Twilight Jet firing on all cylinders for US trip

TWILIGHT JET is poised to cap a busy and successful season with a run in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at the Breeders’ Cup meeting in Del Mar.

The Michael O’Callaghantrained two-year-old has barely put a foot wrong since making his debut in May, running 10 times and contesting many of the big juvenile sprints in both England and Ireland.

A bay colt by Twilight Son, Twilight Jet has continued to improve throughout the season and hit the frame in a string of high-quality races before triumphing at Newmarket in the Group Three Cornwallis Stakes last time out.

The Grade Two Juvenile Turf Sprint in California on Friday is next.

“He’s come out of the Cornwallis very well, and we’re really looking forward to running him. He’s in the best form he’s been in all year,” O’Callaghan said. “It’s huge for everyone involved. He’s a horse that has never let us down, and we’re sure he’ll run a big race again.”

O’Callaghan, who also owns Twilight Jet, added: “He’s a very, very tough horse – he’s very genuine and he has a great constitution. He takes his racing very well and he improves from each run.”

Del Mar poses a different question to many of Europe’s turf tracks, with even the five-furlong trip run on a left-handed bend as opposed to the straight sprint contests more commonly found this side of the Atlantic. O’Callaghan has prepared his runner for this, however.

“Experience means a lot.

We’ve done plenty of schooling with him at Dundalk, which is Ireland’s closest thing to an American-style track, around the turns and travelling quickly round a bend,” he said. “He took that very well. I think he’d like fast ground. The faster the pace of the race, the better.

“He’s got a very high cruising speed, and I’m really looking forward to running him. He ticks a lot of the boxes.”