Test Score Brings Best Resume to Twilight Derby
Trainer Graham Motion does so well with sending horses to Southern California for specific stakes that it is somewhat surprising that he has yet to win an edition of the Twilight Derby (G2T). Motion came close in the Santa Anita turf stakes in 2022, finishing second with Speaking Scout, and he could get his first Twilight Derby win this year with Test Score .
The 1 1/8-mile turf stakes is for 3-year-olds, and Test Score has by far the best resume of the five entrants. The son of Lookin At Lucky won the July 4 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T), making him the only grade 1 winner in the group, and his earnings of $1,328,525 dwarf the totals of the other four.
Leading local rider Juan Hernandez will be aboard for the first time–another plus–and Test Score comes from a racing and breeding program familiar to Californians. Jerry Amerman bred the colt, and she owns Test Score in partnership with her husband, John, under the Amerman Racing banner.
Though Test Score has done most of his racing on the other side of the country, he has made the trip to California before. Last year he ran second by just a neck to Chasing Liberty in the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar in only his fourth lifetime start. This year Test Score has also won the Transylvania Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland and placed in three other stakes, including the Kitten’s Joy Stakes, named for his maternal grandsire.
Namaron , trained by John Sadler, is an intriguing Twilight Derby possibility. The gelding began his career in his native Germany, where in five starts he had three wins, including in a group 3 stakes, a second, and a third. In his only U.S. start, Namaron finished third in the Gun Runner Stakes at Kentucky Downs. Hector Barrios will ride Namaron for the first time.
Richard Baltas trains Scipio , winner of the Feb. 16 Baffle Stakes down the Santa Anita hillside turf course. Scipio’s last three starts came in Kentucky, where he finished second to Test Score by 1 1/4 lengths in the Transylvania and was unplaced in two stakes at Churchill Downs. Test Score ran second in one of the Churchill races.
Michael McCarthy won the 2020 Twilight Derby with Smooth Like Strait , who went on to finish second in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1T), and the trainer has entered Maaz this time. In five starts, Maaz has won twice, including in a one-mile turf allowance/optional claimer at Santa Anita Oct. 3. In his only stakes attempt, Maaz ran fourth in the La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar.
Septembersixtyfour , trained by Mike Puype, broke his maiden Aug. 14 at Del Mar in his second start. He led for much of the Oct. 3 race won by Maaz before finishing fifth.
