Tejano Twist rallied from the back of the pack to shoot past odds-on 3-5 favorite Bango in deep stretch and win Saturday's 15th running of the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine Stakes (Listed) at Churchill Downs by 1½ lengths over Miles Ahead. Bango finished another length back in third in his attempt to collect his record 12th Churchill Downs victory.
“He ran a good race just wasn't good enough tonight,” said Bango's trainer Greg Foley.
Tejano Twist, owned by Jackie Slawson's JD Thoroughbreds and Joey Keith Davis, clocked six furlongs in 1:09.27 under jockey Chris Landeros for trainer Chris Hartman.
The win was worth $178,800 and made Tejano Twist a millionaire. The 4-year-old's record improved to 8-6-4 and $1,092,104 from 27 career starts. Saturday's race marked his fourth career stakes win after earlier winning the 2021 Lively Shively, the 2022 Steel Valley Sprint in 2022 and the Whitmore (G3) earlier this year.
“He ran great,” Hartman said. “He's had a really good year and this was a great addition to it.”
Sir Alfred James set the pace by leading the field of nine older horses through splits of :21.75 and :44.47 as Bango tracked from third and Tejano Twist relaxed behind the entire field. Bango made a three-wide move around the turn and went for the record as he grabbed the lead with a furlong to run. Tejano Twist, along with Miles Ahead, were rallying down the stretch and swept past the leader inside the final sixteenth of a mile.
“I'm really proud of how he ran tonight,” Landeros said. “He broke a little slow but they went pretty fast up front. Turning for home I was loaded and he really came home strong.”
Tejano Twist returned $11.36as the 9-2 second betting choice.
Necker Island, Sir Alfred James, Manny Wah, Empire of Gold, Exxel, and Awesome Aaron completed the order of finish.
Tejano Twist is a gelded son of Practical Joke out the Cuvee mare Haley's Lollypop. He was bred in Kentucky by Tom Durant.
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