Midshipman , the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) winner in 2008 and champion 2-year-old colt that year, returned to his winning ways Feb. 25 in an allowance race at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
Owned by Godolphin and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Midshipman was coming off a fourth-place finish in the Maktoum Challenge Round 1 (UAE-III) Jan. 28 at Meydan in his 4-year-old debut. The son of Unbridled's Song looked much sharper this time out, racing mid-pack through the early going before taking over in the final furlong and drawing away to a 3 1/4-length win under Frankie Dettori. The final time for seven furlongs over the Tapeta surface was 1:23.39. Asset, also trained by Suroor, was runner-up.
“We think he is a (Dubai) World Cup night horse so we needed to get him back to winning ways,” Suroor said. “He ran well enough in the Al Maktoum Challenge and hopefully he can progress from this.”
Midshipman, who was a close third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) at Santa Anita in November, improved to 5-1-1 from eight starts and has now earned $1,584,600. Bred in Kentucky by Stonerside Stable, he is out of the Avenue of Flags mare Fleet Lady.