It was billed as a two-horse match race between millionaires Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon, and that's exactly what the Grade 3, $150,000 Louisiana Stakes became on Saturday at the Fair Grounds. Turning for home in their sixth meeting on the track, Mandaloun (4-5) and Midnight Bourbon (6-5) drew even near the center of the course and remained locked in battle until the sixteenth pole. Jockeys Florent Geroux and Joel Rosario each gave their mounts their all, but it was Mandaloun and Geroux who prevailed by three-quarters of a length at the wire.
The Juddmonte homebred by Into Mischief, trained by Brad Cox and racing off a seven-month layoff, covered 1 1/16 miles over the fast main track in 1:42.52. It was Geroux's fourth win on the card.
Each millionaire received Lasix for the first time in Saturday's contest, and trainer Steve Asmussen added blinkers to the equipment of Midnight Bourbon.
Midnight Bourbon broke in a bit at the start, bumping Mandaloun slightly, then went straight to the lead under Rosario. Midnight Bourbon had a one-length advantage over Sprawl entering the backstretch, setting fractions of 24.39 and 48.25 seconds, then pulling away to a two-length lead nearing the half-mile pole.
Geroux sent Mandaloun up the rail into second approaching the far turn, then angled to the outside of Midnight Bourbon to mount his stretch challenge. Midnight Bourbon went wide into the lane, pushing Mandaloun out to the center of the track, and the two were head-and-head for the next eighth of a mile.
Battling fiercely, the two millionaires dug in gamely down the stretch. Mandaloun got his head in front at the sixteenth pole, and continued to inch away toward the wire. At the finish, it was Mandaloun by three-quarters of a length over Midnight Bourbon, denying Rosario and Asmussen a fourth win on Saturday's card in New Orleans. It was several lengths back to Warrant in third, also trained by Cox, and Spa City checked in fourth over Sprawl.
Bred in Kentucky by his owner, Mandaloun is out of the Group 2-winning Empire Maker mare Brooch. He impressed on debut at Keeneland in 2020, then won a first-level allowance before finishing third in the 2021 Lecomte (G3). Mandaloun returned to win the G2 Risen Star, but never showed up next out in the G2 Louisiana Derby. Still, he'd earned enough points to Run for the Roses, and Mandaloun ran a giant race to finish second behind Medina Spirit in the shadow of the Twin Spires.
Mandaloun won the listed Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth five weeks later, and was awarded the victory in the G1 Haskell when Hot Rod Charlie was disqualified in July. Unraced since that start on July 17, Mandaloun returned plenty fit to capture the Louisiana Stakes in what could be a prep for the world's richest horse race, the G1 Saudi Cup on Feb. 26. Overall, Mandaloun's record stands at six wins from nine starts for earnings of over $1.75 million.
They engaged in as good a battle on the infield tote as they did on the track, but at the end of the 8 1/2 furlongs of Satuday's GIII Louisiana S. at the Fair Grounds, and in what looked to be a two-horse race proved exactly that, as 9-10 favorite and 'TDN Rising Star' Mandaloun outbattled an alibi-free 6-5 second choice Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) to make a victorious return to the races.
Midnight Bourbon, last seen finishing third as the favorite to Maxfield (Street Sense) in the GI Clark S. at Churchill in November, hit the ground running and had the superior early foot, as Mandaloun–whose last trip to the races resulted in a promoted victory in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. last July–was content to take a trail and skim the rail from third after the scratch of the GI Pegasus World Cup-bound Chess Chief (Into Mischief) left him with the inside stall.
The pace was moderate for horses of this quality–the quarter was in :24.39 and the half in :48.25–and Mandaloun edged into second as they raced into the final 3 1/2 furlongs. Poised to strike at the five-sixteenths, Mandaloun was floated a bit wide by Joel Rosario and Midnight Bourbon, but the Juddmonte homebred was in for the fight. He engaged the pacesetter in earnest at the eighth pole and methodically wore that one down to take it by a measured 3/4 of a length. It was a distance back to Warrant (Constitution) in third.
