguise.

“Obviously we were disappointed, but frankly the way the track was down there, I wasn’t that disappointed we didn’t run on it,” said Rice. “I didn’t think she’d really like the tight turns at Pimlico anyway. We just thought we’d give it a try because we’d skipped the Oaks. But in hindsight, this might work out much better for us. I think she really likes the big sweeping turns here, and we wanted to use this as a prep for the Mother Goose.”

The Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose will be run at Belmont on June 30.

Rice said Midnight Disguise and her sister Holiday Disguise are like “night and day.”

“One’s tall and leggy, the other is stocky and husky, but they sure both have a lot of courage,” said Rice.