Midnight Lute Repeats In BC Sprint
Real Quiet's Five-Year-Old Son Makes BC Race History
Oct 27, 2008
Five-year-old Midnight Lute overcame injury and a light racing schedule this year to score a repeat in the Breeders' Cup World Championships $2 Million Sprint. Midnight Lute is a son of Real Quiet, the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes champion who fell just shy of winning the Triple Crown.
In the 25-year history of the Breeders' Cup World Championships Sprint, no competitor had collected a back-to-back win, or even repeated a title, until MIdnight Lute broke the spell with a gutsy lane rush that propelled him to the stakes win in record time. He passed runners one by one coming six wide off the turn from last position to catch Fatal Bullet, who had opened a 1-3/4 lengths advantage in the six furlong event.
Lute's time was 1:07.08 over the Pro-Ride synthetic surface that had reportedly heated up to 146 degrees in the 86-degree Santa Anita sunshine. The heat didn't stop the horse's white-haired trainer, Bob Baffert, from enthusiastic fist-pumping as Lute cruised faster and faster through the stretch to hit the wire first.
Baffert Reentered Horse Despite Tough History
Baffert was taking a second shot at repeating in the Sprint. In 1993, he entered Thirty Slews, who had won the Sprint the previous year. Thirty Slews went fourth in the '93 Sprint.
The Sprint has seen such champions as D. Wayne Lukas-trained Gulch and Orientate, Todd Pletcher's Speightstown and Richard Dutrow, Jr.'s Silver Train, and Frank Alexander's Cherokee Run. But none were two-time champions.
Midnight Lute's Difficult Year Ended Right
Last year, Midnight Lute ended his year with a smashing Sprint victory of 4-3/4 lengths in the Monmouth Park slop. He picked up an Eclipse Award as champion sprinter.
This year was different and difficult. Midnight Lute grabbed a quarter in his only race previous to the Breeders' Cup Sprint. The great black giant finished 10th in the Pat O'Brien Hamdicap (G2) in August.
The quarter injury was treated successfully, but it kept Midnight Lute on the sidelines for six weeks.
A special shoe, with a quarter bend to fit past the "patch" applied to Midnight Lute's hoof, was applied for the Sprint. It held up in the soft Pro-Ride synthetics, and Midnight Lute fairly glided to his second straight title.
History of the Breeders' Cup Sprint
Winners of the BC Sprint include:
2008 -- Midnight Lute; 2007 -- Midnight Lute; 2006 -- Thor's Echo; 2005 -- Silver Train; 2004 -- Speightstown; 2003 -- Cajun Beat; 2002 -- Orientate; 2001 -- Squirtie Squirt; 2000 -- Kona Gold; 1999 -- Artax; 1998 -- Reraise; 1997 -- Elmhurst; 1996 -- Lit de Justice; 1995 -- Desert Stormer; 1994 -- Cherokee Run; 1993 -- Cardmania; 1992 -- Thirty Slews; 1991 -- Sheikh Albadou; 1990 -- Safely Kept; 1989 -- Dancing Spree; 1988 -- Gulch; 1987 -- Very Subtle; 1986 -- Smile; 1985 -- Precisionist; 1984 -- Eillo.
