Midnight Storm Wires Shoemaker

Midnight Storm | Benoit

Rafael Bejarano aggressively guided Midnight Storm (Pioneerof the Nile) to the front from an outside post over heavily favored speedy invader Heart to Heart (English Channel) and never looked back in the 'Win and You're In' GI Shoemaker Mile S. at Santa Anita Saturday.

A close second as the even-money chalk in this race last year, the dark bay carved out splits of :22.68 and :46 with Heart to Heart tracking while about a length back in second. The GI Maker's 46 Mile runner-up turned up the heat as they straightened for home, but Midnight Storm was still going strong and quickly swatted that one away. Tourist (Tiznow), fourth in the GI Woodford Reserve Turf Classic S., took up the fight and appeared to have dead aim, but Midnight Storm kept on finding more in game fashion to register a career high.

“He had his ears up the whole time,” said Phil D'Amato, who saddled Obviously (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}) to a victory in this race in 2014. “If he had his ears pinned back and he looked like he was going full speed, I would have been concerned. But I thought Raffy saved a little bit at the top of the lane. It's vindication, because I thought he should have won it last year. He was kind of up against it, but he's vindicated, and now he's a Grade I winner. Onward to the Breeders' Cup.”

Winner of the 2014 GII Del Mar Derby and 2015 GII Seabiscuit H., Midnight Storm had disappointed in two prior attempts this term, finishing fourth in the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. Mar. 12 and seventh in the Turf Classic on the Derby undercard. He fired a best-of-50 bullet in :58 2/5 at Santa Anita May 28.

“He likes it firm like today, and when you get that firm turf course, he'll give you a performance like this,” D'Amato continued. “We were going to sit 1-2. If [Heart to Heart] was adamant on going, we were going to sit right on him, and if he wanted to sit back, we were going to do what we did today. It went as planned.”

Bejarano added, “I knew Heart to Heart was going to try for the lead and if I let him get to the lead, he'd control it. Julien [Leparoux] tried to relax his horse right away. My horse is tough to control and I don't want to fight with him, so I let him run a little bit into the first turn. After that I tried to get set up, tried to get him relaxed and I had a lot of horse. I had plenty of horse and he just took off.”

The winning mare My Tina, an $82,000 CALAUG yearling purchase by Dye and Venneri, has a 2-year-old colt by Stay Thirsty and a yearling colt by Pioneerof the Nile. She was bred to the latter stallion in 2015.

Saturday, Santa Anita
SHOEMAKER MILE S.-GI, $400,345, SA, 6-4, 3yo/up, 1mT, 1:33.55, fm.
1–&MIDNIGHT STORM, 121, h, 5, by Pioneerof the Nile
1st Dam: My Tina, by Bertrando
2nd Dam: Ask Directions, by Darby Creek Road
3rd Dam: Khal On Me, by Vertex
($38,000 RNA Ylg '12 KEESEP). O-A Venneri Racing, Inc. & Little
Red Feather Racing; B-Alex Venneri & Marjorie Post Dye (KY); T-Philip D'Amato; J-Rafael Bejarano. $240,000. Lifetime Record: 16-6-3-0, $831,110. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
[bullet ad=”blackwood-graduate-2″][bullet ad=”warrendale-midnightstormsales”][bullet ad=”vinery-sales-grad”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″]2–Tourist, 121, h, 5, Tiznow–Unbridled Melody, by Unbridled's
Song. O-WinStar Farm LLC, Wachtel Stable & Gary Barber; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott. $80,000.
3–Twentytwentyvision, 121, g, 5, Pollard's Vision–Miss Alphie, by Candi's Gold. O-Ellen & Peter Johnson; B-Peter O. Johnson (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $48,000.
Margins: HF, 4 1/4, 2 3/4. Odds: 4.60, 3.60, 4.60.
Also Ran: Heart to Heart, Cape Wolfe (GB), Home Run Kitten.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

 

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