Terranova has out-of-town plans for Freedom Trail, Midnight Stroll

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer John Terranova could be spending the holidays on the road.

Freedom Trail, unbeaten in two starts, both on turf, is likely to make his dirt debut in the Grade 2, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs on Nov. 26 - two days after Thanksgiving - said Terranova.

Midnight Stroll, the Delaware Oaks winner who recently finished third in the Grade 2, $350,000 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland, could start in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

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Freedom Trail, a son of Collected, won the Awad Stakes at Aqueduct on Oct. 29. Terranova said Freedom Trail has trained well enough on dirt to try that surface, but started him on turf to give him the chance to go long. Both of his races have been at 1 1/16 miles. The Kentucky Jockey Club is also run at 1 1/16 miles.

Terranova said the distance and a widely held belief that turf horses fare well over Churchill’s main track are why he chose the Kentucky Jockey Club over the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen run here at 1 1/8 miles on Dec. 3 for Freedom Trail.

“Let’s get a race at Churchill,” he said Wednesday. “Those horses that do well over the grass and move like he does do well sometimes over that racetrack. They got a nice long stretch and he’s got a big kick. He’s doing wonderful.”

Freedom Trail, who worked here on Nov. 11, would likely work again Friday or Saturday before shipping to Kentucky, Terranova said.

Meanwhile, Midnight Stroll could be headed west for the La Brea, the last opportunity this year for 3-year-old fillies to run in a major stakes against their own age group on dirt. While Terranova admits Midnight Stroll is likely better going longer - she won the Delaware Oaks at 1 1/16 miles - he wants to at least consider the La Brea depending on the competition in that seven-furlong race.

“We know she wants more ground, but she’s been running very well for us,” said Terranova, noting that Midnight Stroll was beaten a neck for second by Fingal’s Cave in the Raven Run at seven furlongs.

Terranova said that jockey Luis Saez told him in the Raven Run he chased the eventual winner Wicked Halo a little too soon

“He said if he waited just a touch longer, we would have been an easy second,” Terranova said.

In March, Midnight Stroll won a Florida-bred stakes at Tampa going seven furlongs.

Terranova will again send a string to Tampa for the winter, but will still have ample action in New York. Giant’s Fire, a 3-year-old son of Gun Runner, came off a nine-month to win a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race by a neck on Nov. 11. From December 2021 to February, Giant’s Fire finished third in a trio of maiden races at Tampa.

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“He still acts like a late 2-year-old,” Terranova said. “He’s not all there yet. He’s got room to go forward. I’m going to keep him here for now. As long as the owners are happy being here, we’ll just press on into the winter and see what he is.”

Terranova said that Bank Sting, second in the Iroquois Stakes at Aqueduct on Oct. 30, is on target for the Staten Island division of the New York Stallion Series here on Dec. 4. Bank Sting won last year’s Staten Island by 8 1/4 lengths.

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