World record holder Twilight Eclipse seeks his first grade one win in the $600,000 Man O’War (G1) run at 1 3/8 miles on the Belmont lawn on Saturday.

In the Pan American Stakes (G2) on March 23 at Gulfstream, Twilight Eclipse ‘eclipsed’ the world record set for 1 1/2 miles on ANY surface, covering the distance in 2:22.63 under Javier Castellano, who has the return engagement on Saturday.

World record holder Twilight Eclipse seeks his first grade one win in the $600,000 Man O’War (G1) run at 1 3/8 miles on the Belmont lawn on Saturday.

In the Pan American Stakes (G2) on March 23 at Gulfstream, Twilight Eclipse ‘eclipsed’ the world record set for 1 1/2 miles on ANY surface, covering the distance in 2:22.63 under Javier Castellano, who has the return engagement on Saturday.

A 4-year-old gelded son of Purim, Twilight Eclipse’s was most recently fourth behind Point of Entry in the Manhattan (G1) on Belmont Stakes day, June 8. Torrential downpours on Friday made for a yielding turf course on raceday, and this horse prefers firm ground.

He’s trained superbly since the Manhattan, posting three solid five eighths works for trainer Tom Albertrani.

“He hasn’t really fired in both of his races over wet turf this year,” said WPT president Terry Finley. “We freshened him up a bit after the Pan American and knew we needed to run in the Manhattan despite the less than ideal conditions to set us up for the rest of the summer. Tom (Albertrani) is bullish. If the ground is firm on Saturday, we’re in with a huge chance.”

The Man O’War is race 9 on the Saturday card with post time of 5:17 ET. Twilight Eclipse breaks from post 4 in the 8 horse field.