Page 34 - October 2015

All American Juvenile
BV MIDNITE EXPRESS
by Tracy Gantz
Ruidoso Downs doubled the purse of the All American Juvenile this year to $200,000, which succeeded in its purpose. Horses who
just missed qualifying for the All American Futurity-G1 stuck around for the Juvenile, including winner BV Midnite Express.
“The Juvenile in itself was a pretty tough little futurity,” said Fred Helmuth. “Pretty well everybody who could, got back in because they raised it to $200,000. We had looked at some other options, but when you’re already there and we saw that it was a $200,000 race, you might as well go ahead and run in it.”
Helmuth and his wife, Carolyn, bred
and own BV Midnite Express in the name
of their Bella Vista Farms. The gelding had already captured a rich race when he won the $1,170,000 Heritage Place Futurity-G1 earlier in the year at Remington Park.
After that race, the Helmuths and trainer Eddie Lee (Bubba) Willis pointed BV Midnite Express to the All American Futurity trials. He
drew into a trial on the first day, Aug. 21, with One Fabulous Eagle, who turned out to be the fastest qualifier from either day and who ran second in the All American Futurity itself.
“We were needing the kind of
race in the trials that we got in the Juvenile, and we didn’t get it,” said Helmuth. “He hadn’t run since the Heritage, and we just couldn’t find a race to put him in. So, all we could do was work him. That’s not the same as a race.”
BV Midnite Express ran second to One Fabulous Eagle by 1 3/4-lengths in their trial. That set up the Helmuth’s gelding for an excellent performance in the Juvenile. With regular rider Russel Hadley aboard, he broke fourth while Perrys Stamina went to the lead. It didn’t take long for BV Midnite Express to catch up. He not only passed horses, he held off the closers to win by 3/4-length in :21.588.
The Helmuths were delighted with the vic- tory and had high praise for Willis’ organization.
“Bubba is excep- tional when it comes to taking care of the
horses,” said Fred. “That’s all he ever wanted to do—be a trainer. I’m proud to be with him.” While the Helmuths live in Illinois, they bred BV Midnite Express in Oklahoma from
the mare Ms Tres Seis. They purchased the second dam, Ms Dash Beduino, at a Heritage Place sale. The two fillies they got from Ms Dash Beduino have been the cornerstone of their breeding operation.
An injury curtailed Ms Tres Seis’ racing career, and she only started three times, win- ning once. But she has more than made up for that as a broodmare.
“She’s quite a mare,” said Fred. “I can’t say enough good things about her. We’ve run
32 SPEEDHORSE, October 2015
All American Juvenile connections include owner Bella Vista Farms, trainer Eddie Lee Willis & jockey Russel Hadley
Ruidoso Downs $200,000 • 440 yards :21.588 • si 88
PYC Paint Your Wagon
Freighttrain B
Dianetogetcha
BV MIDNITE EXPRESS, ’13-g.
Tres Seis
Ms Tres Seis
Ms Dash Beduino
Linda Earley Photography