It was on this program a year ago that Midnight Bourbon defeated Mandaloun into third in the GIII Lecomte S. before reversing form with a 1 1/4-length conquest in the GII Risen Star S. An inexplicable sixth–with Midnight Bourbon second to Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) in the GII Louisiana Derby, Mandaloun ran an enormous race to miss by a half-length in the GI Kentucky Derby. Connections elected to give the rest of the Triple Crown a miss and Mandaloun narrowly won the June 13 Pegasus S. before being put up to the win in the Haskell in the incident which saw Midnight Bourbon nearly go down when interfered with by Hot Rod Charlie.
Winning trainer Brad Cox confirmed that a start in next month's G1 Saudi Cup over a one-turn mile and an eighth would be under serious consideration for Mandaloun.
Pedigree Notes:
Mandaloun is one of 46 graded winners for his leading stallion and is bred on the cross over Unbridled or Unbridled-line mares responsible for the likes of dual Eclipse Award and multiple Grade I winner Covfefe, other graded winners Private Mission, Largent, fellow 'Rising Star' Maximus Mischief and recent GIII Sugar Swirl S. winner Center Aisle and the ill-fated 'Rising Star' Taraz.
Mandaloun is one of two winners from as many to race from his dam, a winner at Group 2 and Group 3 level in Ireland for Dermot Weld and a half-sister to MSW & MGSP Caponata (Selkirk) and MGSP Raymonda (Lonhro {Aus}).
Mandaloun is one of 29 'Rising Stars' for the outstanding Into Mischief, a number that also includes New York stallion Honest Mischief, who–interestingly–is out of Empire Maker's GISW half-sister Honest Lady (Seattle Slew).
Brooch is the dam of Mandaloun's 2-year-old full-brother Mullion, a yearling colt by War Front and was most recently covered once again by Into Mischief.
Saturday, Fair Grounds LOUISIANA S.-GIII, $145,500, Fair Grounds, 1-22, 4yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:42.52, ft.
1–MANDALOUN, 118, c, 4, by Into Mischief 1st Dam: Brooch (MGSW-Ire, $217,059), by Empire Maker 2nd Dam: Daring Diva (GB), by Dansili (GB) 3rd Dam: Aspiring Diva, by Distant View
O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Inc (KY); T-Brad H. Cox;
J-Florent Geroux. $90,000. Lifetime Record: GISW, 9-6-1-1,
$1,741,252. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Midnight Bourbon, 118, c, 4, Tiznow–Catch the Moon, by
Malibu Moon. ($525,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC
(KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $30,000.
3–Warrant, 124, c, 4, Constitution–Whisper Number, by First Samurai. O-Twin Creeks Racing Stables LLC;
B-Twin Creeks Farm (KY); T-Brad H Cox. $15,000.
Margins: 3/4, 8 1/4, 2HF. Odds: 0.90, 1.20, 7.00.
Also Ran: Spa City, Sprawl, Pirate's Punch. Scratched: Chess Chief. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
This weekend's horse racing action is highlighted by the six stakes races on Saturday's card at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La., with a pair of prep races for the first Friday and Saturday in May drawing significant attention.
Perhaps the best race on the afternoon, however, is the match-up between Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon in the G3 Louisiana Stakes. It will be the sixth time these millionaire rivals face one another, and good performances could propel them to the $20 million Saudi Cup next month.
Meanwhile, Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Pappacap will be challenged by Epicenter in the Lecomte. The latter has won his last two starts for trainer Steve Asmussen, including a listed stakes race over the local surface. Pappacap brings experience to the table for trainer Mark Casse, with two wins and two seconds from five starts thus far.
Also on Saturday are listed stakes at Oaklawn, Aqueduct, Gulfstream, and Santa Anita, while Sunday's feature is the Oaks points-offering Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct.
Saturday
5:52 PM – $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds
Off an easy win in her career debut at Churchill Downs on Nov. 20, Stonestreet Stables' La Crete has been installed as the 2-1 morning line against five rivals for Saturday's $150,000 Silverbulletday for 3-year-old fillies to be run over 1 mile 70 yards at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La. By Medaglia d'Oro, La Crete is a half-sister to millionaire Clairiere.
