Lost And Found Presented By LubriSYNHA: Twilight Eclipse Remains Part Of West Point Family

There's an old saying that the best way to become a millionaire in the Thoroughbred industry is to start with $2 million. A corollary could be that a horse can sell for $1 million and earn a few thousand or, in rare cases, sell for a few thousand and earn a million. Twilight Eclipse exemplifies the latter in the extreme.

As a newly-turned yearling at the 2010 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages, Twilight Eclipse was sold to trainer John Langemeier on a $1,000 bid. As superior horses often do, Twilight Eclipse won his career debut on June 2, 2012 at Indiana Grand. He returned to Indiana Grand 17 days later and won again. And as often happens, his performances came to the attention of those seeking a potential star. Langemeier capitalized on the opportunity and sold him to West Point Thoroughbreds.

In his fourth start in the black and gold silks, Twilight Eclipse became a graded stakes winner by capturing the W.L. McKnight Handicap at Calder Race Course in late 2012. He concluded his remarkable run for West Point and trainer Tom Albertrani as an 8-year-old in 2017 with a $2,103,953 bankroll and lifetime record of 40-8-5-11. Highlights include his Grade 1 triumph in the Man o'War Stakes at Belmont Park in 2015 and four appearances in the Breeders' Cup Turf topped by his third-place effort in 2014 at Santa Anita. With the exception of seven races, Twilight Eclipse competed only in the graded ranks throughout his career.

With his glory days behind him, Twilight Eclipse is enjoying full retirement with his 16-year-old next-paddock neighbor Seminary Ridge at Erin and Daniel Birkenhauer's farm near Bowling Green, Ky. As the daughter of West Point President Terry Finley and his wife Debbie (West Point Chief Administrative Officer), Erin is quite familiar with Twilight Eclipse.

“I vividly remember a hot, muggy day in the summer of 2012 when my husband and I saw him for the first time at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington,” she said. “We saw him on the shank and my dad called when we were on the way home and asked what we thought. I said, 'He's a plain brown wrapper, but there's something about him.' The fact that my husband and I were the first members of the West Point family to lay eyes on him was very special, and we often reminisce about that day.”

Birkenhauer has zeroed in on the quality that is easy to recognize but impossible to explain in superior horses. She also noticed that his movement made him a prime candidate for other endeavors.

“I watched Twilight Eclipse train and always loved his big, floaty trot,” she said. “With him having such a long and successful career, I had myself convinced he was just going to race forever. But a few weeks after his final race in May of 2017, the partners graciously agreed to allow us to provide their champ with a great home.”

Twilight Eclipse wins the Man o' War Stakes in 2015

Birkenhauer began reschooling him on their property and then transferred him to a boarding facility to fine-tune him for jumping and the precision movements of dressage collectively known as eventing. In late July that year, he strutted his stuff at a show. By September he was at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington where he won the “most money earned” and “war horse in hand” divisions at the New Vocations All-Thoroughbred Show. He also made a stop in Pennsylvania, where Erin guided him in the Real Rider Cup that highlights celebrity riders and well-known mounts to promote second careers for racehorses.

When the Birkenhauers decided to start a family, Erin stopped riding regularly and briefly considered allowing someone else to continue with Twilight Eclipse's progress.

“It weighed heavily on me how he'd react to not having a job,” said Birkenhauer, West Point's racing manager and communications director. “We brought him back home and turned him out alongside Seminary Ridge and he settled right in. I haven't ridden him in a couple of years, but the last time I did, he was convinced we were in the post parade for the Breeders' Cup!”

After six years of the energized atmosphere of the track, Twilight Eclipse has fully adjusted to a life of leisure and requires little attention.

“He doesn't like being groomed at all and we've nicknamed him Hangry because of his antics at feed time,” she said. “He also is not one of those horses who is lovey-dovey and in your lap, but he is very sweet and gentle with kids, which makes me very happy.”

Twilight Eclipse relaxes at home. Photo courtesy Erin Birkenhauer

That affection for youngsters is special to the Birkenhauers, who a have a nearly 2-year-old son and a second child due in April.

“Sometimes I feel a ping of guilt that he's not out there galloping and jumping around big cross-country tracks, but those feelings quickly subside when I look out my kitchen window and see the 'two ole geldings' fat and happy as clams,” she said.

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Canter For The Cause Draws Over 75 Participants To Gulfstream Park

More than 75 equine enthusiasts, many with retired Thoroughbreds, walked, trotted, or cantered their horse across legendary Gulfstream Park Monday morning as part of the second annual Canter for the Cause.

The event attracted riders from throughout Florida, as well as several retired Thoroughbreds with the Davie Police Department's Mounted Patrol Unit and the City of Coral Gables mounted unit.

The event, which ran Monday morning and afternoon for all equine enthusiasts, benefited the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that accredits, inspects, and awards grants to approved aftercare organizations to retrain, retire, and rehome Thoroughbreds using industry-wide funding, and Florida Thoroughbred Retirement and Adoptive Care (TRAC), an accredited TAA facility.

Canter for the Cause was sponsored by Gulfstream, the Florida Horsemen's Protective and Benevolent Association (FHBPA), Seminole Feed and Purina.

“This is a fun day for us at Gulfstream Park. I guess it's the equivalent of playing softball at Yankee Stadium,” said Aidan Butler, Chief Operating Officer of 1/ST Racing. “It gives us a chance to not only showcase what we do on the track here but showcase what horses do for aftercare. A lot of people don't know this but Thoroughbreds, while born and bred to race, are awesome at all kinds of other disciplines. We have some police horses here, we have a bunch of polo ponies, dressage and show jumpers, and other cool disciplines that racehorses excel at. And with the benefit of Florida TRAC and the TAA, which are the beneficiaries of this charity event, we hope to do even more.”

