Twilight Meteor, a graded stakes-winning son of Smart Strike , has arrived for stallion duty in 2010 at Dan and Kathy Barraclough’s Saratoga Glen Farm near Schuylerville, N.Y., where he will stand for $6,000 on behalf of Saratoga Stud.
Bred in Ontario, Canada, by Kinghaven Farms, Twilight Meteor raced for John Fort’s Peachtree Stable. Trained by Todd Pletcher, he won or placed in 11 of 17 races and earned $575,291.
“Twilight Meteor is a beautiful, well-balanced horse with tons of heart and grade I talent,” Pletcher said.
Five-year-old Twilight Meteor was a stakes winner three years. He won at Saratoga at 2 in his first start and captured the Woodford Reserve Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland in the fall.
At 3, Twilight Meteor won the Hallandale Beach Stakes on turf at Gulfstream Park and placed in five other added-money events. He finished second in the Canadian classic Breeders’ Stakes on grass at Woodbine and was beaten a nose by Nobiz Like Shobiz in the Kent Breeders’ Cup Stakes (gr. IIT) in a runner-up effort. He also placed in the Hawthorne Derby (gr. IIIT), the Sir Beaufort Stakes (gr. IIIT), and the Straight Deal Stakes on grass and ran fourth in the Hollywood Derby (gr. IT).
This year, Twilight Meteor won the Canadian Turf Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Gulfstream.
“Twilight Meteor is an ‘A’ physical and was a great racehorse," Fort said. "One of the best looking horses I’ve owned. If his foals look like him, we’ll be bidding.”
“He’s a good-looking, correct horse, and we’re happy to have him,” said Harlan Appleby, syndicate manager for Saratoga Stud. “The Smart Strikes can run anywhere, and we think he’ll fit in well here in New York.”
Twilight Meteor’s dam, One Over Prime (by With Approval), is a half-sister to grade I winner Citronnade, Canadian champions Poetically and Primaly, and grade III winner and successful Canadian sire Whiskey Wisdom. Second dam Primarily is a Canadian Broodmare of the Year.
