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Midday shines brightly in Filly & Mare Turf

Midday became just the third sophomore to win, following Banks Hill and Ouija Board (Tara Gregg/Horsephotos.com) Legendary British horseman Henry Cecil has trained the winners of 35 classics over the course of his illustrious career, but not until Group 1 star MIDDAY (GB) (Oasis Dream [GB]) powered to victory in Friday's $1,818,000 Filly & Mare Turf (G1) did he hoist his first Breeders' Cup trophy. Under a heady ride by young jockey Tom Queally, the Juddmonte Farms homebred drove through to the inside of fellow Juddmonte runner Visit (GB) (Oasis Dream [GB]) in midstretch and kicked away to establish her supremacy. Midday had a comfortable length to spare over the late-running Pure Clan (Pure Prize), with defending champion Forever Together (Belong to Me) closing mildly for third. The winning sophomore reeled off 1 1/4 miles on Santa Anita's firm turf in 1:59 and furnished mutuels of $6.60, $4.80 and $3 as the 2-1 second choice. "It was lovely," Cecil said. "I did fancy Father Time (GB) (Dansili [GB]) in the Marathon, but he just didn't seem to let himself go at all (and wound up a distant sixth), so I was wondering what was going to happen here. It's a relief. It's great for the Prince (Khalid Abdullah). He has been a great supporter of mine. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here now.

"I was quite happy. They suddenly quickened up a bit, and when (Queally) asked her, she moved through nicely. She finishes well, and she gets the trip well. When she hit the front, I think she thought she had just enough for the end, and she had."

"The biggest win of my career -- undoubtedly," said Queally, a 25-year-old native of County Waterford, Ireland. "She hit a flat spot over on the backside, and I had to get after her. She has a top gear that is really something, but we had to find it. When she quickens, it's just a dream. I saw lots of rails all the way around. It was a dream run. Nine times out of 10 it won't work out that way for you, but today was the day. I am over the moon."

In the early going, Midday settled in fifth as Visit strode to the lead through an opening quarter in :24. Dynaforce (Dynaformer) advanced to press the issue through a half in :48 4/5, with Rutherienne (Pulpit) in third and Maram (Sahm) in fourth.

As Visit injected more pace on the backstretch, getting six furlongs in 1:12 4/5, Midday improved her position along the rail and was a stalking third through one mile in 1:36. By this point, Visit had put away Dynaforce for good, but Midday was poised to strike turning for home. When Queally asked her in earnest in the stretch, Midday found another gear and drew clear of a stubborn Visit.

Pure Clan, who had been near the back early, eventually followed the winner's path through on the inside, but her rally was too little, too late to trouble a long-gone Midday. The runner-up gave back $7.80 and $4 at 7-1 and ended the $26.80 exacta ($1).

"(Pure Clan) came home great," rider Garrett Gomez said. "She actually surprised me that she was coming home as well as she was because the last sixteenth of a mile it was like I'd put some new gas in the machine. I actually just accelerated, and it's been a while since I've seen one do that after going a mile. She really kicked it into a nice over-gear for us and she ran good -- too bad I couldn't get her going sooner.

"(Trainer Bob Holthus) told me to ride her away from there and I couldn't get her to hook up. I couldn't get her to really do a whole lot. I couldn't get her on her feet enough, and I thought she's done this as many times as I have, so let her show me the way and hopefully sooner or later she'll help me, and she did. But that last sixteenth of a mile was pretty amazing."

Although Forever Together, last of eight for the first nine furlongs, delivered her customary late charge on the outside, she couldn't make an impression on the top two and settled for third. The slight 2-1 favorite crossed the wire 1 1/4 lengths adrift of Pure Clan and yielded $2.40 to show.

"I warned him (jockey Julien Leparoux) in the paddock that I didn't see much pace here, and told him you might want to be a little closer," said Jonathan Sheppard, Forever Together's trainer. "I was very concerned after a quarter-mile that she was too far back. She made her run, she always does, but from an almost impossible position."

"On the backside, I asked her a little bit just to stay with them," Leparoux recapped. "She made a good move from the three-eighths to the wire. I don't know, maybe she has lost a step, but not much. She just wasn't good enough today."

Forever Together had a neck to spare over Visit, who staved off Magical Fantasy (Diesis [GB]) by a nose to save fourth. The $1 trifecta was worth $95, and the $1 superfecta totaled $536.50 (6-5-2-1). Maram, Rutherienne and Dynaforce rounded out the order of finish.

Midday is the latest performer from her outstanding family (Tara Gregg/Horsephotos.com) With the $1,080,000 winner's windfall, Midday has joined the millionaires' club, sporting $1,565,655 in earnings from her 11-4-2-3 line. A steadily-improving type at two last season, the bay broke her maiden by a nose in her third start and concluded her campaign with a fourth in the Montrose Fillies S. Midday made her 2009 debut versus males in a conditions race at Epsom, where she finished an encouraging second, but took a massive leap forward when romping by six lengths in the Lingfield Oaks Trial. Midday then lined up in the Oaks (Eng-G1) and traveled beautifully until being hampered at the top of the straight. She recovered and knuckled down bravely in a protracted duel with the highly-touted Sariska (Pivotal), only to come up short by a head. Midday took her on again in the Irish Oaks (Ire-G1), but failed to handle the desperately soft ground and came home 7 1/2 lengths behind Sariska in third. On a better variety of soft going in the Nassau S. (Eng-G1) at Goodwood, Midday earned her first top-level score by an impressive 2 1/4 lengths from Rainbow View (Dynaformer). Midday was reportedly not quite fit when contesting the Prix de l'Opera (Fr-G1) last out off a two-month holiday. She made her move to strike the front in the stretch, but tired and was relegated to third.

Bred in Great Britain, Midday is out of the English stakes-placed Midsummer (Kingmambo), who is herself a half-sister to eight stakes performers -- chief among them Oaks heroine and English highweight Reams of Verse (Nureyev), as well as multiple Group 1 victor and Irish highweight Elmaamul (Diesis [GB]). Interestingly, Reams of Verse is the second dam of Group 1-placed Zacinto (GB) (Dansili [GB]), who will fly the flag for Juddmonte in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Mile (G1).

This is also the family of Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) hero and multiple highweight Zafonic (Gone West); Group 3 winner Zamindar (Gone West), the sire of unbeaten champion Zarkava; and Regal Parade (Pivotal), who captured the Sprint Cup (Eng-G1) at Haydock on September 5.

Plans call for Midday to stay in training, and possibly defend her title in next year's Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs.

More Breeders' Cup Recaps:

Take Charge Brandi upsets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at 61-1

30-1 Karakontie lives up to pedigree in Mile

Bayern survives inquiry to win Breeders' Cup Classic

Dayatthespa proves uncatchable in Filly & Mare Turf

Judy the Beauty holds on at wire in Filly & Mare Sprint

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