Lochte, Twilight Eclipse nominated for McKnight

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Grade 1 winners Lochte and Twilight Eclipse were among the 26 horses nominated to the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight Handicap here next Saturday. The grassy McKnight will share top billing on the card with its filly counterpart, the Grade 3 La Prevoyante, and the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl for fillies and mares on the main track.

Lochte has won his last three starts, all stakes, including the Grade 3 Tropical Park Turf Handicap at Gulfstream Park West on Nov. 21. Twilight Eclipse hasn’t raced or breezed since his eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, with Tom Albertrani’s barn more likely to be represented in the McKnight by Roccia d’Oro.

Kaigun, Manchurian High, Morning Calm, and Umgiyo are among the others expected to compete in the McKnight.

Grade 1 winner Rosalind tops a list of 20 nominees to the 1 1/2-mile La Prevoyante. She is one of four fillies and mares whom trainer Chad Brown nominated to the race, along with Cay Dancer, Chocolatier, and Goldy Espony. Rosalind, the winner of the Grade 1 Ashland at 3, was third in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor at Woodbine this fall.

Other potential La Prevoyante starters include Charlie A, Dido, Gotachanetodance, Habibi, and Rock Me Mama, according to stakes coordinator Mike Costanzo.

◗ Trouble Kid, a game but hard-luck second behind Stallwalkin’ Dude in the Claiming Crown Rapid Transit on opening day, has obviously bounced out of the race razor-sharp after working five furlongs in 58.94 seconds under wraps with jockey Orlando Bocachica aboard here Friday. He was followed a short while later by stablemate Amelia’s Wild Ride, a multiple stakes-winning turf-sprint specialist, who covered the same distance in 58.29, also with Bocachica up and sitting chilly throughout in the irons.

◗ With no stakes or allowance races on Sunday’s program, the main event will be the seventh race on the card, a $30,000-$25,000 conditioned claiming dash at six furlongs on the main track. Karlyrae’swarrior, second under optional-claiming and allowance conditions in his last start at Gulfstream Park West, and Canadian invader Still Krz may vie for favoritism in the evenly matched 11-horse field.