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Hall of Fame - Midnightconfession
Original article written by Leigh Ann Anderson posted 14 years 4 weeks agoHall of Fame inductee, Midnightconfession, is a horse who showed greatness on many levels. Bred and raced by Gerry Hardie, the chestnut was awarded the Simmy for both champion two year old and three year old colt. Midnightconfession won on both dirt and turf (he raced prior to all weather and steeplechasing in the SIM), at distances fro 4 ½ furlongs to 1 ½ miles in his three years on the track. He was also a standout as a breeding stallion, getting better than 75% winners and 13% stakes winners from foals sired.
The dam of Midnightconfession, Tears That Fall (Yokoa Cat x Fleet Candles) was not a standout racehorse. She faced the starter 8 times, only hitting the board once in the 6 furlong Maryland Million Lassie. When asked about her, Gerry Hardie stated that Tears That Fall had a very solid pedigree; and her dam, Fleet Candles, actually produced three millionaires and Yokoa Cat was a Storm Cat line stallion. When choosing a stallion for Tears That Fall, Hardie looked for nicks that worked, and found a likely choice in Serena Success. Obviously it worked.
Midnightconfession showed he was special in his debut, a 4 ½ furlong maiden event at Brooklyn Raceway. He won by eleven lengths, leaving his opponents behind at the far turn and not looking back. Three weeks later, Midnightconfession was entered in his first stakes race, the 5 furlong Mischief Maker Stakes at Futurity Park. Again, the chestnut colt turned in a dominating performance winning by seven lengths. Hardie brought his colt back next in the Grade 3 In Reality Stakes at Flamingo Park during week 8. This mile event proved an easy win as well, with Midnightconfession winning by 13 lengths. The colt came back two weeks later to win the one mile Flight of the Hero Stakes 2 Year by seven lengths. Next stop: Louisville for the 1 1/16 Steward's Cup Juvenile, which was the closest race that year for Midnightconfession. Hardie's chestnut won by a neck, sealing his bid for champion 2 year old colt. As a 2 year old, Midnightconfession won all five of his starts, by a combined 38 lengths, plus a neck and earned $1,032,000 in purses.
After a brief freshening, Midnightconfession came back in week 3 of year 12, with a win in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. He again devastated the field, winning by seven lengths, this time in come from behind fashion. Week 4 found Midnightconfession in Louisville for the Louisville Derby. Sadly, this would be Midnightconfession's only off the board finish in the entirely of his career, with the chestnut colt finishing a closing 4th behind Piece of the Moon, The Edge of Night and Storm a Fortress.
Given another short break, Hardie had his colt ready to race week 8 in the Queen's Derby, a Grade 1 event at Toronto Racecourse. Midnightconfession won this race by 1 ¼ lengths. He came right back the next week to claim the Grade 1 Prince of Peace by 3 ½ lengths, also in Toronto. And in week 10, Midnightconfession tackled the turf for the first time in the Grade 1 Canadian Breeders' Stakes, winning by 4 ½ lengths. This succession of races is well known, as it is the equivalent of the American Triple Crown in Canada. With that the Hardie's colt was wrapped up for the season and a 4 year old campaign was planned. As a three year old, Midnightconfession won on both dirt and turf, and compiled 4 Grade 1 wins from 5 starts, and earned $1,870,000, the Simmy for champion 3 year old colt and won the Canadian Triple Crown.
Arcadia Park was the location for Midnightconfession's first start as a four year old. In the Grade 1 Strub Stakes, he was beaten by a head by The Edge of Night after a troubled trip. Midnightconfession shipped to Desert Oasis Park for the Desert Sheema Classic Invitation Only, a Grade 1 race in the United Arab Emirates. Hardie's colt had to settle for second after running out of ground to catch the winner. Shipping back to Arcadia Park for the week 8 Oak Tree Turf Championship, a Grade 2 turf race, Midnightconfession turned in a dominating five length win. The colt then won the week 10 Canadian International Handicap, a Grade 1 turf race in Toronto, by two lengths. Midnightconfession's final start was the 1 ½ mile Steward's Cup Turf, where he finished third by ¾ of a length to Storm Trader and Change the Stars. As a four year old, Midnightconfession earned $1,140,000. He won 2 stars, was second twice and had a third place finish from his five starts as a four year old.
In his three years on the racetrack, Midnightconfession earned $3,742,000 and retired with a record of 15: 11-2-1. Eight of his wins were dirt races, and he was never off the board while racing on the turf. He won ten stakes races, six of those were Grade 1 events.
Midnightconfession's story does not end there. About half way through his four year old season, Gerry Hardie and Brianna McKenzie struck a deal whereby McKenzie would purchase Midnighconfession for stud duty after his racing days were complete. In a deal that swapped a significant amount of SIM cash ($30 million dollars, the most paid for a horse up to that time) and put the future multi millionaire Glass Tiger in Hardie's barn Midnightconfession was retired to McKenzie's stallion roster.
As a stallion, McKenzie's new purchase did not disappoint. At the time of this writing, Midnightconfession's foals have earned in excess of $24 million dollars on the racetrack. He has 168 winners from 212 foals to race. Midnightconfession has 26 stakes winners on the flat, and 2 steeplechase stakes winners. He has gotten foals that win on all surfaces represented in the SIM. Midnightconfession has three horses to earn over a million dollars, the full siblings Whileaworldsleeps (a wonderful gelding) and A World Awakened and his number two earner was produced by none other than Piece of the Moon who defeated him in the Louisville Derby.
I believe that Gerry Hardie sums up Midnightconfession beautifully when he said, "“I am just happy that my homebred has such a great legacy and that Brianna (McKenzie) took a great canvas and turned in into a 'Work of Art.'”"