Midnight Edition (NZ) (Wrote) narrowly missed out on a feature three-year-old crown in December and he’ll have a shot at redemption in a fortnight after defeating a quality field at Te Rapa on Sunday.
Midnight Edition caused a major market upset when dead-heating the Gr.2 Auckland Guineas (1400m) on Boxing Day, but was relegated to second position after an enquiry by the connections of Yaldi. The son of Wrote has been tested at a range of difference distances this campaign, but has found his sweet spot at 1200m, the distance he faced in the Forsman Racing 3YO (1200m).
Yaldi, Celestial Wonder and She’s Untouchable were all well-back runners in the race, but the latter dipped heavily at the start before recovering to settle on the rail in third, while Celestial Wonder took the lead inside of Midnight Edition.
Yaldi over-raced fiercely in the second half of the field and ended up three-wide, giving the two leaders a big head-start as they turned for home. Both Celestial Wonder and Midnight Edition kicked strongly at the top of the straight and fought it out all the way to the post, with Midnight Edition just finding the edge late to score by a half-head in the hands of Warren Kennedy.
The big impresser in third was Whiskey ‘N Roses, who bounced back into the form that he produced when finishing second behind Savaglee in the Gr.2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) in October.
Bruce Wallbank, who trains the gelding at Pukekohe, was rapt with the performance heading towards the Gr.3 Windsor Park Stud Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) at the Hamilton venue on April 26.
“He’s a very good horse, people don’t realise how good he is,” he said.
“We’re setting him for the Group Three and that’s what we want to win. He’s had one gallop since his last race so that’s not too bad is it?
“We always give him a week or ten days off, but he’s tightened up now and they’ll know he’s in the race next week.
“(After the Breeders), he’ll be turned out for six weeks, then look out for him next year.”
In his first season of racing, Midnight Edition has won three of 12 starts with three minor placings, accumulating just shy of $125,000 in stakes earnings. He was bred by Aston Racing and is raced by Wallbank, alongside his wife Raelyn and son Mark.
He is out of Wallbank’s two-win mare Midnight Gossip, who finished fourth in the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and has also produced Australian stakes winner Midnight Mass.