Dreams are big at Stepwise Farm
It is dream time at Stepwise Farm in Saratoga Springs. The farm, on Fitch Road near Saratoga Lake, is owned by Dr. Joan Taylor and Dr. William Wilmot. They are the breeders of stakes winner Twisted Tom.
The 3-year-old, in his stakes debut, captured the $100,000 Private Terms Stakes at Laurel last weekend for owner Cobra Farms and trainer Chad Brown.
“Days like this are the pass code to dreaming,” said Wilmot. “We’ve always liked him and always thought he would be OK.”
Twisted Tom is a first-crop son of Creative Cause out of Tiffany Twisted, by Kentucky Derby winner and champion Thunder Gulch.
A grandson of Storm Cat, Creative Cause won the Grade 1 Norfolk as a 2-year-old in 2011,
and finished third in the Preakness Stakes the following spring.
Tiffany Twisted is a member of a small broodmare band of quality at Stepwise Farm.
She is a daughter of the Seattle Slew mare Miss Turlington, making her a half-sister to the outstanding Incurable Optimist, bred by Taylor and Wilmot.
Incurable Optimist won graded stakes on turf at Belmont Park and Hollywood Park as a 2-yearold in 1998, so impressively in his coast-to-coast sweep that some observers thought he was the best juvenile male in the country that year.
Twisted Tom broke his maiden on the Belmont Park turf last fall, and was coming off a solid victory at Aqueduct on Jan. 28 going one mile on the inner dirt track.
In the Private Terms, at 1 1/16 miles, he broke from the inside and rated kindly in fourth position under jockey Feargal Lynch.
When Lynch took him to the outside on the stretch turn, Twisted Tom looked beaten by heavy favorite O Dionysus.
Lynch did not panic and allowed Twisted Tom to find his best stride.
He began a strong rally that devoured the gap in the final one hundred yards, winning at the last jump.
Twisted Tom failed to sell twice when offered at auction.
It was due to a sesamoid injury he sustained as a youngster, which showed on radiograph images.
“He never took a bad step and was never lame,” said Taylor.
Wilmot noted that renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage insisted that Twisted Tom was going to be okay.
“We are so happy about that,” said Wilmot. “And he does remind me a bit of Incurable Optimist.”
Wilmot said Creative Cause was chosen for Tiffany Twisted for the mating in 2013 because, as a Storm Cat line stallion, it matched well with her family.
“She’s a one hundred percent producer,” said Taylor of Tiffany Twisted. “We raised her and she looks a little bit like Thunder Gulch. We kept trying with her and it finally worked out. It is so sweet.”
The term refers to a broodmare whose offspring all win, and in her case her first six foals have hit the charmed circle.
Twisted Tom may next start in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel, on April 22 going 1 1/8 miles.
That happens to be a “Win and You’re In” event for the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown.
“So, we’re dreaming a little bit right now,” said Wilmot.
He didn’t have to explain.
ON MY MIND: Two great American Horses of the Year, California Chrome and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, are going to be shuttle stallions.
That is, they will serve stud duty in the Southern Hemisphere as well as our own.
California Chrome is going to Chile, and American Pharoah to Australia.
It is a common, and often rewarding, practice in our time.
I just think they deserve to remain in familiar surroundings with familiar handlers and not have to travel anymore.
Look at the excitement they have provided racing and its fans over the last four years, with thrilling wins in the Triple Crown classics, the Dubai World Cup, and numerous Grade 1 wins in California, Arkansas, and New Jersey.
California Chrome and American Pharoah have earned the right to stay home.