Rain Allows Storm to Shine in San Pasqual

Sunday's GII San Pasqual S. could be described as Hamlet without the Prince, after Arrogate, the forecast 1-5 favorite, was withdrawn. The cause of the withdrawal was the days of rain which had preceded the New Year, rather than the stage fright which gave rise to the Hamlet without the Prince expression. The story goes that a panic attack afflicted the inexperienced actor playing the Prince of Denmark in a production of Hamlet at the Richmond Theatre near London in 1787. Hamlet refused to go on, but the production continued and Sir Walter Scott, who was present, reported that the audience thought the play was much improved!

The San Pasqual hardly benefited from Arrogate's no-show, but his absence at least turned the spotlight onto a very deserving cause, Midnight Storm. In these days of increasing specialisation, it was great to see this versatile 6-year-old continue to reinvent himself as a high-class performer on the main track, following a distinguished career as one of America's top turf milers.

Returning Midnight Storm to dirt represented a very bold move on behalf of his owners and his trainer Phil d'Amato, even though his pedigree shouts dirt rather than turf.

His sire Pioneerof the Nile was runner-up in the GI Kentucky Derby after winning two Grade Is and a pair of Grade IIs on all-weather surfaces. More recently Pioneerof the Nile has found fame as the sire of American Pharoah, arguably the greatest dirt runner of recent decades. Midnight Storm's dam, My Tina, also gained the bulk of her earnings in her six starts on dirt.

Then there's Midnight Storm's grandsires, Empire Maker and Bertrando. Despite being a son of the turf Grade I winner Toussaud, Empire Maker raced exclusively on dirt. Bertrando did win one of his two starts on turf, but it was as a first-rate dirt performer that he collected more than $3 million.

It is a similar story when it comes to Midnight Storm's four great-grandsires. Unbridled made 23 of his 24 starts on dirt, with the Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic among his wins. Pioneerof the Nile's broodmare sire Lord At War gained all seven of his North American wins on dirt, including the GI Santa Anita H. and the San Antonio S. in the days when it carried Grade I status. Next comes Bertrando's sire Skywalker. Winless in three starts on turf, he numbered the Santa Anita Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic among his eight victories on dirt. The one exception to the rule was My Tina's broodmare sire Darby Creek Road, as he won the Hill Prince H. and Sword Dancer S. on turf. Even so, he gained twice as many wins on dirt, notably taking the Saratoga Special, and he was also placed in the Champagne S. and the Wood Memorial.

Consequently, it was hardly surprising that Midnight Storm's original trainer Jorge Gutierrez expected that dirt racing would prove to be the youngster's vocation. The 3-year-old Midnight Storm duly won at the fourth attempt, when he scored over seven furlongs over Santa Anita's main track. But after a disappointing fifth effort, Midnight Storm underwent a change of trainers and surface, the instant reward being victories in an optional claimer and the GII Del Mar Derby.

Since then, of course, Midnight Storm has boosted his total of turf wins to seven, including the GII Seabiscuit H., GI Shoemaker Mile, GII Eddie Read S. and GII Del Mar Mile H. So what prompted the recent return to dirt–especially when he trailed home last of 10 when he briefly reverted to dirt in the 2015 GI Pacific Classic?

D'Amato suggested that the motivation was to boost Midnight Storm's stallion prospects by adding a graded win on turf to his resume and also to widen his range of opportunities in 2017. The strategy could hardly have worked out better. Midnight Storm's speed helped him wire the field for an easy win in the GIII Native Diver S. just weeks after his third in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. He repeated the performance in the San Pasqual, sending his earnings heading towards the $1.5-million mark.

That's pretty good going for a horse who failed to sell at $38,000 as a yearling in September 2012. Of course Pioneerof the Nile was totally unproven as a stallion at that stage, as Midnight Storm belongs to his first crop, which numbered 90 named foals. That eye-catching first crop has since been represented by 10 black-type winners, with Midnight Storm ranking alongside Cairo Prince, Jojo Warrior, Cash Control and Vinceremos as one of its five graded winners.

I think I have warned in the past that it wouldn't be fair to expect Pioneerof the Nile's next two crops to maintain this prolific start, as the second crop numbered only 63 foals and his third 59. Another factor which mustn't be forgotten is that Pioneerof the Nile's first four crops of racing age–plus his 2017 2-year-olds–were all sired at fees ranging between $15,000 and $20,000.

In the circumstances, he has done very well to sire Grade I winners in three of his first four crops, the others being the phenomenal American Pharoah and the champion 2-year-old-elect Classic Empire. Add in the GIII Delaware Oaks winner Dark Nile and the Japanese colt Levante Lion and he has nine graded winners from 303 named foals, with his 91-strong fourth crop no doubt poised to add to that encouraging total in 2017.

It is going to be fascinating to see what his more expensive crops achieve. He has more than a hundred 2016 foals sired at a fee of $60,000 and he covered 120 mares at $125,000 last year. His fee has been reduced to $110,000 for 2017. He is now in competition not only with his repatriated sire Empire Maker, whose fee is down to $85,000 from $100,000 in 2016 (when he covered 130 mares), but also with his sons American Pharoah and Cairo Prince. These sons, respectively, covered 208 and 148 mares in 2016, and this branch of the Unbridled male line clearly has every chance of flourishing further in the coming years, with Midnight Storm now well qualified to join them.

Midnight Storm's female line also has every chance of adding to its laurels. Although My Tina RNA'd at $525,000 at Keeneland two months ago, she is carrying a close relative to Midnight Storm by Empire Maker's son Bodemeister. She also has a 2-year-old brother to Midnight Storm which sold to Coolmore's M.V. Magnier and Stonestreet for $925,000 last September.