Off a maiden win and a fourth in the Tempted Stakes at Belmont, Westerberg Limited, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's Sweet as Pie invades from her home base at Palm Beach Downs in Florida to contest the Silverbulletday for trainer Todd Pletcher.
Columbine Stables' Fannie and Freddie swings back off a recent second behind the undefeated North County in the Untapable Stakes for trainer Al Stall, Jr. The daughter of Malibu Moon won her two-turn debut in the start prior, and she looked home free in the stretch of her stakes debut, only to be run down late.
The top four finishers will earn Kentucky Oaks qualifying points (10-4-2-1).
6:49 PM – G3 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds
Lecomte, Risen Star, Louisiana Derby, Kentucky Derby, Haskell: this Saturday's 76th running of the $150,000 Louisiana Stakes (G3) at the Fair Grounds will be the sixth time both Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon enter the starting gate as rivals. Mandaloun has bragging rights, winning or finishing in front of Midnight Bourbon in three out of five match-ups thus far.
Mandaloun's last start was July 17 in the Haskell (G1) when he dueled through the final furlong finishing a nose short of Hot Rod Charlie, but an impending DQ awarded the Brad Cox-trained Mandaloun his fifth career win out of eight starts.
Last seen setting the pace in November's Clark (G1) with jockey Joel Rosario on board, Midnight Bourbon ran well, only to be overtaken in the stretch by the classy Maxfield and Happy Saver. He gets a slight cut-back in distance to 1 1/16 miles for the Louisiana. As in the Clark, Rosario gets the call.
7:20 PM – G3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds
Rustlewood Farm's Pappacap, the current points leader on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with 12, headlines a field of nine 3-year-olds for the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes (G3). A sprint winner on debut on May 14 at Gulfstream, the Florida-bred Pappacap has raced in four graded stakes in California since, winning the Best Pal (G2) at Del Mar and most recently finishing as the runner-up behind Corniche in both the American Pharoah (G2) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
The close second choice at 9-5, Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter eyes his third consecutive win for trainer Steve Asmussen. After breaking his maiden on the lead, the son of Not This Time dominated the Gun Runner last time out, sitting just off the pace before taking over off the turn and drawing away by 6 ½ lengths.
Columbine Stable's Trafalgar enters the Lecomte off a narrow Fair Grounds allowance victory in his two-turn debut on Dec. 2. After building a comfortable margin in the deep stretch, the son of Lord Nelson had to dig deep to score his second consecutive win for trainer Al Stall, Jr.
Run over 1 1/16 miles, the Lecomte offers ten Kentucky Derby points to the winner, with the rest of the top four earning 4-2-1.
Fastest two minutes in sport? You'll excuse us a bitter laugh here. By the time Mandaloun (Into Mischief) leaves the gate Saturday for the GIII Louisiana S., he'll be 382,968 minutes into a GI Kentucky Derby without end. And, with no sign of anyone putting their attorneys back in the holster, it's plainly going to be a while yet before we know whether Mandaloun will finally be anointed the 147th winner of a race that drives so many millions of dollars of investment in our industry.
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As things stand, we're potentially looking at one of the luckiest animals in Turf history: a dual Grade I winner who has yet to pass the post first in a Grade I race. He was last seen, of course, in that dramatic Haskell S., which fell into his lap after Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) was disqualified for his tangle with Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow). The latter, conversely, has accumulated a dispiriting sequence of near-misses since his last visit to the winner's circle, on this card last year, in the GIII Lecomte S.
Given our ongoing travails, and the resulting perceptions among the wider public, our community owes a great debt to Midnight Bourbon for his balletic recovery from the brink of catastrophe at Monmouth Park. As a potential lifeline for the precarious Man o' War line, moreover, he should in due course offer another valuable service in the replication, at stud, of that extraordinary athleticism.
