Bowling Green show finisher Twilight Eclipse eyes Sword Dancer

West Point Thoroughbreds' Grade 1 winner Twilight Eclipse was in good spirits Sunday morning following his third-place finish behind Flintshire in Saturday's Grade 2 Bowling Green.

The 1 3/8-mile Bowling Green was the 34th career start for the 7-year-old Purim gelding and his return to graded company following an allowance victory July 8 at Belmont Park.

"We'll see how he is in a couple of days, get him back on the track and see how much energy he's got but he looked good this morning," trainer Tom Albertrani said. "He's 7 years old now and I still think he's got a big one in him. He shows it every morning when he goes out to the track. He's no different than he was four years ago."

Twilight Eclipse brushed the starting gate at the break and trailed the four-horse field in the Bowling Green, though never farther than three lengths from the front. He was tipped out by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez at the three-eighths pole to challenge pacesetting leader Grand Tito but neither were a match for Flintshire's late kick.

"I thought he ran well yesterday under the circumstances. He broke a little sluggishly. I expected him to be on the lead or right behind Grand Tito so it worked out where we were back farther than we were expecting, especially on a slow pace," Albertrani said. "He finished well. He lost a lot of ground but Flintshire is a top horse. I was happy enough with our horse. He ran his race."

A winner of more than $1.9 million in purse earnings, Twilight Eclipse could make a fourth straight start in the Grade 1, $1 million Longines Sword Dancer August 27. He ran third in 2015 behind Flintshire and 2014 to Main Sequence, and was second to Big Blue Kitten in 2013.

"He's run against the top turf horses over the last several years," Albertrani said. "Depending on where our next race is go into be, it could be the Sword Dancer or it could be Kentucky Downs in early September. It just depends on him and where we want to go. If all goes well we very well could be back in the Breeders' Cup again."

Albertani said multiple stakes winner Giant Run continues to train forwardly for his next scheduled start in the Grade 3 Hall of Fame on August 5. Second in the Grade 3 Palm Beach and third in the Grade 3 Penn Mile this year, he is seeking his first graded triumph.

"He couldn't be any better. He's training very aggressively right now which I like to see. He's really into the bit and I'm really happy how he's coming up to this race," he said. "He's run some really good races. He's always been right there. I think he's a horse that you're going to see improve with a little bit of age."

Albertrani is also looking at options for Grade 2 winner Ready for Rye, winless in five starts this year. The 4-year-old multiple stakes winner is being pointed to the Grade 1 Forego going seven furlongs August 27 but could have a prep in the six-furlong, $100,000 Tale of the Cat on August 12.

"We're kind of thinking about running him in the Tale of the Cat or going right into the Forego with him," he said. "In a couple weeks we'll decide."

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Tencendur will make his first start in 13 months when the George Weaver-trained 4-year-old faces allowance-level competition in Race 2 on Monday at Saratoga Race Course.

The bay colt came in second in the 2015 Grade 1 Wood Memorial before running in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby one month later. Tencendur was being pointed toward the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and possibly the Grade 1 Travers last year before breaking the sesamoid bone near his left front hoof.

After more than a year-long layoff from his second-place finish in the Ohio Derby in June 2015, Tencendur will now go 1 1/8 miles on the main track as he works his way back to potentially facing graded stakes competition again.

"It's been a long time off but we figured this is a good place to get him started back and hopefully he gets back to what we thought he could do before," Weaver said. "He really is a two-turn horse. Running him seven-eighths of a mile would probably be a little more difficult because he doesn't have that early gate speed. We figured the mile and an eighth fit him better. He's a big, rangy colt."

Tencendur breezed on July 24, going six furlongs in 1:13.55 on Saratoga's main track. He galloped on Friday and Weaver said he came out of it fine.

Source: NYRA Communications