Midnight Rising bound for Oaklawn Mile

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Midnight Rising’s connections had wanted to get the 4-year-old on dirt for nearly a year and after two big performances this meet at Oaklawn Park he’s unbeaten on the surface – and bound for stakes action.

Trainer Jordan Blair said Tuesday that Midnight Rising is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 3, $500,000 Oaklawn Mile on March 30.

Midnight Rising has earned the opportunity off back-to-back wins over the local strip. He made his dirt debut in an entry-level allowance at a mile Jan. 6, and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 92. Midnight Rising then put up a 93 Beyer last Saturday for a win in a two-other-than allowance at 1 1/16 miles.

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“We thought he was going to be sitting on a big one,” Blair said of the race Saturday. “He was really training well. It was a good group of horses that he beat, but it was no surprise that he put up such a good effort.

“At the moment, we’re solely looking at the Oaklawn Mile. He’s definitely shown an affinity for dirt in general, but the dirt course at Oaklawn. So, we’re going to keep him there for a moment.”

Blair has a division at Oaklawn and also is racing regularly at Turfway Park. It was over the synthetic track there that Midnight Rising launched his career in March 2023. He won a maiden special weight at a mile and came back and ran a close fourth in the Rushaway Stakes.

“He was training well on the dirt before he ever ran, but we were running at Turfway,” Blair said. “After that, I really wanted to run him on dirt and they didn’t have any [straight] 3-year-old allowance races at Keeneland and they didn’t have any [straight] 3-year-old allowances at Churchill. I did not want to run him against older horses at that time.”

Midnight Rising ran back on turf and a synthetic track, then made his way to Oaklawn.

“We had wanted to get him on the dirt all the way since last April,” said Blair.

Since his first dirt race, Midnight Rising has been flattered time and time again. He became the fifth next-out winner to emerge from the Jan. 6 race on Saturday, with others including next-out allowance winners Bolzy, Harlocap, and Track Mate.

“That thing has produced winner after winner,” said Blair.

Midnight Rising is a son of Mendelssohn and the mare Jet Black Magic, who won the Grade 3, $400,000 Delta Downs Princess at a mile on dirt. Midnight Rising races for Surfside Stables. He was a $100,000 purchase from the horses of racing age auction put on by Keeneland in November 2022.

“He was in a dispersal,” Blair said. “He had never run when we bought him. He was just kind of in training.”

Blair said the timing of the Oaklawn Mile for Midnight Rising is one of the appeals of the race, as it continues to space his races a month apart this meet. The other factor – besides the dirt – was the distance.

“He looks like he can go anywhere from a mile to a mile and an eighth,” said Blair.

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