Curlin Colt for Midnight Bisou

Champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) gave birth to her first foal, a colt by Horse of the Year Curlin, Hill 'n' Dale Farms and owners Allen Racing and Andrew Yaffe announced Monday evening.

“This colt was born to be a champion,” said Jeff Bloom, founder of Bloom Racing, who purchased Midnight Bisou for $80,000 at the 2017 OBS April sale. “He is the personification of the age-old adage 'breed the best to the best and hope for the best.' This exciting colt ushers in the next chapter in our amazing champion's story.”

Never out of the money in any of her 22 career starts for co-owners Bloom Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and Allen Racing LLC., the well-traveled mare raced at 10 tracks and was awarded an Eclipse Award in 2019 as champion older dirt female. Her Grade I victories came in the Santa Anita Oaks, Cotillion S., Apple Blossom H., Ogden Phipps S., and the Personal Ensign S.

Chuck Allen bought out the partners on the mare when acquiring her for $5 million at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

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Home Sweet Home: Snapper Sinclair Posts Another Kentucky Downs Stakes Win

Using an unusual style, Snapper Sinclair won the second division of the $400,000 TVG Stakes Wednesday to add to his already solid reputation as the ultimate horse for the course at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky.

The 6-year-old owned by Bloom Racing led from gate to wire under jockey Julien Leparoux to become the first horse to win three stakes at the track. In his lone losing performance at Kentucky Downs, he was second by three-quarters of a length in last year's Tourist Mile (now the WinStar Mint Million).

In the first division of the TVG, In Love came from off the pace under Alex Achard to win by 2 ¼ lengths at 8-1.

Sent off as the 2-1 favorite, Snapper Sinclair paid $6. The son of City Zip trained by Steve Asmussen completed the mile and 70 yards in 1:40.24 and finished three-quarters of a length in front of Bob and Jackie.

“When the horse loves the track, it's a big help and he obviously does,” Leparoux said. “He travels good on it. Going downhill or uphill he is very comfortable with it. It's a big effort for us and I'm glad he won it today.”

Snapper Sinclair picked up his seventh win in 33 career starts and the first-place purse money of $239,320 pushed his career earnings to $1,793,250. While he has run well at other tracks during his career, all of his stakes victories have come at Kentucky Downs.

“He definitely has an affinity for Kentucky Downs,” said Jeff Bloom, president of Bloom Racing, which partners with Chuck and Lori Allen on many of their horses. “Clearly, this is a track that Snapper is very fond of and Snapper is horse we're all fond of. He's the coolest horse there is. He's just the best.”

The horse was named for a jockey played by Mickey Rooney in the 1936 movie “Down the Stretch.”

The TVG was Snapper Sinclair's fourth start of the season and first since finishing second in the G3 Opening Verse at Churchill Downs on April 29. He opened the season with an allowance victory at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 4 and turned in a solid fourth-place finish in the G2 Godolphin Mile on the Dubai World Cup program on March 27. He was beaten a neck and a nose for second.

“This is exactly where he needed to be,” Asmussen said. “He got a little bit of a break. I'm glad he was ready for Kentucky Downs. He definitely made us proud. He definitely shines here at Kentucky Downs. He's been a very special horse, that's even after making the trip over to (Dubai) this year. Just very proud for the Blooms and the Allens. Snapper has been very good to us for a long time.

“He ran beautifully today. He responds very well for Julien here, and very pleased to have him on him. Just a great victory celebration.”

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Leparoux said the race did not play out the way he expected when Snapper Sinclair broke sharply and was quickly in front.

“I didn't really want to be on the lead, to be honest, but he took me there very easy,” Leparoux said. “He was traveling very nice. He pointed his ears around the turn so I knew he was going to finish up good.”

With first Penalty and then Midnight Tea Time in pursuit in second, Snapper Sinclair set early fractions of 23.38 and 47.65 seconds. He had a one-length lead through six furlongs in 1:12.57.

Bloom, a former jockey, smiled as he described his reaction when Snapper Sinclair was setting the pace.

“He had been off a little bit, he was fresh, he broke so well and Julien said he was going so well, there was a change of plans,” Bloom said. “If you look at all of his races here at Kentucky Downs it's different every time. With Snapper, put him out there and he'll figure it out.”

Bob and Jackie, trained by Richard Baltas, hopped at the start and got away sixth in the field of nine. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez moved him into contention a couple of lengths behind Snapper Sinclair, but he could not overcome the handicap he gave himself in the long run through the stretch.

“I think it's a race he could have won,” Velazquez said. “Broke slow, and that's it. He ran a good race. (Snapper Sinclair) loves it here. And everything went his way, too. He loves the course and everything went his way.”

Lori Allen was surprised to learn that he was the first horse to win three stakes at the track.

“I had no idea. That's awesome,” she said. “He should have a race named after him here. He loves this race. He came so close last year, he's nearly a four-time winner. But he tries everywhere. Everywhere he goes, boy, he never lets us down. He puts it all down every time.”

