West Point Thoroughbreds’ Twilight Eclipse took the lead leaving the starting
gate and cruised through tepid fractions in Saturday’s $125,000
W.L.
McKnight H., posting an easy victory in the 1 1/2-mile, off-the-turf race at
Calder. The four-year-old gelding also captured last year’s edition on turf and
notched his third overall career stakes win.
Jose Lezcano was up for trainer Tom Albertrani.
As a result of the surface switch, the McKnight was downgraded from Grade 2
to Grade 3 status pending a review from the American Graded Stakes Committee.
Twilight Eclipse broke alertly from post 7 and had opened a two-length
cushion after an opening quarter-mile in :26 2/5. He continued to run unopposed
through glacial splits of :53 3/5, 1:19 4/5 and 1:45 4/5 for a mile.
Dannhauser, who stalked the early pace in second, attempted to challenge the
pacesetter nearing the completion of the far turn, but Lezcano asked his mount
for run after turning for home and Twilight Eclipse quickly erased any doubt,
widening the advantage through the stretch drive.
The odds-on favorite strolled under the finish line seven lengths clear,
completing 12 furlongs in 2:35 3/5 on the drying-out fast track.
Twilight Eclipse paid $3 to win as the 1-2 choice among eight contestants.
Dannhauser easily took second at 15-1 odds, nearly five lengths better than
Flatter This, who wound up a neck better than Ducduc in fourth. Next came Ocean
Seven, Twin, Suntracer and Hariolus.
Franklinpark, Mucho Mas Macho, Slumber and Vertiformer were all scratched.
Twilight Eclipse captured his first two career starts on the turf at Indiana
Downs in June 2012, taking a maiden special weight and an entry-level allowance,
before recording a pair of unplaced efforts against stakes rivals at Saratoga
and Delaware Park. After a third in the Temperence Hill at Belmont Park, he
earned his first stakes tally in the McKnight.
The bay son of Purim opened 2013 with a fourth in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida
and then established a new world record with a four-length triumph in the Grade
2 Pan American, completing 1 1/2 grassy miles in 2:22.63. Twilight Eclipse
posted a pair of Grade 1 runner-up finishes over the summer in the Man o’ War
and Sword Dancer, and finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita
prior to snapping a five-race losing skein on Saturday.
With the $75,175 payday, he’s now earned $592,786 from a 14-5-2-1 record.
Bred in Kentucky by Epona Thoroughbreds, Twilight Eclipse sold for $1,000 at
the 2010 Keeneland January sale. He is out of the Twilight Agenda mare My
Twilight Dancer, which makes him a half-brother to Grand Contender, winner of
the Delta Mile Stakes on November 23. This is also the female family of Grade 2
hero and multiple Grade 1-placed Slavic.
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