Twisted Tom makes Tesio Stakes his third straight win

Trainer Chad Brown’s list of accomplished 3-year-old dirt horses continues to grow.

Already set to run Practical Joke in the Kentucky Derby and Cloud Computing in the Preakness, Brown now appears to have a nice 3-year-old for the New York-bred stakes.

Twisted Tom splashed his way to a 2 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s $125,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park. It was his third consecutive victory and second in a stakes race. The Federico Tesio was designated by the Maryland Jockey Club as a “Win and You’re In” race for the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 20.

Twisted Tom, a gelding by Creative Cause, is not Triple Crown nominated and his connections, Cobra Farm Inc., would have to pay a $150,000 supplemental fee to make him eligible for the race.

“We’ll talk about it this week, but it’s unlikely we’d participate in any of the Triple Crown races,” Brown said by phone from Kentucky, where he watched the race via simulcast.

“Right now, we’ll enjoy this win. Hopefully, he comes out of it in good shape. He’s still a young horse and a New York-bred, too. There are a lot of races available for him the entire year.”

For a gelding, it’s all about how much money he can make. With his victory in the Federico Tesio, Twisted Tom has now won four of six starts and has earned $209,040.

Twisted Tom gave jockey Feargal Lynch his second stakes win on the card. He also won the $125,000 Weber City Miss aboard Lights of Medina.

Lynch was aboard Twisted Tom when he rallied from off the pace to beat O Dionysus by a nose in the Private Terms. Lynch and Brown spoke Saturday morning and wanted to keep Twisted Tom a bit closer to the pace in the Tesio.

Twisted Tom broke alertly and was three-wide into the first turn as Hashtag Alex, under Carol Cedeno, set the pace, stalked by Action Everyday and Twisted Tom.

Hashtag Alex gave way, Action Everyday took a brief lead but was soon overtaken by Twisted Tom. Coming to the quarter pole, O Dionysus, under Jevian Toledo, loomed the danger, but Lynch said he was not worried.

“To me, I didn’t think he could stay the trip,” Lynch said. “We made sure it was a test of stamina.”

Indeed, Twisted Tom kept going while O Dionysus did not.

O Dionysus finished second by 2 3/4 lengths over Action Everyday, who nosed out Carradine, the 4-5 favorite, for third. Hashtag Alex finished last.

Twisted Tom covered the 1 1/8 miles in the slop in 1:53.60. Despite coming off a victory in the Private Terms at Laurel a month ago, Twisted Tom was let go at 5-1 and returned $12.60 to win.

“The horse is enormous, he’s a giant of a horse, probably the biggest horse I have in training physically,” Brown said. “Obviously, he has a tremendous amount of stamina and a lot of heart and determination.”