Midnight Interlude may have failed but he is a winner says Bob Bafferet
The Preakness Stakes victory was redemption for Shackleford, who finished fourth behind Animal Kingdom, which means there will be no Triple Crown attempt at the Belmont Stakes this season.
However, another intriguing candidate for both the races was the Bob Baffert trained, Santa Anita Derby winner, Midnight Interlude.
The 3-year-old War Chant colt wilted in both Triple Crown opening legs, as he finished a distant 16th in the Kentucky Derby and a non-threatening 13th in the Preakness Stakes.
Midnight Interlude is owned and bred by Arnold Zetcher, who on his return to Southern California made an astonishing announcement, saying, “I think we’ll wait a little bit and get refreshed. We’re talking about the grass as a real possibility”.
Out of Midnight Kiss by Groom Dancer, Midnight Interlude has so far run on dirt in her 2nd year of racing, and managed a maiden special weight race at about a mile in his third attempt at Santa Anita Park.
His biggest achievement on dirt was in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby over a distance of 1 1/8 miles, where under Victor Espinoza, Midnight Interlude battled for the lead right from the outset and went through and through to win the race.
So, a statement coming from Arnold Zetcher, that switching Midnight Interlude from dirt to turf after two bad starts in the Triple Crown against the best runners seems a little premature and harsh on the colt.
Baffert believes that his colt failed in the Kentucky Derby for a reason, the reason being that he was figuring out how to race, or probably had trouble coping with a 1 ¼ mile distance which he is not accustomed to.
Shot at the Preakness Stakes was a reasonable decision by Bob Baffert, mainly because of the shorter distance at the Pimlico, and probably after one bad race he wasn’t going to switch surfaces.
Midnight Interlude wasn’t up to mark in the Preakness Stakes as well, as he was the first of the protagonists to wilt and couldn’t muster up any pace to conceal his inexperience at the higher level.
Owner Arnold Zetcher was disappointed with the colt’s performance and said, “It’s almost like he didn’t run in those races, both of those races were disappointing. We thought he looked good going in. I wish we had better luck with those races”.
Midnight Interlude’s pedigree had excelled on grass, as War Chant won the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Turf in 2000 and Midnight Kiss was a sharp runner on grass as well, and switching to grass might start a new chapter for this promising young runner.
Midnight Interlude has gone on to win twice out of his 6 starts and has earned $649,680 so far.
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