Kentucky Derby Profile: Midnight Bourbon

Midnight Bourbon

Trainer: Steve Asmussen

Owner: Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC

Breeder: Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC

Jockey: Mike Smith

Sire: Tiznow Dam: Catch the Moon by Malibu Moon

Midnight Bourbon won or placed in all three Road to the Kentucky Derby preps held at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots this season. He opened his 3-year-old campaign with a frontrunning one-length victory in the Jan. 16 Lecomte, finished third in the Feb. 13 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2), and last out was second in the March 20 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2). Asmussen has won the Preakness twice, the Belmont, the Dubai World Cup, and seven Breeders’ Cups but in 21 tries, the sixth most attempts in history, the Kentucky Derby has eluded him. Many of the horses he’s led over have been owned by longtime clients, the Winchell Family. Starting with the late patriarch Verne Winchell and now owned and managed by son Ron Winchell, the family is 0-for-13 in the race.

Running Style: On the Pace

As for position, Midnight Bourbon likes to race up on the pace and there is a lot of speed in the Derby field. But he is bred to stay the trip as his sire, 2000 Horse of the Year Tiznow, won back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Classics in 2000-01 and his maternal line descend from 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. Midnight Bourbon was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet and brought $525,000 as a yearling in the Keeneland September sale … His dam, Catch the Moon, was unraced but has excelled as a broodmare. All four of her foals of racing age and half-siblings to Midnight Bourbon are winners and three are graded stakes winners, including Grade 1 winner Girvin, who earned $1.625 million on the track