The day after the Breeders' Cup might be anticlimactic for some people, but it will always be a highlight for Vahe Melikyan. He and Alfred (Sonny) Pais own California-bred Unrivaled Time, who put in a dynamic last-to-first effort to capture the Twilight Derby (G2T) at Santa Anita Park.
Melikyan's shouts of "Not This Time" in the winner's circle might have seemed in response to Unrivaled Time defeating odds-on favorite Proletariat, who had won his last three starts. But Melikyan, who races in the name of Innergy Racing Corp., was in fact paying tribute to his horse's sire, Kentucky-based Not This Time .
"He's such a good horse," Melikyan said of Unrivaled Time. "We've always had bad luck—he has to always go on the outside, loses so much ground."
Not this time. For the 1 1/8-mile turf race, jockey Joel Rosario let Unrivaled Time settle well back of the early pace set by Proletariat and Tribalism and was able to get him inside. Proletariat set the first quarter-mile fraction of :23.52, while Tribalism was responsible for the half-mile split of :46.26.
Unrivaled Time moved up on the rail on the final turn, angling outside in midstretch. He wasn't the only one closing ground, however. Path To Power came from fifth, and those two battled in the late stages. They crossed the finish line just noses apart, with the photo having to separate them and prove that Unrivaled Time did indeed get it done. He stopped the timer in 1:47.27. Essos finished third, followed by Tribalism, Proletariat, and Melismatic.
"He broke really well, and he likes to drop back all the way," said Rosario in his first effort on Unrivaled Time. "It looked like down the backside they were going at a good speed, and I just rode him the way he wanted to be ridden. We caught up to the pace, and he was able to come with a finish."
Rosario and trainer Leonard Powell had to return to California following the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. Neither won a Breeders' Cup race—Rosario's best finishes were a second and a third, and Powell saddled Domain Expansion to finish fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). But together they succeeded in the Twilight Derby.
With other riders, Unrivaled Time had won the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3T) at Del Mar and this year's Snow Chief Stakes, the latter against Cal-breds at Santa Anita. He was unplaced behind Proletariat in the Oceanside Stakes and Del Mar Derby (G2T) at Del Mar.
"This race was restricted to 3-year-olds," Powell said in explaining why they put Unrivaled Time in the Twilight Derby. "If we had to go against Cal-breds, we would have to go against olders. So as long as we have races restricted to 3-year-olds, we like to stick to that road."
Pais, whose previous runners included the very fast Cal-bred Brickyard Ride , does well sending mares to Kentucky and then returning them to California to foal Cal-breds and breed back to California stallions. Those stallions now include Brickyard Ride, whose first foals arrived this year.
Margo Machance, the dam of Unrivaled Time, was 11 when Pais decided that he needed to try to breed her to a Kentucky stallion. Powell had trained Margo Machance and loved Not This Time as well as his sire, Giant's Causeway. Another friend of Pais' had bred to Not This Time, and so Pais sent her to the stallion as well.
The mare's previous runners include stakes-placed Margot's Boy, a son of Clubhouse Ride, who is also the sire of Brickyard Ride. Pais said that Margo Machance is currently in foal to Up to the Mark , with plans to foal her in California.
Not This Time is the current leading North American sire; his other runners include 2026 grade 1 stakes winners Magnitude , Rhetorical, Bodacious Bay, In Our Time, and Claret Beret. The stallion is scheduled to stand for a 2027 stud fee of $300,000 at Taylor Made Stallions Inc. near Nicholasville, Ky.
