A New Twist turns the tables on an old nemesis

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.- A New Twist had to wait seven weeks and travel 1,000 miles to for an opportunity to avenge her setback at the hands of Forest Heiress in the Valley Stream Handicap. But the added experience and new environment did the trick as A New Twist easily turned the tables on Forest Heiress with a convincing three and one half length victory over the 1-5 favorite in Sunday's $100,000 Old Hat Stakes* (click here for chart).

As expected A New Twist sprinted right to the front under regular rider Edgar Prado with Forest Heiress and Jerry Bailey breathing down her neck from the outset. The pair raced as a team into the stretch at which point A New Twist began to assert her superiority, steadily widening her advantage through the final three-sixteenths of a mile of the six furlong dash.

Forest Heiress swerved in abruptly behind the winner when changing leads a bit awkwardly nearing the eighth pole and gradually weakened. French Satin saved ground and was easily best of the others. How About It propped on the turn and unseated jockey Eibar Coa in the vicinity of the five-sixteenths pole.

A New Twist, a daughter of Storm Cat and Twist Afleet, covered six furlongs in 1:10.61 over a racetrack that was considerably faster than for the opening three days of the meet. She paid $10.60 as the second choice in a field of seven. By finishing second Forest Heiress was also responsible for a minus show pool of $72,697.

"I think she might be something special," said John Kimmel who trains A New Twist for the partnership of Lucille Conover and Gary Bolton. "She certainly has the pedigree to be special. She's a lot like her mother and her mother was about the best filly I've ever been around in the sprint division. And she's by Storm Cat. She's a little package but is so quick from the gate it's hard to teach her to come back."

Kimmel said the Forward Gal Stakes(seven furlongs on Jan. 27) comes up "a little quick" but wouldn't rule it out for A New Twist's next start.

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