Midnight Bisou

According to a report in the Racing Post, jockey Mike Smith has been given a nine-day suspension and fined more than $200,000 for excessive use of the whip aboard Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), the runner-up in Saturday's Saudi Cup. The fine is the largest ever handed down to a jockey for a riding infraction. Under Saudi racing rules covering the Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 cards, a jockey is permitted to strike a horse no more than 10 times. The stewards ruled that Smith struck Midnight Bisou 14 times. He...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - The anticipation continued to build ahead of the $29-million Saudi Cup card, with a large crowd of locals and visitors on hand Thursday to watch contenders gallop over the mammoth King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh two days before the country's biggest-ever day of horse racing. Among the Americans on hand trackside on a chilly morning which quickly turned warmer as the sun rose was West Point Thoroughbreds' Terry Finley and bloodstock agent Bruno DeBerdt. "I've been to Dubai a couple of times, but I was really...

They traveled thousands of miles to get there, but the four main American contenders will all start within feet of each other in Saturday's inaugural $20-million Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh after post positions were drawn Wednesday evening in Saudi Arabia. Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing's champion filly Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) will break from post six, while 2019 champion 3-year-old Maximum Security (New Year's Day) will break from post seven and Bob Baffert stablemates Mucho Gusto (Much Macho Man) and McKinzie (Street Sense)...

They traveled thousands of miles to get there, but the four main American contenders will all start within feet of each other in Saturday's inaugural $20-million Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh after post positions were drawn Wednesday evening in Saudi Arabia. Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing's champion filly Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) will break from post six, while 2019 champion 3-year-old Maximum Security (New Year's Day) will break from post seven and Bob Baffert stablemates Mucho Gusto (Much Macho Man) and McKinzie (Street Sense)...

Live coverage of the inaugural $20-million Saudi Cup from the King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia airs Saturday, Feb. 29 at noon Eastern on FS1. Featuring a strong U.S. presence with Maximum Security (New Year's Day), Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), McKinzie (Street Sense), Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man) and Tacitus (Tapit) scheduled to compete, the nine-furlong event is the world's richest race. FOX Sports is the exclusive broadcast provider of The Saudi Cup in the United States, where the telecast will air from noon-1:00 p.m. Eastern with limited commercial...

Studying political science at college, the only Constitution she might have expected to see put to the test right now was the one that opens with the words, "We the people..." As it is, Shannon Castagnola just feels relief that fate diverted her from her original vocation, to chronicle impeachments or caucuses, and instead afforded her a professional stake in one of the frontrunners for the highest sophomore office of 2020. Castagnola is the Director of Marketing and Client Relations at Woodford Thoroughbreds, the farm that bred and raised Independence...

Repole and St. Elias Stable's Vino Rosso had his share of ups and downs throughout the 2019 racing season, however, he rounded out the year, as well as his racing career, in rousing fashion with an authoritative 4 1/4-length victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Nov. 2. After launching 2019 with a score in the one-mile Stymie S. last March, the chestnut was fourth in the seven-panel GI Carter H., but showed his obvious affinity for the added yardage with a 3/4-length win over Gift Box...

A total of 902 horses, with 1,774 nominations between them, threw their collective hats in the ring for the 25th $35-million Dubai World Cup night card at Meydan on Mar. 28. Among the leading hopefuls are Japanese Horse of the Year and 2019 G1 Dubai Turf heroine Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}); America's 2019 Horse of the Year candidate and MGISW Maximum Security (New Year's Day); last year's G1 Investec Derby hero Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}); Hong Kong superstar and outstanding miler Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to...

The inaugural US$29.2-million Saudi Cup program, to be held at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in the capital of Riyadh Saturday, Feb. 29, has attracted 964 entries from connections of horses from all corners of the globe. The meeting's centerpiece is the $20-million Saudi Cup at 1800 meters on dirt and attracted over 140 nominations from 60 different trainers from four continents, representing 16 countries. The world's richest horse race has entries from Argentina, Bahrain, Japan, Korea, Poland and Turkey, but American runners figure to take all the beating. Midnight Bisou (Midnight...

The comeback of Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) will enter a new phase next week when the Eclipse Award-winning mare returns to the racetrack. Trainer Brad Cox said Monomoy Girl will be sent shortly to his stable at the Fair Grounds on or about Jan. 15. Her appearance at the Fair Grounds will mark a major step forward for a horse that has not raced since winning the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff on Nov. 3, 2018. The connections had planned on running her in 2019, but a couple of relatively small problems...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Back when the New York Racing Association announced its bold new initiative for 3-year-old turf horses in the summer, a trio of big-money events dubbed the "Turf Trinity," many quipped that it would quickly be reconsidered as the "Chad Brown Trinity", due to the perennial leading trainer's particular dominance with grass horses. It only took one race in the series, however, to throw a wrench in that assumption, as longshot Henley's Joy (Kitten's Joy) upset the Belmont Derby at over 20-1 for Jeff Bloom's Bloom Racing Stable and...

Fans at Monmouth Park for Saturday's GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational will be treated to a look at a multiple Grade I winner on the undercard, as Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing's Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) towers over seven rivals in the GIII Molly Pitcher S. Never out of the trifecta in 15 outings, the dark bay captured the GI Santa Anita Oaks before running third in last spring's GI Kentucky Oaks. Romping in the GII Mother Goose S., she rebounded from a dull third in the GI...