Katie Schmit, farm manager and trainer at Florida (TRAC), said: “I think it's awesome to do things like this and encourage people to see off the track thoroughbreds. We just need to keep raising awareness of aftercare. We need our focus on what horses are going to do after their racing careers and raising awareness at the track, and involving the horsemen is really special.”

Some of the retired Thoroughbreds returning to the track were Shadow Boxer, who is training for eventing, mounted police horses Tizrobertcharles and Guidoinaspeedo, Sweet Karen Sue, who became a hunter, and Cicerone, who went on to be a jumper.

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Jockey Antongeorgi Adopts Beloved Mount Gratzie After Her Retirement

Thirteen-time winner Gratzie has been retired and will spend her post-race life in North Carolina on a farm run by jockey William Antongeorgi III and his mother. Gratzie, who went out a winner on Feb. 4 against claiming competition, ended her racing career with earnings of $261,610.

Antongeorgi, who guided Gratzie to four lifetime wins, is excited about spending more time with her in the future. In total, Antongeorgi rode Gratzie in eight different races.

“She was always really honest,” said Antongeorgi. “Even if we didn't win, she was right there-second or third. I would always go see her in the barn and give her lots of attention. We formed a strong relationship.

I told [trainer] Manny [Badilla], 'I love this mare. If the owners are willing, I'll ship her back to my place in North Carolina and she'll be able to go out in the field and live out a good retirement on our farm.' We were able to make it happen.”

Antongeorgi relayed that Gratzie arrived in North Carolina on Tuesday in good order.

“She's a world traveler,” said Antongeorgi. “She's from England. She's traveled before. From what I understand, she had a very smooth trip across the country and looks really happy. We've got a pony named Dusty right next to her. They're already hitting it off and in love with each other, so that's really cool. We'll take her out on the trails, and she'll enjoy her life living out there in the pasture.”

Gratzie, by Grade 2 winner and Juddmonte homebred Three Valleys, was bred in Great Britain by John Troy and Robert Levitt and began her racing career as a 2-year-old in 2013. Three years later, she was sold to American owners Ron Charles and Sam Gordon for $25,685 at the Tattersalls Horses-In-Training Sale of 2016. Since the purchase, Gratzie won 7 races in America, raking in U.S. earnings of just over $150,000. Throughout her career in the states, Gratzie was conditioned by Manny Badilla.

“She's a barn favorite for sure,” said Badilla. “She was always so sweet. You could come up and pet her and feed her and love on her. What I'll remember about [Gratzie] is her heart: not only was she sweet around the barn but she tried so hard in every race she ran in. She never got sour. She always tried and loved being around our team. We'll miss her here.”

With that, Manny had just one more thing to say.

“It's the greatest thing ever to send her somewhere nice.”

 

— Matt Dinerman (@3coltshandicap) March 10, 2021

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Tune In: Schedule Released For Virtual IFAR Conference Next Month

The International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR) announced today its lineup of topics and speakers for its fifth conference, which will be held as a series of four virtual sessions on 6, 13, 20, and 27 April. Each webinar will begin at 12 p.m. GMT and last approximately an hour.

The 2021 IFAR will kick off on 6 April with “Aftercare in 2021,” a session that will provide an update on IFAR's activities from Chair Di Arbuthnot and feature perspectives from Jessica Harrington, trainer (IRE); Tik Maynard, eventer (U.S.); Graham and Anita Motion, owners, Herringswell Stable (U.S.); and Nemone Routh, racing office manager, Aga Khan Studs (FR). The discussion will be moderated by international racing broadcaster Nick Luck (U.K.).

“By hosting this year's IFAR virtually, we are able to include participation from a greater range of aftercare advocates, experts, and regulators from around the world,” said Arbuthnot. “Each session that we have planned will offer listeners the opportunity to learn from our speakers, engage with them through a live Q&A, and share the best practices they have learned with their native racing jurisdictions.”

The remaining schedule of topics and speakers can be found below:

 

13 April, 2021: Aftercare for Racing Administrators and Regulators

Moderator: Caroline Searcy (AUS)

Panelists:

–       Martin Burns: General Manager, Welfare & Sustainability, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing

–       Simon Cooper: Director, Weatherbys, General Stud Book (U.K.)

–       Dr. Anna Smet: Manager, Animal Welfare, Racing and Wagering Western Australia

 

20 April, 2021: Global Insights on Aftercare (Aftercare Providers, Equine Charities)

Moderator: Donna Brothers (U.S.)

–       Stacie Clark: Operations Consultant, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (U.S.)

–       John Osborne: Director of Equine Welfare and Bloodstock, Horse Racing Ireland

–       Dr. Ignacio Pavlovsky: Veterinarian, Owner, and Breeder (ARG)

–       Lisa Coffey: Founder and Director, Racing Hearts Equine Assisted Therapy (AUS)

–       Kristin Werner: Senior Counsel, The Jockey Club (U.S.); Administrator, Thoroughbred Incentive Program

 

27 April, 2021: Aftercare for Racing Industry Participants: Owners, Breeders, and Trainers

Moderator: Francesca Cumani (U.K.)

–       Mark Fisher: Kotare Bioethics Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand

–       Dr. Eliot Forbes: Chief Executive Officer, AniMark Ltd. (AUS); member, IFAR Steering Committee

–       Tom Reilly: Chief Executive Officer, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia and Aushorse

–       Dr. Christopher Riggs: Director, Equine Welfare Research Foundation; Chief Advisor, Veterinary Science, The Hong Kong Jockey Club

 

All sessions are free, but registration is required. For more information about the conference and to register, please visit internationalracehorseaftercare.com/virtual-ifar/. Recordings of each session will be made available on the IFAR website.

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