Midnight Mammoth led every step of the way in the $100,000 Cougar II Stakes (G3) July 25 at Del Mar to give rider Armando Ayuso his first graded stakes victory and trainer Craig Dollase his first graded score since 2020.
The surprising plot lines were plentiful in the 1 1/2-mile Cougar II. Midnight Mammoth, a 5-year-old gelding by 2007 sprint champion Midnight Lute , had never won beyond 1 1/16 miles. He even ran in a 1,000-yard mixed-breed race Nov. 12, 2023, at the Los Alamitos Quarter Horse meeting. Favored at $0.40-1, he finished fourth that day.
He came into the Cougar II, which went with a field of just five after the scratch of Clooney, as a winner of two races in a row. He had taken a $50,000 allowance optional claiming race May 27 at Santa Anita Park and then a $50,000 starter allowance at Los Alamitos Race Course. Still, the sharp speedster was the fourth choice in the betting at 9-1.
Reincarnate, a grade 3 winner and 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) starter from the Bob Baffert barn, was the heavy $0.30-1 favorite off a runner-up finish in the 1 1/4-mile Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G2). Ayuso and Midnight Mammoth took it to them from the start, jumping out to an immediate 1 1/2-length lead as they led the field through the first of three turns.
Reincarnate never got closer than a length as Midnight Mammoth churned out fractions of :48.16, 1:12.93, and a mile in 1:38.03. The lead stretched to 4 1/2 lengths at the stretch call, and he crossed the wire 10 1/4 lengths in front of second-place Reincarnate. Final time for 1 1/2 miles over the dirt track rated fast was 2:32.03.
Midnight Mammoth paid $20 to win. Salesman, winner of the 2023 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes (G2), finished another 7 3/4 lengths behind in third.
Midnight Mammoth improved his record to seven wins from 32 starts, with earnings of $321,930. Out of the winning Vindication mare Taker Home, he was bred in Kentucky by Pedro Gonzalez and Jorge Herrera.
Dollase and owner Jeffrey Sengara claimed Midnight Mammoth for $50,000 March 3, 2023, at Santa Anita from Golden Bear Racing and trainer Sean McCarthy.
"This is very gratifying. I'm at a loss for words," Dollase said. "This owner has stuck behind me, and the horse deserves it.
"I loved it when I saw that half-mile fraction. He was so relaxed in his motion. He's a beautiful-striding horse."
Dollase has a way with long-distance horses, as his most recent graded win also came in a 1 1/2-mile dirt race when Cupid's Claws won the Tokyo City Cup Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Sept. 27, 2020.
Ayuso, a native of Panama, has been riding in America since 2012. He started at Monmouth Park, then made his way to the West Coast.
