Twilight Eclipse to give Breeders' Cup Turf a fourth go

ELMONT, N.Y. – Twilight Eclipse is being pointed to the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf for the fourth straight year.

Twilight Eclipse was third behind Main Sequence and Flintshire in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Turf, the most recent one held at Santa Anita, which is the site of this year’s event. Last year, Twilight Eclipse finished eighth in the Turf, run over a Keeneland course with plenty of give in the ground.

“He’s still showing us he’s got some spring in his stride,” trainer Tom Albertrani said Monday. “He’s run well in his last few races. It’s worth taking another shot. He’ll get the firm ground he likes much better than the ground he got in his last race.”

That was in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, where he finished third behind Ectot and Flintshire on yielding turf.

Twilight Eclipse has competed in 18 Grade 1 races, finishing in the top three in 11 of them. He won the Grade 1 Man o’ War in 2015.

On Monday at Belmont, Twilight Eclipse worked four furlongs in 49.12 over the main track. He got his last quarter in 24.06 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.38.

“That was a good work for him,” Albertrani said.