Sun ready to shine on Midnight Bourbon, Asmussen says

Midnight Bourbon looked good Sunday following his Jan. 16 win in the Grade 2, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes, and his connections think there’s reason to hope he can be even better in stakes races the next couple months at Fair Grounds.

Midnight Bourbon, racing for the first time since Oct. 10 while making his two-turn debut, won the Lecomte, wire to wire, by one length. He ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.41, a raw time that produced a 91 Beyer Speed Figure, a career-best by 11 points. Joe Talamo was a late replacement aboard Midnight Bourbon, pressed into service when Ricardo Santana Jr. took ill, Asmussen said, and was unable to ride his scheduled mounts Saturday.

Midnight Bourbon as of Sunday appeared to have come out of the Lecomte in good shape, Asmussen said, after earning 10 qualifying points on Churchill Downs’s Road to the Kentucky Derby that determines the Derby field. He now has 16 points for the Derby. Plans call for Midnight Bourbon to go through Fair Grounds’ series of 3-year-old dirt route stakes, which continues with the Risen Star on Feb. 13 and the Louisiana Derby on March 20. Fair Grounds, starting last season, lengthened all three of its races in this division, with the Risen Star contested at 1 1/8 miles and the Louisiana Derby at 1 3/16 miles. Asmussen thinks that will suit Midnight Bourbon.

:: Start earning weekly cashback on your wagering today. Click to learn more.

“He’s a beautiful mover, a big, gorgeous horse that travels really well. He’s got a high cruising speed, and I don’t think he’ll have any trouble running longer,” Asmussen said.

Midnight Bourbon, owned by Ron Winchell’s Winchell Thoroughbreds, is by Tiznow and out of Catch the Moon, by Malibu Moon. Catch the Moon has gotten four foals to race – Midnight Bourbon, Pirate’s Punch, Girvin, and Cocked and Loaded – and all have won graded stakes races.