Twilight Eclipse Tepid Favorite in Difficult Manhattan
With $1 million and a Grade 1 score up for grabs, trainers Tom Albertrani and Todd Pletcher will each fire a double shot in hopes of winning their first Knob Creek Manhattan when it is contested at 1 1/4 miles on the inner turf course at Belmont Park as part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival presented by DraftKings on Saturday.
The 143rd edition of the Manhattan, which dates back to 1887, is one of six Grade 1 races, nine graded stakes and 10 overall stakes on the Belmont Stakes day card to be highlighted by the Grade 1 $1.5 million Belmont Stakes and American Pharoah's quest for Triple Crown immortality.
The Manhattan will be contested by a field of 11 horses aged four and older as the 10th race on the program and has a probable post time of 5:46 PM.
The Pletcher charges are 12-1 choice and 124 pound highweight Jack Milton and 20-1 longshot General a Rod, who will break from the two outside posts, respectively. While grass specialist Jack Milton won the Grade 1 Maker's 46 Mile over the Keeneland lawn two starts back for owner Gary Barber, General A Road tries the turf for the first time after 11 career efforts on dirt for owners SkyChai Racing and Starlight Racing LLC.
"We're going to give it a try and go for a big purse," said Pletcher, who will give Corey Nakatani a leg up on Jack Milton for the first time and awarded the return call on General a Rod to regular rider and Hall of Famer John Velazquez.
General a Rod was transferred to Pletcher from the barn of Mike Maker over the winter and he is a maternal grandson of Dynaformer, who was a multi-year leading turf sire during his stallion career. Dynaformer sired 2013 Manhattan winner Point of Entry, and it figures that General a Rod has the bloodlines to love the grass and stay the trip.
When the 4-year-old son of Roman Ruler worked four furlongs in 48.60 on the inner turf course on May 23, which was the identical bullet time of Jack Milton's breeze that day, he punched his ticket into the race.
"It made sense from a pedigree standpoint and we liked the way he breezed on the grass so that's when the decision was made," said Pletcher, who is taking blinkers off General A Rod and worked him with Jack Milton again on the grass earlier in the week.
"I thought both horses went really well. I'm pleased with how both of them are coming up to the race," Pletcher said while giving the double thumbs up. "They're showing me all of the signs you want to see."
Albertrani will saddle the Irish-bred Biz the Nurse, who was installed at 15-1 in the early line, and lukewarm 7-2 favorite Twilight Eclipse, who captured the Man o' War over the same course here last time out to score the 6-year-old gelding's first Grade 1 win in the biggest victory of his 24-race career.
"We're coming back and trying to go two-for-two in grade ones with Twilight Eclipse. That's the hope and the plan," said Albertrani, who trains him for West Point Thoroughbreds. "He came out of that last race in top form and has had a nice couple of works since. He looks so much stronger this year. This is the best I've really seen him look as far as his weight and his muscle tone. Maybe he's just a late maturing horse."
Twilight Eclipse, who will shoulder 122 pounds, gamely just got up at the wire in the 1 3/8-mile Man o' War. But that hasn't caused any sleepless nights for Albertrani.
"He may be at a disadvantage with the cut back in distance, but I am still very confident after watching this horse train since the Man o' War because I see all of the signs from him that he's at the top of his game," he said.
John D'Amato's Biz The Nurse arrived in the barn from Italy after clearing quarantine in December and wintered in South Florida. He has made two starts in America, easily winning an allowance optional claiming race on the Gulfstream Park grass in March, and then finishing a solid fourth after closing willingly in Keeneland's Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes on a yielding turf last time out.
"Both of his races were very promising," Albertrani said. "He ran a very creditable race in the Elkhorn and was beaten only two lengths in an oddly run race. I think he's got enough credentials that he could match up well with the rest of this field."
Albertrani has secured the services of Luis Saez for Biz The Nurse and Twilight Eclipse will be reunited with Javier Castellano, who knows him well after being his pilot for his last four races.
Trainer Chad Brown, who won last year's Manhattan with Real Solution and the 2012 edition with Desert Blanc, will be represented by three of his charges: dual Grade 1 winner and 5-1 third choice Big Blue Kitten, Grade 2 victor and Man o' War third-place finisher Hyper (12-1), and 15-1 shot Slumber, who was fifth behind Finnegans Wake in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Chruchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day last out.
Donegal Racing's Finnegans Wake, the 4-1 second choice who will also carry 122 pounds, has won four of five Grade 1 or Grade 2 stakes in his last quintet of races under Victor Espinoza, and he comes into the Manhattan as arguably the top male turf horse on the West Coast and Midwest.
"He's in his moment right now," said Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller, who will not be at Belmont on Saturday. "This is a very tough race, but it is very similar to the race he just won with many of the same horses in it."
Victor Espinoza gets the return call and later on the card will attempt to capture the 12th Triple Crown on American Pharoah.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has won three runnings of the Manhattan, including the 1994 edition with course and stakes record holder Paradise Creek (1:57.79), and will lead over 5-1 shot War Dancer. The Diamond M Stable color bearer, second to Twilight Eclipse in the Man o' War in his last start, seeks his first Grade 1 score and first win in over a year.
Legendary, the co-longshot at 20-1 who was fifth in the Grade 2 Dixie at Pimlico on Preakness Day, and 12-1 choice Magic Artist, who will be making his first American start after racing his entire career in Germany and Italy, complete the field.
Source: NYRA Communications