We're not going to run out of sons of Into Mischief any time soon, after all. One way or another, then, a lot of neutrals will be heading to Midnight Bourbon's corner as the two rivals each attempt a personal reset in what will, on the anniversary of their first, be their sixth showdown.
But you have to feel sympathy for Mandaloun, too. At the best of times, finishing second in the Derby is a bittersweet distinction. It's one that has been shared by some great names, for instance Native Dancer and Nashua within a couple of years of each other, as well as by many that can only make you scratch your head. And nobody, regardless, would want to satisfy a lifetime quest in quite this way, as connections of Country House (Lookin At Lucky) will doubtless attest.
On the day, their horse proved better equipped for the defining challenge of the American Thoroughbred than all bar one of 20,000-odd other foals in his crop. Country House was desperately unlucky to be denied any further opportunity of wresting attention from that ever-distracting horse, Maximum Security (New Year's Day). Set for a relaunch at four, only to be derailed by laminitis in February, he duly finds himself standing on most generous terms (despite being inbred to the matriarch No Class) at Darby Dan. If there's any justice, someday one of his sons will secure him overdue respect in the Derby.
Midnight Bourbon's last visit to the winner's circle was in the 2021 Lecomte | Hodges Photography
If that happens, it won't be through a superior preparation. Country House was a Bill Mott masterpiece. It was only in this equivalent week that he broke his maiden; he then contested the second and third legs of the New Orleans trial series, catching the eye of many a wiseguy handicapper with the promise of better yet in the extreme test awaiting at Churchill.
In the process he contributed to the striking vigor of the Fair Grounds sophomores, in recent times. Last year the GII Louisiana Derby produced four of the first six on the first Saturday in May. True, these included a Californian shipper, but the overall strength of the Crescent City cohort certainly heightens interest in the return of Proxy (Tapit), who went missing after being sandwiched between Midnight Bourbon and Mandaloun in both the Lecomte and the GII Risen Star. Some really heartening breezes this winter allow us to hope that Proxy might yet live up to his name, and plug a gap for the Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) barn.
But no graduate of the Fair Grounds Classic rehearsals has lately made a greater impact than Gun Runner–for whom the Lecomte, through Pappacap and Cyberknife, now represents the first big test of the theory that his stud debut was especially spectacular because his stock will emulate the way he thrived with maturity himself.
Pappacap prior to his second in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile | Horsephotos
As his second-ever winner, Pappacap was among the most precocious of the surprisingly precocious gang that secured Gun Runner the freshman title; but the Rustlewood Farm homebred can be expected to consolidate on both sides of his pedigree. His mother achieved her only graded stakes placing at the end of her third campaign; his second and third dams, unusually enough, are both by sons of that doughty influence Roberto; while his fourth is by another in Pleasant Colony. In other words, this is a horse bred to stick around. (He also has the honor of starting out No. 1 on colleague T.D. Thornton's TDN Derby Top 12.)
It's a big day, then, for the Winchell family, who stand Gun Runner with Three Chimneys and will be hoping to see Midnight Bourbon elaborate his own stud credentials. Because they also present the most obvious danger to Gun Runner's Lecomte pair in Epicenter (Not This Time), whose apt emergence in the Gun Runner S. over Christmas showed him to be very comfortable with pouring the speed coals into this hot surface.
Throw into the mix Trafalgar (Lord Nelson), a promising flagship for his classy hometown barn, and this looks another instructive edition of the Lecomte S. I love the cyclical nature of the Classic trail, with all its familiar staging points, coast to coast; and the return to the same card of two of the 2021 protagonists marks another ring through the trunk of the great old Triple Crown tree.
Because it's never really just about those two breathless minutes in Louisville. Those are the tiny apex of a huge pyramid that spreads out through the patient dreams of so many different people, past and present.
With everything that's going on–condensed by the tragedy of the horse that held off Mandaloun in the Derby–we must always conduct ourselves with due respect for the generations of predecessors who made our sport what it is. This race, remember, is named for the only horse ever to beat Lexington. And if we don't prove worthy of our heritage, in the perennial quest for a Derby colt, someday we will suddenly find that it's two minutes to midnight.
