Saratoga-bred Twisted Tom keeps winning
Twisted Tom, bred in Saratoga Springs, took down the biggest trophy last weekend on New York Showcase Day at Belmont Park.
His breeders are Dr. Joan Taylor and Dr. William Wilmot of Stepwise Farm on Fitch Road.
The annual New York Showcase Day offered $1.75 million in stakes purses for horses bred in New York.
Twisted Tom won the richest race, the $300,000 Empire Classic.
Facing older horses for the first time, Twisted Tom was on his toes from the beginning of the race at 1 1/8 miles. He pressured Control Group until taking over in the upper stretch and pulled away from that rival down the lane.
Twisted Tom went on to score by three lengths and returned $4.10 as the heavy favorite in a field of nine that included five
stakes winners.
Twisted Tom has won six of seven starts this year, losing only the Belmont Stakes. He has won stakes at Laurel Park, Finger Lakes, Saratoga, and Belmont Park and has career earnings of $680,631 with seven wins in 10 starts.
Taylor and Wilmot may well have bred another state champion in Twisted Tom.
He is a first-crop son of Creative Cause, winner of the Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes in 2011 as a 2-year-old and placed in the Preakness Stakes the following season.
Twisted Tom’s mother is Tiffany Twisted, a daughter of classic winner Thunder Gulch whose family has been part of the Stepwise strategy for decades.
Wilmot noted that Creative Cause was chosen as the sire because, as a Storm Cat line stallion, he matched well with Tiffany Twisted’s family.
It is quite a family.
Tiffany Twisted’s sire, Thunder Gulch, won the Kentucky Derby, Belmont and Travers in 1995 on the way to honors as Eclipse champion 3-year-old male.
Her mother, Miss Turlington, produced Incurable Optimist, bred by Taylor and Wilmot.
Incurable Optimist was New York-bred Horse of the Year in 1998 as a 2-year-old, when he won graded turf stakes in New York and California.
Both Twisted Tom and Incurable Optimist share the same fifth dam. She is Patelin, winner of the Schuylerville at Saratoga, the Selima at Laurel, and the Alcibiades at Keeneland as a leading juvenile filly of 1970 for turf patron George D. Widener.
Taylor and Wilmot are also the breeders of Naughty New Yorker, the New York-bred Horse of the Year in 2007.
The millionaire won 11 stakes during his career, including the Grade 3 Red Smith at 1 ¼ miles.
Owned by Cobra Farm and partners and trained by Chad Brown, Twisted Tom has shown steady improvement all year. He has done most of his training the last five months at the Oklahoma Training Track in Saratoga Springs.
In addition to the Empire Classic, Twisted Tom has captured the Private Terms and Federico Tesio stakes, both open affairs at Laurel, the New York Derby at Finger Lakes, and the Albany Handicap at Saratoga.
The only blemish on his record this year is a sixth in the Belmont Stakes, marked by a troubled journey in which his heels were clipped from behind on the first turn.
He is a much better horse than that, and I suspect he will show even more improvement in the future.