Little Red Feather Racing’s Midnight Miley, with Rafael Hernandez in the irons, made every pole a winning one to make the grade in Sunday’s $156,100 Grade 3 Ontario Matron Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Julia Carey, Midnight Miley used a take no prisoners approach in the 1 1/16-mile Tapeta route leading through splits of :24.99, :48.88 and 1:12.98 as Sweater Weather and Minks Aprise chased her early foot.
Midnight Miley opened up an insurmountable 4 ½-length lead at the top of the lane as Moon Rainbow, up the rail under Eurico Rosa da Silva, and Miss Chatelaine, with Alan Garcia up down the centre of the track, rallied to no avail as Midnight Miley cruised to a four-length score at odds of 25-1. Miss Chatelaine won a place photo over Moon Rainbow. Midnight Miley covered 1 1/16-miles in 1:43.74. Flipcup, the 2-1 mutuel favourite, failed to fire and was eased before walking off under her own power.
David Moran, aboard London Tower, and da Silva, the pilot of Moon Rainbow, launched a claim of foul against the winner for veering in at the break which was dismissed by the stewards.
Midnight Miley won her first added-money race last September when she captured the La Lorgnette Stakes by a head. Carey admitted that although there were a few anxious moments after the race, she felt confident in the four-year-old Midnight Lute bay throughout.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw them so far in front and in slow fractions,” said Carey, who was taking her second graded stakes win, having previously won at the top flight with Disfuction in the 2008 edition of the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes. “She was doing so well, I would have been shocked if she hadn’t run a good race. It looked tough on paper, but it worked out.”
Midnight Miley, bred in Kentucky by Mark Seacrest, banked $90,000 in victory while improving her record to 5-1-1 from 14 starts
She paid $57.10, $21.40 and $7.70, combining with Miss Chatelaine ($6, $3.90) for a $380.20 (5-3) exactor. A 5-3-2 triactor (Moon Rainbow, $3.40 to show) was worth $1388, while a $1 Superfecta [5-3-2-7 (Hot Kiss)] came back $3374.65.
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