Twilight Payment

Seventeen years have passed since Teofilo (Ire), a member of the second crop of Galileo (Ire), blazed a trail through his unbeaten juvenile season, ending the year as champion two-year-old after beating Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) in the G1 National and G1 Dewhurst S. Jim Bolger's homebred raced solely at seven furlongs that year, and his subsequent injury in the spring of 2007 meant that we could only guess at what he might have achieved at three and beyond. By that August he had been retired without ever returning to...

One of the main attractions of the Goffs Autumn Horses In Training Sale on Tuesday is Gustavus Weston (Ire) (Equiano {Fr}), the four-time winner whose career highlight came when he landed the G2 Greenlands S. at the Curragh last year.  On that occasion, Joe Murphy's charge was chased home by Make A Challenge (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), a 10-time winner for Denis Hogan, who is also in the sale.  Hogan said of his eight-strong draft, "We've a nice draft of horses going to Goffs. We'll be sorry to see some...

Defending G1 Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), Sir Dragonet (Ire) (Camelot {GB})'s full-brother Sir Lucan (Ire) and G1 Goodwood Cup runner-up Away He Goes (Ire) (Farhh {GB}) have entered quarantine for trips to the Melbourne Spring Carnival. The Joseph-O'Brien-trained Twilight Payment won the G3 Irish St Leger Trial on Aug. 13 and finished second in the G1 Irish St Leger two weeks ago, and he will pre-quarantine in Ireland for two weeks before shipping Down Under. Sir Lucan, who will remain in Australia and join Gai Waterhouse...

Underlining the strength of York's revamped Ebor H., the Kildare Racing Club's Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}) bounced out of his success in that prestigious affair to bring up a notable double in Sunday's G1 Comer Group International Irish St Leger at The Curragh. With the dual winner Search For a Song (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) unable to make an impact this time, the Johnny Murtagh-trained 4-year-old had the Joseph O'Brien pair Twilight Payment (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Baron Samedi (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) to contend with and proved toughest to carry...

The Curragh is all action on Monday, with the G2 Coolmore Sottsass Irish EBF Mooresbridge S. the key component of a fascinating card. Aidan O'Brien has opted to wait longer to unleash Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and instead puts forward the reinvigorated Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}), who looks to be in a good place this year with wins on soft ground in the Listed Devoy S. at Naas Mar. 28 and on a much slicker surface in the Apr. 17 G3 Alleged S. over this 10-furlong trip. Beaten around half...

Though 2020 will go down as a dreadful year for many, it can be regarded as an annus mirablilis for Darley stallion Teofilo (Ire). To an extent, every son of Galileo (Ire) at stud has to make do with seeking glimmers of light within the long shadow cast by the 12-time champion sire. Last year, Teofilo came closest of any stallion to Galileo's tally of Group 1 winners by being responsible for six of his own, in France, Germany, Australia and Hong Kong. Now 17, Teofilo also played a lead...

The Lexus Melbourne Cup went to Joseph O'Brien for the second time in four years as the Jim Bolger-bred Twilight Payment (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) gave owner Lloyd Williams his seventh victory in Australia's storied race under a bold front-running ride from Jye McNeil. It was a clean sweep of the top three places for European raiders and, in an echo of 2017 when Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) held off Johannes Vermeer (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), O'Brien's father Aidan had to settle for second best when Irish Derby runner-up Tiger Moth...