Full Brothers Face Twilight Eclipse in Saturday's Grade III Louisville Handicap

May 17, 2017 Churchill Downs Communications

Five-year-old Bullards Alley, the 2016 Louisville Handicap victor, is slated to compete against his 4-year-old full brother Nessy in Saturday’s $100,000 Louisville Handicap (Grade III) at Churchill Downs.

The Louisville Handicap, a 1 ½-mile marathon over the Matt Winn Turf Course, is one of two stakes events on the 11-race program that also includes a simulcast of Preakness Day action from Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course. Churchill Downs’ first race is 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern). The $100,000 Matron (GIII), for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles, is Race 10 at 5:21 p.m. and the Louisville Handicap is carded as the 11^th and final race at 5:51 p.m.

The 142^nd running of the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes (GI), the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown headlined by the Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, goes as the 13^th of 14 races at Pimlico at approximately 6:45 p.m. The race will be shown on television monitors throughout Churchill Downs, including the massive Big Board.

With a 29-5-3-5 record and $407,048 in earnings, Wayne Spalding and Faron McCubbins’ Bullards Alley is trained by Tim Glyshaw and will be ridden by Marcelino Pedroza.

Nessy, owned by Sierra Farm and trained by Ian Wilkes, has a record of 12-1-3-5 with $102,880 in earnings and will be piloted by Brian Hernandez Jr.

Bullards Alley and Nessy are sons of Flower Alley out of the Kris S. mare Flower Forest.

Both horses are scheduled to tackle 10 other rivals including multiple graded stakes winner Twilight Eclipse. The 8-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Purim has earnings of $2,102,953 with a record of 39-8-5-11. Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and trained by Graham Motion, Twilight Eclipse will be making his first start at Churchill Downs. He is the 120-pound high weight.

The Louisville Handicap field from the rail out (with jockeys and assigned weight): Generous Kitten (Miguel Mena, 115 pounds); Grey Wizard (David Flores, 113); Nessy (Hernandez, 111); Some In Tieme (BRZ) (Manny Cruz, 116); Kaigun (Edgard Zayas, 118); Twilight Eclipse (James Graham, 120); Reporting Star (Joe Rocco Jr., 118); Street Fashion (Chris Landeros, 115); Danish Dynaformer (Gabriel Saez, 119); Patrick’s Day (Declan Cannon, 114); Bullards Alley (Pedroza, 116); Gold Shield (Shaun Bridgmohan, 115).