Battle of Midway (January 30, 2014 – February 23, 2019) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his upset victory in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.
Battle of Midway was a bay horse bred by Thor-Bred Stables, owned by Erik and Pavla Nygaard, and was foaled at Chesapeake Farm in Kentucky.
Rigoletta eventually recovered and Battle of Midway thrived, developing a reputation as "the biggest and the strongest" foal at the farm.
[4] Battle of Midway was privately sold in 2017 to Don Alberto Stable and WinStar Farm after his second-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby.
[3] Battle of Midway was unraced as a two-year-old, instead making his debut in a six furlong maiden special weight race for three-year-olds at Santa Anita Park on January 21, 2017.
[5] In his next race, Battle of Midway stepped up sharply in class for the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes, also at Santa Anita, ultimately finishing third to Iliad.
Gormley started closing ground from further pack and gradually moved by Battle of Midway, who lost by half a length.
He trained well at Santa Anita in the weeks leading up to the 2017 Kentucky Derby, then was shipped to Churchill Downs shortly before the race.
In the stretch, Lookin at Lee made a late run to move into second, with Battle of Midway finishing third.
[12][13] His connections opted to skip the rest of the Triple Crown series, instead returning Battle of Midway to California and giving him some time off.
He made a huge move turning into the stretch to take the lead but tired and was passed by Untrapped to finish second.
[17] Despite the loss, Battle of Midway made his fourth attempt at a Grade 1 in the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile on November 3.
Despite covering 60 (or 61 depending on the source)[21] mares during the 2018 season, he was only able to get five of them in foal because he is missing a gene that impacts his sperm's ability to fertilize eggs.
Battle of Midway's owners elected to take a subfertility insurance payout and put him back into race training, sending him temporarily to the barn of Rodolphe Brisset at Keeneland.
Battle of Midway returned to racing in the Grade II Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar on August 25 over a distance of seven furlongs.
Starting from post position one, he rated in third place and then swung wide turning into the stretch, bumping lightly with another horse.
[24] Hollendorfer then dropped Battle of Midway down in class by entering him in the listed Comma to the Top Stakes at Santa Anita on October 28 at his best distance of one mile.
In a field of three, Isotherm fought his rider and eventually dropped out of competition, turning the contest into a match race between Battle of Midway and Dabster.
"[26] Battle of Midway made his final start of 2018 in the San Antonio Stakes on December 26, opening day of Santa Anita's winter spring meet.
"[28] Seven days later, Battle of Midway became a father as his first foal (sired before he went back from breeding to racing in 2018) was born, a filly out of La Bohème, by Giant's Causeway.