Midnight Bourbon settles, pulls away

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Things remained relatively quiet on the Derby/Oaks front again Monday morning at Churchill Downs. Midnight Bourbon was the only potential Derby starter to work under the cool, sunny skies, and there were no Oaks candidates on the clocker’s daily tab. Trainer Steve Asmussen sent out Louisiana Derby runnerup Midnight Bourbon during the special Derby/Oaks training session at 7:30 to breeze in company with stablemate Bajan Rum, who became pretty keyed up heading to and leaving the five-furlong pole. That seemed to have an unsettling effect on Midnight Bourbon as well, with his rider easing him back a couple of lengths behind his partner to begin. As a result, the team sped along rather quickly to the top of the stretch, with Midnight Bourbon posting a 35.18-second three-eighths split with the duo on even terms turning for home.

By that point, Midnight Bourbon had settled into a more comfortable stride, and he readily pulled clear of his company inside the sixteenth pole. Midnight Bourbon crossed the wire three lengths in front of a tiring Bajan Rum after a 59.58 five-furlong clocking and galloped out willingly enough into and around the clubhouse turn, completing six panels in 1:12.54 and easing up seveneighths in 1:25.84.

Otherwise, Monday was a morning for routine jogging and galloping, with the two most notable sightings coming before dawn when Derby favorite Essential Quality and his stablemate Mandaloun came out in the same set to jog one mile clockwise on the outer rail, just 48 hours removed from their serious works on Saturday. Caddo River, like Essential Quality and Mandaloun trained by Brad Cox, galloped shortly after the track opened at 5:15 a.m. His Derby status remains in question.

Known Agenda, Dynamic One, and Sainthood – three of Todd Pletcher’s four Derby contenders – galloped 1 1/2 miles at 7:30, getting back to regular business for the first time since having their penultimate works for the big event here last Friday. Bourbonic, the fourth of Pletcher’s Derby quartet, waited until after the second renovation break to do likewise.