Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC's Midnight Bourbon, 3-1 morning line second choice will try to capture his first Grade 1 victory in Saturday's $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, and enters after falling short of victory by a neck in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga.
Multiple graded stakes winner Silver State owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Willis Horton Racing, will look to begin another win streak in the $200,000 Parx Dirt Mile after his string of six consecutive victories came to an end in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga.
Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, both look to be strong contenders according to Winchell's Racing Manager David Fiske.
“I think both spots are really good for them,” Fiske said. “The two-turn mile for Silver State should set him up for the Breeders' Cup Mile. Midnight Bourbon, he keeps knocking on the door. I think eventually he's going to knock one of these off. He's a really cool horse. Big personality. I saw a little video of him schooling in the paddock yesterday. Man, he looked like something else.”
Midnight Bourbon began the year with a victory in the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds and then added a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Risen Star, also in Louisiana.
Next came a second in the Louisiana Derby before finishing sixth in the Kentucky Derby.
The colt by Tiznow then added a runner-up finish in the Preakness, before clipping heels with Hot Rod Charlie in the stretch run during the Grade 1 Haskell and losing jockey Paco Lopez.
“Hopefully, Saturday is his turn,” said Fiske. “It's been a peculiar year. Most years, the field for the Kentucky Derby evaporates the day after the Derby. This year we've had Essential Quality, Midnight Bourbon, Hot Rod Charlie, Medina Spirit — even though he scratched — he's still going. There are a lot of them out there and they're all quality colts.”
As far as Midnight Bourbon goes, Fiske knows this:
“He's a cool horse,” he said. “He seems to show up every time. He ran well in the Preakness, ran well in the Travers, ran well in the Derby. He's just a cool customer. He's a high energy guy. You need to be on your toes around him all the time.”
Silver State ended his 3-year-old year with a seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, then returned the following year with a seven-length victory against allowance competition at Keeneland. From there the son of Hard Spun added three more victories before returning to face graded stakes competition where he won the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap
“It's unusual for any horse to win that many races in a row,” Fiske said. “We had a horse a long time ago that won an Eclipse Award named Tight Spot. He won eight in a row. Then, we had a little horse that ran fourth in the Derby [1981 Kentucky Derby] named Classic Go Go that Tony Black rode. He won seven in a row. One of those was at the old Keystone Park as a matter of fact. He would win a race on Saturday then win a race at Keystone on Thursday. He made 26 starts as a 3-year-old. You do the math on that.”
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