Twilight puts daylight between himself and the rest in Curragh romp

Twilight Payment (Teofilo) successfully defended his title in yesterday’s Curragh Cup (Gr 2, 1m 6f) as he kept up his good recent run of form with a runaway win which could potentially serve as a warm up for a return trip to Australia and a second tilt at the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).

The seven-year-old was following up his smooth win in the Vintage Crop Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) over this course and distance when he led home a 1-2 for trainer Joseph O’Brien and owner Lloyd Williams in last night’s race as the well supported 8-15 favourite beat Master Of Reality (Frankel) by eight lengths.

The OTI Racing-owned Camphor (Camelot) was a further seven lengths away in third in a field taken apart by Twilight Payment.

Twilight Payment beat his now stablemate and 2018 Mackinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) runner-up Latrobe (Camelot) in the corresponding race 12 months ago when he was trained by Jim Bolger.

That effort prompted Williams to snap the son of Teofilo up and make a switch to the O’Brien yard, for whom he had one more start – in the Irish St Leger (Gr 1, 1m 6f) – before heading to Flemington and finishing in 11th place as a 40-1 chance.

After yesterday’s explosive win, O’Brien was at least pointing his charge along the same route, if not yet confirming another trip to Australia as set in stone.

“That was some performance, considering where the horse who made the running (Memorabilis) finished. And, he’s no slouch either. This fella stayed going all the way to the line,” a clearly impressed O’Brien said.

“This was our early season target for him. His first couple of races were to get him ready for this. I suppose the Irish St Leger back here in September would be the long-term aim now.”

The win also caught the eye of the northern hemisphere bookmakers who made Twilight Payment a 25-1 chance for the Cup.

O’Brien was also taken with the performance of the runner-up, who could also be off on his travels later in the year. 

“It was a good run from Master Of Reality, I thought”, he continued. “He will follow along the same sort of path as Twilight Payment.

“He could travel internationally later in the year but, with the way things are, everything is up in the air at the moment.”