Tejano Twist Looks for Graded Success in Whitmore

Second to Gunite last out in the Jan. 28 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Tejano Twist will return to the Hot Springs oval March 18 for the $200,000 Whitmore Stakes (G3), a six-furlong event for 4-year-olds and up. The 4-year-old dual stakes-winning son of Practical Joke knocked out three runner-up finishes and a win in stakes company by the end of his juvenile year. As a 3-year-old, the gelding won two of 10 starts, with one win in the Nov. 21 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course. The Chris Hartman trainee campaigned by JD Thoroughbreds and Joey Keith Davis began 2023 with a win at Oaklawn Jan. 6 in an allowance optional claiming race prior to the King Cotton. Steve Asmussen stablemates Cogburn and Morello, who have the lowest amount of starts in the field at six and nine, respectively, will also vie for the Whitmore. The former returned to the track after a nine-month layoff with a victory in a Feb. 5 allowance race at Oaklawn, while the latter was a grade 3 winner in March 2022 and has only returned to the winner's circle once since then in an allowance optional claiming race at Laurel Park last fall. Completing the field is grade 3 winner Miles Ahead, stakes winners Flash of Mischief and Empire of Gold, stakes-placed Baytown Bear and Edge to Edge, and allowance winners Pirate Rick and Spankster.