Midnight Fantasy Holds On in Spring Fever at Oaklawn
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Photo: Coady Photography
Midnight Fantasy (inside) holds on for a victory in the Spring Fever Stakes at Oaklawn Park
Carl R. Moore Management's Midnight Fantasy gained the lead at the top of the stretch and had just enough left to hold off defending winner and grade 1-placed runner Amy's Challenge by a neck in the $125,000 Spring Fever Stakes Feb. 29 at Oaklawn Park before an estimated crowd of 20,000.
Ridden by Martin Garcia, Midnight Fantasy settled behind the early leaders in fourth as Mt. Brave held a narrow advantage through opening fractions of :21.43 and :45.10 for the first half-mile. The winner began to make her move rounding the turn for home and was well clear of the field until Amy's Challenge rallied late. She completed the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.61 on a fast track.
"She was doing really good," Garcia said. "That was exactly where I wanted to be. I was able to stay on the outside, and when I asked her to go, she just took off. It was really nice."
What a Fox finished third and was followed by Mt. Brave, Artistic Diva, and 4-5 favorite and grade 2 winner Break Even. The latter made her first start of the year.
The victory was the second of the day for owner Carl Moore and trainer Joe Sharp and the third for Garcia.
When asked whether he expected to win two races Saturday, Moore replied, "No, I was just hoping to hit the board twice. It was a tough race. I mean, that race right there, she beat some good horses."
Midnight Fantasy, a 4-year-old Midnight Lute filly, improved her record to 5-3-0 in 12 starts with earnings of $327,180. She paid $19.40.
Midnight Fantasy was among a group of Joe Sharp-trained horses who were disqualified from a victory this winter at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots after post-race tests indicated the presence of levamisole, which Sharp said was in a deworming medication he began using for the first time in mid-November.
The disqualification forced Moore to forfeit the $60,000 winner's share of a purse Midnight Fantasy initially was awarded for crossing the wire first in the Dec. 14 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint Stakes at Fair Grounds.
She was a $77,000 purchase by Moore from the Equine Sales of Louisiana's 2-Year-Old and Horses of Racing Age Sale in 2018 from the Pike Racing consignment. She was bred in Louisiana by Jay Adcock and Hume Wornall and is out of the Macho Uno mare St. Jean.