Midnight Visit had a dream run as the four-to-five favorite in the listed Love is Eternal Stakes at Aqueduct. The Todd Pletcher-trained daughter of Henny Hughes broke sharply and was asked by jockey Michael J. Luzzi to sit just two lengths of a fervent pace of :22.60 for the first quarter. The chestnut filly, the image of her muscular sire, tugged at the bit and tracked her peers while racing in the four lane; all the way around the turn.
She kept pace setter Those Lion Eyes within her reach and wore her down with every stride in the stretch to prevail by a half-length and score her first stakes victory in a time of 1:11 for six furlongs. From just four starts, she has collected $90,000 from three wins and a third.
Bred by Jerry Bilinski, DVM and Harry Patten, Midnight Visit, racing under the banner of Thoroughbred Futures Racing, broke her maiden by four-and-one-half lengths at first asking versus New York state-breds last November. A month later, she stepped up in conditions with virtually the same results, all the while proving her mettle in the test. She shook off a bad break and showed patience before being asked to shoot through an emerging hole at the rail. She brushed with a rival briefly and spurted away to a daylight lead. The tall, scopey chestnut kicked off her sophomore campaign by advancing to Black type in the restricted Proud Puppy Stakes at one mile-and-seventy yards where she was a head short of second place while finishing well ahead of Stakes winner Queen’s Harbor.
Consigned by Niall Brennan at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Calder select sale, Midnight Visit fetched $275,000 as the top-priced New York-bred two-year-old. Midnight visit’s dam is Open Window, by Trempolino, the brilliant winner of the prestigious Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at 2400 meters. Open Window has produced three winners including Grade Two-placed Wild Chick. Now a broodmare, Wild Chick has an Any Given Saturday two-year-old. Open Window is inbred 3X4 to the notable broodmare Victoria Regina, a half-sister to champions Victoria Park and Northern Queen.
The sire of 28 winners in his first crop, record-breaking World Champion Sprinter Henny Hughes is represented by another Aqueduct Stakes winner, record setting Fort Hughes, as well as Henny Hound, winner of the G3 Chunichi Sports Sho Falcon in Japan, and Stakes-placed Wealthy Aviator.
Henny Hughes is standing the 2011 season for a fee of $12,500, live foal, stand and nurses.
