Midnight Sunlight Wins $59,800 Northlands Futurity By A Nose

Midnight Sunlight won the $59,800 Northlands Futurity Thursday at in a sister-brother battle of owners that resulted in a photo finish. The Texas-bred 2-year-old quarter horse filly owned by Brenda Reiswig of Bismarck, North Dakota closed ground to win the photo by a nose over longshot maiden Mr Shakem Diva owned by Reiswig’s brother, David Wisdom of Mandan, North Dakota.

“It’s all in fun,” Reiswig said. “But it’s a lot of money. This is such a nice filly.”

Midnight Sunlight provided trainer Vic Hanson with his first Northlands victory. She was ridden by Stormy Smith in a final time of 17.843 seconds for the 350 yards. Midnight Sunlight paid $15.40 to win.

In March, Midnight Sunlight was the fastest qualifier for the Grade 2 Oklahoma Futurity and finished second in the final. She was the fourth fastest qualifier for the Northlands.

“We knew we had a very nice filly. We just got her a little tired,” Hanson said. “The trials are the trials. This was for the money.”

The second-place finisher was ridden by Clyde Smith and trained by Edward Ross Hardy. Finishing third was 2 to 5 favorite Bp Painted Lady and jockey Cody Smith. The filly, trained by Amber Blair, was bumped after breaking from the gate and rallied to finish a head behind Mr Shakem Diva.

(Information provided by Canterbury Park)