Del Mar, CA–This spring, Irish trainer Michael O'Callaghan decided to roll the dice. Betting on his own past successes at the breeze-up sales, O'Callaghan and his investors doubled down on prospects they predicted could get them to the winner's circle and land lucrative overseas sales. That gamble has taken them all the way from The Curragh to Southern California for the Breeders' Cup, with Twilight Jet (GB) (Twilight Son {GB}) lining up in Friday's GII Juvenile Turf Sprint for O'Callaghan and new part-owner Michael Iavarone.
At £210,000, Twilight Jet was the most expensive of almost 30 juveniles purchased by O'Callaghan at this year's breeze-ups. He has been on the go ever since, making his debut at Naas just three weeks after that Doncaster transaction. After breaking his maiden two starts later on June 1, Twilight Jet spent the summer mixing it with the best of his generation, running in races like the G2 Norfolk S. and the G1 Phoenix S. before picking up placings in the G2 Gimcrack S. and G2 Champagne S. Dropping back to five furlongs for the G3 Cornwallis S. at Newmarket on Oct. 8, Twilight Jet broke like a bullet before taking a lead. Quickening again inside the final furlong, he drew away to win by a professional two lengths.
“Ninety-nine point nine percent of horses wouldn't let you train them that way, but he's just allowed us to be-not tough on him, but he's just taken every assignment and come out of it better,” O'Callaghan said. “He's learned from it, he's either strengthened up or got stronger mentally. He's got better and better all the time. All that stands him in good stead for this week. There is a bit of a buzz around [Del Mar] that's got bigger and bigger since Monday. The season that he's put under his belt back home; traveling to the UK for five races, he's well used to traveling now and this is his sixth international trip this year. From Ireland to the UK it's a long trek as well; it might seem close, but they're shipping for 12 to 14 hours, and then home again within a three or four day window.”
O'Callaghan said that despite his busy campaign, Twilight Jet is in good nick ahead of the Breeders' Cup.
“He's settled in really well,” the trainer said. “He's a horse with a great constitution. This will be his 11th start and we bought him at the breeze-ups in May so it's a huge advertisement for that, but also a huge advertisement for the horse–how good his mind is and the way he takes his racing. He traveled here as well, if not better, than any of the older horses that were on the same shipment and he's trained so well since. He's come alive; he's a bit of a show-off and he loves strutting around the place.”
Twilight Jet's local preparations included a short work from the gate at Del Mar on Tuesday, and O'Callaghan said the fast break required in American racing is something they have been working on at home. That training won't be in vain, with Twilight Jet having drawn the rail under regular rider Leigh Roche.
“He's always quick away, he's always switched on,” O'Callaghan said. “We have our own bell set up so he knew what was coming. The jump-out [on Tuesday] just sharpened him up, then he breezed a couple furlongs out of the gate. That's so important here, especially in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. It's a short run to the turn so he needs to be able to jump and hold his position.
“We'd like to be on the front end somewhere–if someone wants to go out in front of him they can. He's a horse that can settle behind the pace, or if they're not going quick enough he can set it himself.”
After racing in O'Callaghan's name up to this point, Twilight Jet will carry new colours going forward; those of new part-owner Michael Iavarone. Iavarone is best known in racing circles as a principal of IEAH Racing, which campaigned 2008 GI Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown as well as Breeders' Cup winners Stardom Bound and Court Vision, and champion Benny The Bull. Iavarone exited the game shortly after Big Brown's success, but returned in 2017 to start building up a new stable of his own. Twilight Jet will remain in O'Callaghan's care.
“The deal we brokered with Mike was that he was to buy 50% of the horse and he's to run in his colours, and he's to ship home and I'll train him for the rest of his career, and the original ownership retains 50%,” he explained. “Mine and my partners' business model is to buy them at the breeze-ups and get form into them and sell them to that international market. So when you get to keep one like this it makes it all the sweeter. We're all in it for getting to places like this, but sometimes you need to sell your good horses just to survive. Luckily enough we've been able to sell 50% of this guy and retain the original partnership as well. And to have someone like Mike Iavarone on board; he's a big character and he loves the game. He purchased two horses for Leigh Roche to ride here on Thursday, so Leigh will have two rides on the Del Mar turf on Thursday to familiarize himself with it. It's great to have Mike on board for this and the next chapter. Hopefully Friday is just the start of it and hopefully we can go back to Europe next year and win a Group 1.”
O'Callaghan was introduced to Iavarone by Jamie Lloyd and David Meah, who brokered the deal for owner Calvin Nguyen to purchase another O'Callaghan breeze-up purchase, Bodhicitta (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), who won last year's GII Yellow Ribbon S. and runs in Saturday's GII Goldikova S. at Del Mar.
“Jamie Lloyd and David Meah have bought a couple of good horses off me over the years,” he said. “I purchased Bodhicitta at the breeze-ups and she started her career with me in Ireland and since then I've had a good relationship with them. That's what it's all about for me, is building relationships with these guys that can buy these horses. It's good for us long term; it's a long game. When [Twilight Jet] won the Cornwallis the way he did, I sent out a Tweet the next morning when he arrived home-there was a picture of him and I said, 'I'm thinking of giving you a holiday' to the horse, and he said, 'to hell with that, I want to go to Del Mar.' I Tweeted it and it caught the guys' [Lloyd's and Meah's] attention, it caught Mike Iavarone's attention, and we got it done.”
Twilight Jet isn't the only horse from O'Callaghan's 2021 crop of breezers that he has been able to sell on: “three or four” have been sold to Hong Kong, he said, and at last month's Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale, his 95,000gns Guineas breeze-up purchase I Am Magic (Ire) (Magician {Ire}) was bought by BBA Ireland for 200,000gns, having won and been third in the recent G3 Killavullan S. O'Callaghan said he was emboldened at the breeze-ups this spring by his past history of success in that realm.
“All the good horses I've ever trained I bought myself at the breeze-ups, even if they were for other people,” he said. “I had Now Or Never for Qatar Racing who was third in an Irish 1000 Guineas and Blue De Vega who was third in a 2000 Guineas on the same weekend. I bought some horses for Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum that were stakes placed and broke their maidens. We've had many stakes horses over the years and they've all come from the breeze ups.
“This was the year I said, 'we're going to give it a kick, we're going to up the numbers.' Being a trainer in Ireland is very, very competitive. It's the best pool of horses in the world but also the best pool of young talent, and of established trainers as well. You can't be relying on people to send you horses, so it was just a case of going out and trying to find talent ourselves, taking a chance. It was a big risk, but also a big reward if it came off. And it's what I enjoy as well; I love scouring the sales for young horses and trying to find these good horses. It's all about enjoying it and playing the bigger game.”
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