Midshipman, Stardom Bound top Experimental Free Handicap

Recent Eclipse Award recipient Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner MIDSHIPMAN

(Unbridled's Song) received the high weight assignment of 126 pounds on the 2008

Experimental Free Handicap, released Thursday by The Jockey Club and available

at www.jockeyclub.com. The filly division is headed by Breeders' Cup Juvenile

Fillies (G1) winner STARDOM BOUND (Tapit), who was named champion two-year-old

filly on Monday, at 124 pounds.

Darley Stable's Midshipman won three of his four starts last year for

earnings of $1,380,200. In addition to his 1 1/4-length victory in the Breeders'

Cup Juvenile, he also won the Del Mar Futurity (G1) and finished a close second

in the Norfolk S. (G1). He was bred in Kentucky by Stonerside Stable. The 126

pounds assigned to Midshipman is one pound less than the assignment on last

year's high weight, War Pass, and is the standard impost for top Experimental

colts.

Midshipman is weighted two pounds higher than fellow Darley-owned VINEYARD

HAVEN (Lido Palace [Chi]), also a winner of three of his four starts in 2008,

including the Champagne S. (G1) and Hopeful S. (G1). Vineyard Haven earned

$419,000 in 2008 for then owners Bobby Frankel, Louis Lazzinnaro and Diamond

Pride LLC.

At 123 pounds is J. Paul Reddam's SQUARE EDDIE (Smart Strike), winner of the

Breeders' Futurity (G1) and runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He won two

of his six starts in 2008 and earned $767,389. Myung Kwon Cho's STREET HERO

(Street Cry [Ire]) is weighted at 122 pounds, with his lone victory from six

starts coming in the Norfolk S. (G1). He also finished third in both the Del Mar

Futurity and Breeders' Cup Juvenile while earning $419,360.

In the filly division, the 124 pounds assigned to Stardom Bound is one pound

above the assignment for last year's high weight, Indian Blessing. Bred in

Kentucky by Fletcher Gray, Carolyn Gray and John Youngblood, Stardom Bound's

three victories from five starts all came in Grade 1 races - the Breeders' Cup

Juvenile Fillies, Oak Leaf S. and Del Mar Debutante. She earned $1,420,600 for

owner Charles Cono LLC.

Stardom Bound is weighted four pounds higher than Livin the Dream Racing

LLC's DREAM EMPRESS (Bernstein). Dream Empress won the Alcibiades S. (G1) and

was runner-up to Stardom Bound in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She won

two of her five starts on the year and banked $756,914.

At 117 pounds is the trio of LARAGH (Tapit), SKY DIVA (Sky Mesa) and

SPRINGSIDE (Awesome Again). Laragh won three of her six starts, including the

Hollywood Starlet (G1) and Jessamine S., and $509,465 for owners IEAH Stables,

Gary Tolchin and Pegasus Holding Group Stables. Puglisi Racing LLC's Sky Diva

won two of her four starts in 2008, including the Frizette S. (G1), and earned

$484,000. James and Alice Sapara's Springside was a 9 1/2-length winner of the

Demoiselle S. (G2) in her final start of 2008. She won three of her five races

and earned $190,163.

Among sires of Experimental horses, A.P. Indy, Lion Heart, More than Ready,

Sky Mesa and Sligo Bay (Ire) top the list of colts and geldings with three

representatives each, while Smoke Glacken and Tapit head the fillies' list with

four representatives each. Combining the two lists, Sky Mesa is the leading sire

with six representatives. Of the 191 juveniles weighted, 118 were bred in

Kentucky, 27 in Florida and nine in California and New York.

The Experimental Free Handicap, published annually by The Jockey Club since

1935, is a weight-based assessment of the previous year's leading two-year-olds,

with the weights compiled for a hypothetical race at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. This

year's weighting committee of racing secretaries was composed of Ben Huffman of

Churchill Downs, P.J. Campo of the New York Racing Association and Thomas S.

Robbins of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

The committee weighted a total of 104 males and 87 fillies. Eligible for

weighting were all two-year-olds of 2008 who finished among the top four in

graded or other unrestricted races with an added value of at least $75,000, run

in the continental United States.

The full Experimental Free Handicap list is available at www.jockeyclub.com.