King Cotton & Fifth Season Stakes 2025

Compiled by Robert Yates

Contact: Chris Ho, Vice President of Marketing, cho@oaklawn.com, 501-623-4411 ext. 4201

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Photo Credit: Coady Media
TEJANO TWIST - The King Cotton Stakes - 75th Running

Photo Credit: Coady Media
THE WINE STEWARD - The Fifth Season Stakes - 36th Running

HOT SPRINGS, AR – Late-running millionaire Tejano Twist was finally on time again in the $150,000 King Cotton Stakes for older sprinters Saturday at Oaklawn.

Under newly minted Eclipse Award-winning jockey Flavien Prat, Tejano Twist collared Happy Is a Choice in midstretch enroute to a half-length victory as the 1-2 favorite.

Tejano Twist ($3) snapped a nine-race losing streak in the King Cotton, which was reduced to four starters following the scratches of Durante and Miles Ahead. Tejano Twist won the first time since the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes in December 2023 at Oaklawn.

Tejano Twist finished second in the 2024 King Cotton, one of five runner-up finishes in a winless nine-race campaign last year. He also ran second in the 2023 King Cotton for trainer Chris Hartman.

As usual, Tejano Twist dropped far back early in his third King Cotton attempt, trailing by 10 lengths after a quarter mile. The gelding began to advance on the leaders on the turn and swung into contention in the five path turning for home. Tejano Twist stuck a head in front near the furlong marker on the outside and was fully extended to hold Happy Is a Choice safe in the final yards. Happy Is a Choice finished 3 ¼ lengths ahead of Gulfport, with early leader Edge to Edge fading to fourth.

Tejano Twist, under 117 pounds, ran six furlongs over a fast track in 1:10.82. A son of Practical Joke, Tejano Twist lifted his career earnings to $1,559,717 following his 10th victory from 38 lifetime starts. The King Cotton was his sixth career stakes victory. He also won the $200,000 Whitmore Stakes (G3) in 2023 at Oaklawn.

Hartman trains Tejano Twist for his step-daughter, Jackie Slawson (JD Thoroughbreds), & Joey Keith Davis.

The $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes was a two-horse race, with The Wine Steward edging Patriot Spirit by a neck in the one-mile event for older runners.

Juan Hernandez rode The Wine Steward ($8.20) for trainer Mike Maker and co-owners Peter Proscia (Paradise Farms Corp.) and David Staudacher. A New York-bred son of Vino Rosso, The Wine Steward was making his 4-year-old debut in Fifth Season and his first since finishing ninth in the 2023 Belmont Stakes – the final leg of the Triple Crown – June 8 at Saratoga.

Patriot Spirit, pressed throughout on the outside by The Wine Steward, took the nine-horse field through modest fractions of :23.86, :48.08 and 1:12.77 for 6 furlongs. The Wine Steward moved to the lead turning for home and outlasted Patriot Spirit to the wire. One-mile races at Oaklawn begin and end at the sixteenth pole. The winning time over a fast track was 1:38.98.

Patriot Spirit finished 2 ¾ lengths ahead of Liberal Arts, the even-money favorite, who rallied to finish third after breaking last. Henro, Raise Cain, Brunacini, Seize the Night, Inca Empire and Machine Gun Man completed the order of finish.

The Wine Steward won for the fourth time in eight lifetime starts, raising his earnings to $548,260. A three-time stakes winner, The Wine Steward also finished second, beaten a half-length, in the $600,000 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles in 2023 at Keeneland.

KING COTTON QUOTES

Winning jockey Flavien Prat (Tejano Twist): “I was a little bit worried that the pace was going to be soft and they would kind of sprint away from me. That’s just the way he likes to run. I think the four-horse field probably helped him, too. He likes to come from behind, but as soon as I asked him to make a run he came with a lot of momentum and got the job done from there.”

Winning trainer Chris Hartman (Tejano Twist): “That’s what I asked Flavien (Prat) to do (drop far back). I said: ‘If you could, just let him break and settle and make one run,’ which he always does. But sometimes he moves a little early. He put a perfect ride on him.”