Calder: McKnight lineup features top trio from 2012 running

MIAMI – If Saturday’s $125,000 W.L. McKnight Handicap at Calder has a familiar look to it, well it should. The tradition-rich Grade 2 turf event at 1 1/2 miles will bring back the first three finishers from last year’s running –Twilight Eclipse, Mucho Mas Mucho, and Vertiformer. They will face eight other rivals, assuming the race goes as scheduled on grass. Rain is forecast throughout the weekend in south Florida.

In last year’s McKnight, Twilight Eclipse closed out his 3-year-old campaign by rallying from just off the pace to register a 1 3/4-length victory over Mucho Mas Macho with Vertiformer rallying belatedly to finish less than a length farther back in third.

Twilight Eclipse has made six starts this season, his lone victory a four-length triumph in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Pan American in February. Trained by Tom Alberetrani, Twilight Eclipse was Grade 1- placed twice this past summer in the Man o’ War and Sword Dancer and is coming off a sixth-place effort, beaten slightly more than two lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.[bc_video_id:312846:]

Mucho Mas Macho, like Twilight Eclipse, also bounced out of the McKnight to register his lone win of the year last winter at Gulfstream when he upset the Grade 3 Ft. Lauderdale by a neck at odds of 41-1 for trainer Henry Collzao. The stretch-running Mucho Mas Macho tailed off a bit during the summer before rebounding with a third-place finish in the Laurel Turf Cup.

“He’s doing real well and I’m looking for a big effort,” said Collazo. “My main concern is the weather. It’s all a moot point if the weather doesn’t cooperate and they take the race off the grass, although I certainly wouldn’t mind getting softer turf for him on Saturday.”

Vertiformer made just one more start following his third-place finish in the 2012 McKnight, finishing seventh behind Mucho Mas Macho in the Ft. Lauderdale before heading to the sidelines for an extended vacation. He has also switched barns since his last outing, joining trainer Christophe Clement’s stable at Payson Park, where he has posted several bullet works over the main track in preparation for his return.

The most dangerous of the new faces on Saturday will be Slumber, who has been lightly raced since coming to the United States early last year. Slumber has made just four starts over the past 17 months for trainer Bill Mott, his most recent outing resulting in a sixth-place finish as the 8-5 favorite in Woodbine’s Grade 1 Canadian International on Oct. 27.

Dannhauser, winner of the 2012 Laurel Turf Cup; Ocean Seven, Twin, Ducduc, Suntracer, Hariolus, and Franklin Park complete the field. Flatter This is entered main track only.

The McKnight was to share top billing with its the filly counterpart, the Grade 3 La Prevoyante. But Calder management made a last-minute decision to cancel the La Prevoyante a short while before entries were drawn for the card late Monday afternoon.