Midnight Bisou breaks maiden in Santa Anita's Santa Ynez Stakes

By Jonathan Lintner

Beaten a nose by eventual Grade 1 winner Dream Tree in her two previous starts, Midnight Bisou dodged that foe and, as a result, is a maiden no more.

The newly turned 3-year-old daughter of Midnight Lute sat just off the pace and rallied in the lane to take Sunday's featured Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

A 9-5 second choice trained by Bill Spawr, Midnight Bisou completed seven furlongs in 1:23.40  under jockey Mike Smith and collected 10 qualifying points as well toward the 2018 Kentucky Oaks.

"I lost my voice a bit, but it feels pretty darn good," said Jeff Bloom, whose Bloom Racing Stable campaigns the filly along with Allen Racing. "Not a bad way to break your maiden. This filly -- Bill's been so patient with her. She's exhibited so much class and maturity, and so we really felt she deserved to be in a race like this."

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Midnight Bisou ran close to the pace, sat four wide leaving the turn but made the most of her room to run, quickly distancing to a 4 1/2-length win. Steph Being Steph beat Win the War for the second-place photo.

The trainer Spawr gave Smith one simple tip: "Don't be surprised if she's a whole lot closer than you think. She's pretty sharp, and it's OK if she is."

Smith's thoughts?

"I was really glad he told me that," he said, "because I was up there pretty close and, I really thought, up there too close. She's a really, really good mare, and she wants every bit of 7/8 and even farther."

Midnight Bisou was second to Dream Tree in both a maiden special weight event on Oct. 27 before getting the place in Del Mar’s Nov. 18 Desi Arnaz Stakes. Dream Tree was a next-out Grade 1 winner as well, moving to 3-for-3 in Los Alamitos' Starlet.

Artistic Diva, a 6-1 morning line choice, scratched from the inside post position, leaving a field of eight in the Santa Ynez.