Steel Your Face Stables’ homebred Yawanna Twist (Yonaguska/Twist and Pop [Oliver’s Twist]) may no longer be unbeaten, but it is a pretty good guess that his connections are delighted with his late-run second-place finish in the fifty-eighth running of the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.
Yawanna Twist had won his debut over a good (sealed) track in late December and followed up six weeks later with an allowance win, both against fellow New York-breds at six furlongs. He came from off the pace both times and beat the fields by a combined nine and one-half lengths. Trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr. was eager to stretch him out for his third lifetime start and optimistic that he would do well at a mile and a sixteenth around two turns.
Edgar Prado, riding Yawanna Twist for the first time in a race, took the colt back to seventh after they broke from post two in the field of ten, and then rated him at the rail in fifth and sixth positions for the first half-mile, while up front Wow Wow Wow set fractions of 22.85 and 46.60, dogged by Peppi Knows and Three Day Rush. On the far turn Peppi Knows dropped back and the leading group was joined by third-place finisher Nacho Friend and eventual winner Awesome Act (fourth in the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and making his first start on conventional dirt), who had been in traffic between horses earlier and swung four wide to advance. Yawanna Twist followed his lead, went five wide to circle the tiring members of the leading group, and, under urging, advanced up the middle of the track to capture second. After the race Edgar Prado said, “I’m very happy. I was right behind the winner and when the winner got through I followed him. It was the first time I had to really get in and ride him hard and I think he relaxed and took a couple strides and figured out what to do. He’s a very nice horse and I’m very happy with [the race].”
Yawanna Twist, now 2-1-0 with $99,600 in earnings from three starts, is the first foal out of stakes-winner and two-time stakes-performer Twist and Pop ($233,910) also campaigned by Steel Your Face Stables and trained by Dutrow. He was foaled at Hickory Hill Farm Thoroughbreds, LLC.
(Quote Courtesy of NYRA Communications)
