Arnold Zetcher’s Midnight Interlude became the 14th Grade 1 winner for the Eddie Woods training program with his tenacious victory in the $1,000,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 9.
 
The 3-year-old homebred also stamped his ticket to Louisville with the scintillating victory in the West’s most important and lucrative Kentucky Derby prep.
 
Ridden to victory by Derby-winning reinsman Victor Espinoza, Midnight Interlude became the record sixth Santa Anita Derby winner for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Espinoza and Baffert already teamed up to win the Kentucky Derby in 2002 with War Emblem.
 
Baffert told the media after the race, “I never won a Santa Anita Derby with a horse off a maiden race like this, but he was training well and his last race was a great race…you don’t try and get too excited about it. But the Zetchers tonight, they can get excited.”
 
Espinoza told the press, “I think distance is not a problem for this horse—I think it’s even better for him. He’s still learning, and still hasn’t given 100 percent of what he has. He ran an unbelievable race today.”

Midnight Interlude’s sire, War Chant, won the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) at Churchill Downs, and his dam, Midnight Kiss, ran third in the Classic New Zealand Oaks (G1).
 
Midnight Interlude is one of at least 48 Graded stakes winners for Eddie Woods Training Center. Woods’ program has already produced a Kentucky Derby winner (Big Brown, in 2008), and in 2010, two graduates were in the starting gate, including Make Music For  Me, who ran fourth to Super Saver.