The post Home Sweet Home: Snapper Sinclair Posts Another Kentucky Downs Stakes Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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An Unexpected Storybook Ending for Midnight Bisou

What was it, many have asked, that drew Jeff Bloom to Midnight Bisou at the 2017 OBS April 2-Year-Old Sale?

While it surely wasn’t her unmet reserve from the Keeneland September Sale, where bidding stalled at $19,000, perhaps it was her three-time stakes-winning dam. Diva Delite (Repent) had yet to produce a winner, but as a racehorse she had claimed the GIII Florida Oaks and earned over $300,000.

On the other hand, maybe something in the filly’s :10 1/5 breeze at the sale had caught his eye.

Bloom has been asked the question innumerable times over the past three years. There’s really only one thing he can put his finger on.

“At the end of the day, it was really her presence,” Bloom said. “She had a way about her–her eye, such a smart, keen, personal, friendly touch about her. I was just drawn to her from the second I laid eyes on her. At the breeze show, she really leveled out and had such an efficiency of motion about her that made it clear there was more there. This is the type of horse that you think you can go on with. Of course, you never know for sure, but, as it turns out, it worked out.”

It would have been impossible for anyone to have predicted the ride on which Midnight Bisou would take Bloom, his family and his partners. But now, after a four-year campaign, the daughter of Midnight Lute will sell at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale as a five-time Grade I winner, an Eclipse champion and the highest-earning dirt mare of all time.

With two runner-up efforts behind eventual Grade I winner Dream Tree (Uncle Mo) at two, Midnight Bisou dominated the 3-year-old filly division at Santa Anita with three graded wins, culminating in a 3 1/2-length come-from-behind victory in the GI Santa Anita Oaks.

“The Santa Anita Oaks was a huge accomplishment,” Bloom said. “To win as dominantly as she did was really one of those things that gives you goose bumps. At that point, we thought, ‘Wow, we’ve got arguably one of the best fillies in the country and it looks like there’s no stopping us now.'”

Midnight Bisou wrapped up her 3-year-old season with two more graded victories, never finishing out of the money in her nine starts. But she upped her game further at four, finishing first in seven of eight starts and adding a trio of Grade I wins, highlighted by one of the most heart-pounding stretch battles of the year in the GI Personal Ensign S. with Elate (Medaglia d’Oro).

“The Personal Ensign is one of my all-time favorite races for us with Midnight Bisou, but as a racing fan, to me it’s one of the most special races,” Bloom said. “When they crossed the wire, I thought the nose went to us but it was so hard to tell. Time just stands still. When they flashed our number up there, I can tell you I was floating on air. Really more than anything, I was so happy for Midnight Bisou. It’s what horse racing is all about.”

After connections made the decision to race one more season, scratching her from the 2019 Fasig-Tipton November Sale on the morning of the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the newly-crowned Eclipse winner crossed the globe to make her 5-year-old debut this year in the $20-million Saudi Cup, where she closed to finish an ultra-game second behind fellow champion Maximum Security (New Year’s Day).

“That was one of the most thrilling, rewarding experiences of my lifetime to see her show up and go across the world and run second against the best racehorses,” Bloom said. “It made us feel like, yeah, this is all working out the way it’s supposed to.”

Fate soon intervened.

After another win in the GII Fleur de Lis S. June 27 and a close second in the Personal Ensign Aug. 1, Midnight Bisou was expected to prime for a final appearance in the Breeders’ Cup with a match-up against rival Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) in the Distaff, or perhaps even a start in the GI Classic. But during her final work before shipping to Lexington for the GI Juddmonte Spinster S., an injury forced her connections to choose an early retirement.

“We were devastated,” Bloom said. “We had more to do. She deserved to have that Breeders’ Cup trophy sitting on the mantle. It’s hard to get your head around that this is how it’s finishing. But at the end of the day, we found out she’s going to be fine and this in no way is going to affect anything as it relates to her being a broodmare, so we’ll take advantage of knowing that we had an incredible ride and she’s going to be happy and be able to shine at the Night of Stars and hopefully have a banner second career.”

Midnight Bisou retired with earnings well over $7 million and never finished out of the money in any of her 22 career starts for co-owners Bloom Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and Allen Racing LLC.

The champion has had several pedigree updates since her last time through the auction ring, with her half-brother Stage Left (Congrats) now a black-type-placed winner. Her dam, Diva Delite, sold for $1.2 million at last year’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale, carrying a colt by Justify, and this year was bred to Medaglia d’Oro.

When Midnight Bisou sells as Hip 185 with the Elite Sales consignment Nov. 8, Bloom said he won’t be unsettled by what could have been the day before at the Breeders’ Cup, but instead will find peace in remembering the ride of a lifetime he enjoyed with his family and his $80,000 purchase-turned-over $7-million dollar earner.

“It’s impossible to put into words what this ride has meant,” he admitted. “This game is my whole life. She changed my life, my family’s life, my partners’ lives. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t appreciate and understand how fortunate I am that this came, that this experience was handed to me, and I’ll forever be grateful and appreciative.”

 

 

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