Twilight Derby: Seal Team comes out on top in a frantic finish

ARCADIA, Calif. - From an inside position on the backstretch to a wide move on the turn, Seal Team had a clear path in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on Saturday en route to his first stakes win.

The $254,000 Twilight Derby was Seal Team’s third win in four starts this year, a sequence disrupted by a third-place finish in an allowance race at Del Mar in his second start of the season on Sept. 9.

“He got a little too jazzed up,” Mandella said of Seal Team’s loss. “Now, he’s under control.”

Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Seal Team rallied between runners in the stretch to reach the front in the final furlong. Seal Team ran 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:47.29, finishing a half-length in front of 3-1 Silver Knott, a shipper from Britain.

Webslinger, the 5-2 favorite, closed from 10th in the final furlong to finish third, a nose behind Silver Knott.

“He doesn’t make it easy on himself,” said Mark Casse, who trains Webslinger. “One thing about him, he tries.”

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Reiquist, a 73-1 outsider, finished fourth, only a head behind Silver Knott.

The remaining order of finish was Almendares, Watsonville, Panic Alarm, Be Your Best, Reincarnate, Packs a Wahlop, Maltese Falcon, Mondego, and California Bay.

Rispoli had Seal Team (90 Beyer Speed Figure) in eighth on the backstretch, well behind pacesetter Packs a Wahlop, who set a solid fractions of 23.56 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 47.18 for a half-mile. Packs a Wahlop faded through the final three furlongs.

Rispoli was able to move Seal Team off the inside and had an uninterrupted path to reach contention.

Seal Team, a War Front colt, was second in his lone start as a 2-year-old last November, and did not race again until mid-August when he won a maiden race at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar.

After finishing third on Sept. 9, Seal Team won an allowance race at 1 1/8 miles on turf here on Oct. 8.

Seal Team races for owners and breeders Ramona and Perry Bass. He has earned $260,960.

Mandella and Casse said the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar on Dec. 2 is in the plans for Seal team and Webslinger.

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