Sharp Ring Weekend Ships for Twilight Derby

St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds' Ring Weekend, who has developed nicely into a solid turf runner, is the morning-line favorite for the $200,000 Twilight Derby (gr. IIT) Oct. 31 at Santa Anita Park.

The Twilight Derby, for 3-year-olds at 1 1/18 miles on the grass, is one of several undercard stakes on the first Breeders' Cup World Championships program. It is carded as the fourth race on a 10-race program that begins at 11:25 a.m. PDT.

Ring Weekend, trained by Graham Motion and to be ridden by John Velazquez at 122 pounds, won the grade II Tampa Bay Derby on dirt earlier this year and was under consideration for other top 3-year-old races in the spring. He eventually finished fifth in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I), and a month later was pulled up in the Pegasus Stakes (gr. III).

The Kentucky-bred colt by Tapit   returned to finish second in the Sir Cat Stakes on the turf at Saratoga Race Course, and then fired off two wins in grade III turf stakes: the Saranac at Saratoga and the Hill Prince at Belmont Park. Ring Weekend, who likes to hang close early and then make his bid, drew post 11 in a 12-horse field; the Twilight Derby will mark his first start on the Santa Anita turf course.

Hronis Racing's Talco, bred in France, turned in a good effort in his United States racing debut with a third-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile Del Mar Derby (gr. IIT) in his last start. Trained by John Sadler and to be ridden by Corey Nakatani, Talco (by Pivotal) was next-to-last for most of the Del Mar Derby but rallied for third behind Midnight Storm and Sawyer's Hill; the latter is entered in the Del Mar Derby.

Talco won two races in France and finished second in an ungraded stakes before his trip to the U.S. His Del Mar Derby effort indicates quality; he's listed at 8-1 on the morning line.