Midnight Bourbon to skip Belmont Stakes

Preakness Stakes runner-up Midnight Bourbon will skip the Belmont Stakes and will point to races in mid- to late summer, according to Sunday's Belmont Park Barn Notes.

Races under consideration include the $1 million Haskell (G1) on July 17 at Monmouth Park or the $600,000 Jim Dandy (G2) on July 30 at Saratoga, said David Fiske, racing and bloodstock advisor for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds.

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“He came out of the Preakness great, but he may have put the groundskeepers out of a job he was eating so much grass,” Fiske quipped. “He shipped back to Churchill and has been jogging great. There aren’t any big target races after the Belmont prior to the Jim Dandy or Haskell, so we’ll focus on those races for now.”

Winchell still could be represented on Belmont Stakes Day by red-hot Silver State in the $1 million Metropolitan Handicap (G1).

Silver State would bring a five-race win streak to New York for the Met Mile for Winchell and Asmussen. Owned by Winchell in partnership with Willis Horton Racing, the 4-year-old Hard Spun colt was given an extended break following a run in the series of Kentucky Derby prep races at Fair Grounds Race Course last year and has done no wrong since returning to action.

After two allowance triumphs at seven furlongs at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, Silver State began building a prominent resume with a trio of stakes victories at Oaklawn Park this winter, capturing the Fifth Season on Jan. 23, the Essex on March 13, and the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) on April 17.

“We’ve got the Met Mile under consideration,” Fiske said. “He went seven-eighths in 1:21 and some change when he won at Churchill, so we feel that anything around seven-eighths to a mile and an eighth would be within his ability.”

Should he make the trip to New York for the Met Mile, Silver State would aim to give Asmussen his third victory in the prestigious race. He previously won back-to-back editions with Bee Jersey (2018) and Mitole (2019).

Fiske added that dual graded stakes-placed Whiskey Double could ship to Belmont Park later in the summer for the $250,000 Dwyer (G3) on July 5 if performs well in a Thursday allowance race at Churchill Downs. The son of Into Mischief was second in the Bay Shore (G3) at Aqueduct before finishing third to stable mate Jackie’s Warrior in the Pat Day Mile (G2) at Churchill Downs.