Tejano Twist

Tejano Twist broke his maiden in his fourth career start at Colonial Downs on Aug. 3, 2021, and then finished second in two black-type stakes before winning again, this time taking an allowance optional claiming race at Keeneland by an eye-catching 7 ¼ lengths in October.

Tejano Twist successfully moved into the stakes ranks for the first time when he won the 6 ½-furlong Lively Shively Stakes at Churchill Downs by a hard-fought half-length on Nov. 27. He then tried a longer distance in the Gun Runner Stakes Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds, where Tejano Twist finished a clear second behind Epicenter in the 1 1/16-mile race at the conclusion of his 2-year-old campaign.

Tejano Twist subsequently lost a Fair Grounds allowance race on March 9, 2022, in his 3-year-old debut, and was pointed to sprint races and mile races and not pursued with on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

Tejano Twist began to hit his best stride late in his 3-year-old season and into his 4-year-old year. His next trip to the winner’s circle was on Oct. 14 when he won a six-furlong allowance race at Keeneland, and he followed that up right away with another win on Nov. 21 in the Steel Valley Sprint Stakes at Mahoning Valley.

Tejano Twist picked up right where he left off in his 4-year-old debut, which was a victory in a six-furlong allowance race at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 6, 2023. He was subsequently second in his next outing in the King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 28.

Tejano Twist won his first graded stakes on March 18 when came from far off the pace in a 10-horse field to take the $200,000 Grade 3 Whitmore Stakes at Oaklawn Park, where he completed the six furlongs in 1:09.27 to win by 1 ½ lengths. He followed with third-place finishes in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn and the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes presented by Ford and later closed out his 2023 season with victories in the Bet on Sunshine Stakes in November at Churchill and the Ring The Bell Stakes in December at Oaklawn.

He ran second in both the Whitmore Stakes Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn in 2024 among five runner-up finishes, but Tejano Twist was winless in nine starts on the year. He halted the winless stretch with a win in the King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn in January 2025 and banked another graded stakes win in the 2026 Whitmore Stakes, winning by two lengths with a last to first rally March 14.

Tejano Twist is trained by Chris Hartman. He was bred in Kentucky by the sire Practical Joke out of the mare Haley’s Lolipop by Cuvee.