'It's going exactly to script!' – stallion project Midnights Legacy wins again

Midnights Legacy took another step in the direction of fulfilling his owners' ambitious project of making a stallion from one of the last colt foals born to rags-to-riches sire Midnight Legend with a determined victory on Wednesday.

The Alan King-trained three-year-old scored his third consecutive victory in a 12-furlong Class 3 handicap at Haydock, showing plenty of grit to wear down his rivals and win by half a length.

View full result and watch race replay

Runner-up to the son of Midnight Legend, who stood at £4,000 in his last covering season, was Khalid Abdullah's homebred Indigo Lake – no less than a son of Frankel out of a half-sister to top-level winners Banks Hill, Cacique, Champs Elysees, Heat Haze and Intercontinental as well as blue-chip sire Dansili.

The lives of Midnights Legacy's owner-breeders David and Kathleen Holmes were turned around after they bought Midnight Legend for little money to stand at their Pitchall Stud in Warwickshire in the early noughties.

Midnight Legend had attracted plenty of admirers in his racing career, winning big handicaps at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood on the Flat for Luca Cumani before transferring to the jumps sphere where, as a rare entire, he won Grade 2 novice hurdles at Aintree and Punchestown for King's late mentor David Nicholson.

But the son of Night Shift retired to stud amid little fanfare and had faded into obscurity by the time he was transferred to Pitchall Stud.

However, his early progeny such as Aimigayle, Holmwood Legend, Midnight Chase, My Petra and Sparky May caught the attention of breeders for being uncommonly tough and classy despite their poor maternal families.

He then started receiving superior mares and has achieved even better results from those matings, headed by Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Sizing John.

Midnight Legend died aged 25 in 2016 leaving few or no sons who had not been gelded to continue his line, as is the case with nearly all British and Irish-based jumps sires.

That prompted the Holmes' to spare Midnights Legacy the unkindest cut in the hope he could eventually win a Graded race over jumps to justify him retiring to stud to become a stallion.

“It's all going exactly according to the script!” said Kathleen Holmes after the latest victory for the colt known simply as Leggy at home.

“He's a typical Midnight Legend, he just put his head down and tried all the way to the line. In fact, I don't think he's ever reminded me as much of his sire as he did in this race.”

Holmes reported that Midnights Legacy would likely be given a break of around three to four weeks now, as he was backing up another victory at Haydock just over a fortnight ago.

The plan is still to send the colt hurdling at some point, although his sharp rise through the Flat ranks might persuade the couple to keep him to that discipline for a little longer than intended.

“We have to be led by the horse now,” Holmes said. “Going jumping is certainly not off the cards. I think he's got to go juvenile hurdling – how many Flat horses rated 90 or higher do you see doing that these days?

“But on the other hand, as long as he's progressing on the Flat we'll have to let him see how far he can go. At the point he isn't progressing any more then we'll likely go jumping.”

The Midnights Legacy story is gaining ever wider attention.

“I had a client ring me this morning and we were talking about Leggy racing later in the afternoon,” Holmes added.

“He said he's just the sort of horse the British National Hunt stallion ranks need and he'd be booking a mare as soon as he's retired.”

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