Midnight Moover raced neck and neck with the wind in his one and only start because there certainly weren’t any opponents to deal with.
On August 29 the two-year-old, who will run in Saturday’s Alberta Breeders’ Fall Classic program, turned in a devastating performance. Even if jockey Alex Marti had a telescope he wouldn’t have been able to see another horse.
Midnight Moover won by 12 1/4 lengths. And that was only because Marti never even had to shake the reins. Otherwise Lord only knows how far he would have won by. One shudders just to think about it.
“It looked like he still had some run left in him at the finish line,” said trainer William Leech which is like saying boxer Muhammad Ali had something left when he knocked out Sonny Liston in about two seconds with the so-called phantom punch in 1965.
Mesmerizing.
But true.
Is Midnight Moover for real? Was his career debut a portent of something very special? We’ll find out soon when he contests just his second race in the Alberta Premier’s Futurity - the first of seven stakes races at Century Mile for a total purse of $420,000 on the 30th anniversary of the anticipated card.
“Was his first race some kind of a fluke?” said Leech. “Only time will tell.
“He certainly looked very impressive. Alex was anchored on him. He’s the best thoroughbred I’ve ever trained,” said Leech, who has won 900 quarter horse races - more races and more money than any quarter horse trainer in Canada. But he also has a couple of thoroughbreds.
“He’s the best horse I’ve ever ridden,” echoed Marti, who as well as riding for Leech, works in the barn - especially with Midnight Moover - to help out Leech in the mornings.
“Alex did a lot with this colt,” said Leech.
“Midnight Moover is the real deal,” said Randy Cunningham, a former jockey, who was the leading quarter horse rider in Canada twice, and who picked out Midnight Moover at last year’s Alberta Yearling Sale buying him for $17,000 and then selling him to Shawn Vander Heydn and Lyle Adams.
“Alex didn’t ask him for anything in his debut,” said Cunningham, who buys and sells horses and runs heavy equipment.
“He did it so easily,” added Leech. “He’s a nice-bodied horse. Well put together and nicely balanced.
“When he’s galloping his leg action is so good. His feet barely touch the ground. He doesn’t spend much time on the ground.
“From Day 1 he acted like a mature race horse. He does whatever we ask. More speed? You got it.”
And you have to remember that all of this praise comes from a horse that has only raced once.
Maybe the best part of this story is that Midnight Moover is owned by two hard working friends - Vander Heydn and Adams - that decided over a couple of beers that maybe they should try buying a horse at the 2024 Alberta Yearling Sale.
They previously owned a couple of decent but cheap thoroughbreds certainly not in the calibre of Midnight Moover: JJs Caper and Seeket Sauce.
JJ’s Caper, a steady performer, has won four races in 23 starts and is running on Saturday in a stakes race in Lethbridge, near Vander Heydn and Adams' hometown of Picture Butte.
But JJ’s Caper has only won $59,000.
Seeket Sauce, now retired, won two of 13 starts for earnings of $13,562.
Midnight Moover, who has a full brother in the upcoming Alberta Yearling Sale, can win more than three times as much with a win in the Premier's.
“We’re all very excited,” said Adams. “Shawn and I have been told that he has great potential. We’re both really new to the sport.
“I guess we’ll find out what we have or don’t have in a few days. I wish the race was tomorrow. It’s been a lot of fun so far.
“Honestly we’re going into this race cautiously optimistic. We’ll be grateful for whatever happens.”
It’s not like Midnight Moover will be facing a weak group. These are the best Alberta-breds in the province.
Careless Knights won his debut too. By seven and a half lengths. Bizness Letter lost his only start by a nose. Iwannabearockstar has won. So has Patriot’s Word. And then there are some first-timers who have been working well - like Just Like Rex.
The first thing Adams and Vander Heydn had to do was find a place and a trainer for this yearling.
“Randy recommended sending Midnight Moover to Jim and Amber Meyaard, who run Starline Racing, to break,” said Vander Heydn. “They did a great job.”
But then the Meyaards have always been doing that winning two Canadian Derbies (No Hesitation in 2010 and Ready Intaglio in 2016) and having one of the highest win percentages in Alberta year after year.
“And then we needed a trainer. Randy pointed us to William and he agreed to train him.
“Both Shawn and I were so impressed with William, his barn and how well his horses are treated,” Adams said of the trainer who has won 35 quarter horse training titles and runs a family operation with his daughter, Haley Moreno and her husband Ricardo Moreno all involved.
Midnight Moover is by Fed Biz, who won several stakes in California, and is out of Anstrom, who won several stakes races in Alberta. Anstrom’s sire is Rosberg, who won the Premier's Handicap at B.C.’s Hastings Park.
“I really like his dam’s side,” said Cunningham. “Midnight Moover was meant to be something.”
Maybe even something really special.
“It all started with a couple of beers at Lethbridge’s racetrack, said Adams. “That’s where we met Randy and we got started talking.
“Soon we were talking about buying a yearling.
“The rest is history.”
Then again, maybe not. Midnight Moover’s history is really Saturday and the rest of his racing career.
“I guess it happens once in a while. We got lucky it seems. Maybe a little beginner’s luck.”
STOCK REPORT - Showcasing the best Alberta-bred thoroughbreds as well as the Premier's Futurity, the other six stakes are the Beaufort for three-year-olds; the Alberta Fall Classic Distaff where two-time Horse of the Year Big Hug is expected to dominate; the Alberta Breeders’ with Papichulo; the Red Diamond Express which is wide open; the Sturgeon River for two-year-old fillies where Socialization looked very sharp winning her only race and the Alberta Oaks for three-year-old fillies led by stakes placed Sixty Six and speedster Hiway Fortynine.
Lindsay Ward, marketing and communications coordinator for the Alberta division of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (CTHS) said in a release “The Alberta Breeders’ Fall Classic was created with a straightforward purpose: to provide a major race day devoted to celebrating and promoting the Alberta-bred Thoroughbred.
“The idea originated with four Alberta racing leaders who held key industry positions at the time — Les Butler, Race Manager at Northlands; Jim Thompson, President of the CTHS; John Fowlis, Race Manager at Stampede Park; and Rennie Gellner, General Manager of the CTHS Alberta Division.
“For its 30th running, the Alberta Breeders’ Fall Classic will build on those agricultural roots in a major new way with the launch of the Alberta Heritage Series — an ambitious new initiative bringing horse racing, Alberta-made whisky and local enterprise together on one provincial stage.
“The milestone race day will expand its celebration of Alberta with the inaugural Alberta Heritage Series Showcase and an Alberta Made Market featuring more than 30 local businesses, highlighting the connection between Alberta agriculture, horse racing and local enterprise.
“Together, the Alberta Heritage Series, Alberta Made Market and Alberta-bred racing will make the 30th Fall Classic more than a showcase of what Alberta races — it will become a showcase of what Alberta grows, produces and creates.”
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Inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.