Tejano Twist Earns Graded Honors in Whitmore Romp
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Photo: Coady Photography
Tejano Twist gets up to win the Whitmore Stakes at Oaklawn Park
Tejano Twist decided the March 18 Whitmore Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park would be the time and place he would no longer be denied a win in graded stakes company.
Campaigned by JD Thoroughbreds and Joey Keith Davis under the supervision of trainer Chris Hartman, the 4-year-old gelded son of Practical Joke was a stakes winner at 2 but had not been successful when stepping up a level with two off-the-board tries at Churchill Downs and Kentucky Downs last year.
Though his 3-year-old season was mostly inconsistent, it seemed the gelding was turning around as the year concluded, winning an allowance optional claiming race in October at Keeneland and then capturing the Nov. 21 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes to end his season.
He continued the pace into 2023 with a win in allowance optional claiming company Jan. 6 at Oaklawn before returning to the Hot Springs Oval Jan. 28 in a second-place finish behind Gunite in the King Cotton Stakes.
Not to be denied a second time, Tejano Twist stepped into high gear for the six-furlong Whitmore.
Placed into the back of the pack with Francisco Arrieta at the helm, the gelding waited in the wings patiently as a quarter passed in :22.22 while Cogburn and Edge to Edge showed the way. At the top of the stretch in :45.27 it was Edge to Edge taking center stage over the fast dirt track while Cogburn fought for second, Miles Ahead made a flying bid from the rail, and Tejano Twist surged from the outside to pass the competition and catch the leader in :57.41. At the wire, it was Tejano Twist who got 1 1/2 lengths ahead to win in a final time of 1:09.27.
"I thought (Edge to Edge) might be having them at the top of the lane," Hartman said. "I thought he might have had them. He was cruising on the lead. He had company, but it looked like he had horse left. Tejano outkicked him coming down the lane. It was a good race."
Miles Ahead became runner-up after a powerful push in the stretch and Edge to Edge was three-quarters of a length back in third.
Bred in Kentucky by Tom Durant, Tejano Twist improved his record to 7-6-1 from 22 starts and increased his earnings to $763,604. He is out of the grade 3-placed Cuvee mare Haley's Lolipop who has five winners from five foals to race including stakes winner Game Day Play . The dam's last reported foal is a 3-year-old son of Kantharos .