Midnight Bourbon Showed Athleticism at Early Age

Buyers often say they're searching for a "Saturday afternoon horse," and Winchell Thoroughbreds found one at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale that is about to start in his second classic race of the year.

Midnight Bourbon  is one of six Preakness Stakes (G1) entries that have passed through the sales ring (the Preakness drew a total of 10 horses). The Tiznow  colt leads the group with a $525,000 price tag and was purchased by his owner from Warrendale Sales, agent for breeder Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. 

"He was a really nice horse, a lot characteristics of Tiznow ," said Hunter Simms, partner in Warrendale Sales. "We had him in Book 3 of Keeneland September, and we placed him there so that he would stand out. That's kind of obvious by his $525,000 price tag. He was the second-highest priced horse of the session.

"He was always a nice horse. We had seen him a few times at Stonestreet prior to the sale, and he just kept getting better and better. They do such a nice job out there of prepping their horses and getting them ready for the sale. He shipped in looking good and his looks and the pedigree sold him."

Midnight Bourbon was bred in Kentucky out of the Malibu Moon   mare Catch the Moon , a $240,000 purchase by Stonestreet from the Legacy Bloodstock consignment to the 2015 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. At the time he passed through the sales ring as a yearling, Catch the Moon's son Girvin   had won the 2017 betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1), Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2), and Risen Star Stakes (G2); and her first foal, Cocked and Loaded , had taken the Iroquois Stakes (G3) and Tremont Stakes in 2015. 

Early last September, Midnight Bourbon earned black type at 2 when second in the Iroquois and later that month his half brother, Pirate's Punch , won the Salvator Mile Stakes (G3). Midnight Bourbon was also third in the Champagne Stakes (G1) in October.

This year at 3, Midnight Bourbon won the Lecomte Stakes (G3), was third in the Risen Star, and second in the Louisiana Derby. Though typically on or just off the pace, he rallied from 14th to finish sixth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) after being bumped at the start.

"When you get horses that look like that, everyone always says they tick all the boxes," Simms said of Midnight Bourbon. "I guess you could say that with this horse for that point of the sale. But at the point, Tiznow was a little bit older and you don't really know how those older sires are going to sell. You kind of see people start gravitating toward younger sires like the Into Mischiefs more so than say your Distorted Humors and your Tiznows, but obviously they still sell well. 

"Everyone had reasonable expectations. He had a modest reserve on him, but he just kept showing himself well. I think we showed him close to 130 times over the course of a day, because at that point of the sale you ship in and show them for one day and then you sell them. That amount of shows in that short period of time is a lot of traffic. He was going over well the whole time that he was at the barn.

"I think Winchell thought when they bought him that they were going to get a nice runner, and they did."

Tiznow, now 24 years old and pensioned at WinStar Farm, was a two-time Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner and the 2000 Horse of the Year. Simms felt the resemblance between Midnight Bourbon and his sire—both bays with white blazes—helped attract buyers to the colt at the sale.

"He was just really light on his feet, really athletic looking. He had a lot of leg underneath of him, just a really pretty balanced horse," Simms said. "He looked a lot like his sire, and I think that's what gravitated people towards him. He's just a real smooth, athletic horse."

Christina Baker and William Mack's Ram , who will make his stakes debut in the Preakness, was a $375,000 purchase at the Keeneland September sale from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment. The American Pharoah   ridgling was bred in Kentucky by Michael Edward Connelly out of the Mineshaft   mare Miner's Secret. He is a half brother to multiple grade/group 2 winner and $1.8 million earner Coal Front  . 

Klaravich Stables' Risk Taking  is also a Keeneland September graduate. Agent Mike Ryan went to $240,000 to secure the Medaglia d'Oro   colt from the Lane's End consignment. Winner of the Withers Stakes (G3), Risk Taking was bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey out of the stakes-placed Distorted Humor   mare Run a Risk .

Klaravich Stables will also run Crowded Trade  in the Preakness. The More Than Ready   colt was purchased by de Meric Stables, agent, for $185,000 as a weanling from Eaton Sales' consignment to the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. 

Yuji Inaida's France Go de Ina , the Japanese Preakness contender, was another Keeneland September graduate. Trainer Hideyuki Mori purchased the Will Take Charge   colt for $100,000 from Betz Thoroughbreds' consignment. 

Embattled Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit  was a $1,000 yearling purchase from the Summerfield consignment at the 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sales Winter Mixed Sale by Christy Whitman. He then sold for $35,000 to Zedan Racing Stables at the 2020 OBS July 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale.