Midnight Bisou, Quip target top Breeders' Cup qualifiers

Midnight Bisou, the country’s top older female after two stakes victories this year at Oaklawn, will make her next start in the Grade 1, $700,000 Ogden Phipps Stakes at 1 1/16 miles June 8 at Belmont Park, co-owner Jeff Bloom said.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Midnight Bisou won the Azeri (G2) March 16 and the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) on April 14 to remain perfect in three starts this year.

“She is at Churchill and settled in well to her main home base,” Bloom said. “Came out of her Apple Blossom performance in exceptional shape. She’s a different kind of animal. She’s so consistent and so reliable and so happy. She’s doing well here."

Midnight Bisou has posted two half-mile workouts at Churchill Downs since the Apple Blossom, including a :48.80 move Monday morning.

Close Hatches won the Azeri, Apple Blossom and Ogden Phipps in 2014 en route to an Eclipse Award as champion older female. Close Hatches is the dam of Tacitus, who was third in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

The Ogden Phipps is a “Win & You’re In” event for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Another major Oaklawn stakes winner, Quip, will “more than likely” make his next start in the $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap (G2) June 15 at Churchill Downs, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. The 1 1/8-mile Stephen Foster is a “Win & You’re In” event for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“The race is not a Grade 1 anymore, which is a shame,” Brisset said. “But it’s a “Win & You’re In” and it would be a good race to set him up for a Grade 1.”

In his return to Hot Springs, Quip recorded his biggest career victory to date in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 13. He also ran second in the Arkansas Derby (G1) in 2018.

Quip breezed a half-mile in :48.40 Monday morning at Keeneland, his second published work since winning the Oaklawn Handicap.