Twinkle Town radiant in G2 Saratoga Special victory
Four G Racing’s Kentucky homebred Twinkle Town was sharp away from the gate and led each step of the way to victory in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Saratoga Special, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for juveniles, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Ken McPeek, the gray son of Take Charge Indy adds to a debut score over sloppy and sealed footing on June 27 at Churchill Downs, where he set a pressured pace before driving clear to the 6 1/4-length victory under Florent Geroux. With Jose Ortiz aboard in the Saratoga Special, Twinkle Town did exactly the same, shaking off early pressure to draw off with ease and win geared down in a final time of 1:16.44.
“I told him [Ortiz], ‘look, I thought mentally, he could be a horse that could lay second, third, fourth, stalking,’ but it looked like he took him there [the lead],” McPeek said.
The win was meaningful for McPeek, who trained multiple graded stakes-winner and prolific broodmare Take Charge Lady, dam of the colt’s sire Take Charge Indy.
“It’s a little bit out of my game to have a 2-year-old go 21 and change and keep going, right? So that’s very nice, but I think what I’m most proud of is Take Charge Indy, Take Charge Lady, it seems like it’s worked,” said McPeek, who owns a personal Triple Crown with wins in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in 2024 with Mystik Dan, the Grade 1 Preakness in 2020 with the filly Swiss Skydiver and the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes in 2002 with Sarava.
Twinkle Town was away sharply from post 3-of-6 and made the early lead as the favored Flight Command stumbled from the outside post and Booked – winner of the Grade 3 Sanford here last out – rushed up between rivals to track in second after a slow start through the opening quarter-mile in 21.82 seconds over the fast dirt.
Ortiz said he did not want to take away what came easy to Twinkle Town after the troubled beginnings for Flight Command and Booked.
“Kenny said, ‘you don’t need to be on the lead,’ because it looked like there was a lot of speed in the race. He showed speed first time out. I wanted to let him break and see where the other horses were going to be,” he explained. “I just let him break. I broke better than [Booked] and was much faster than [Flight Command], so I just let him do his thing.”
Booked pressured Twinkle Town from the inside as the field entered the turn, and loomed large through the half-mile in 45.26 before matching strides with the pacesetter straightening for home and appearing poised to edge clear under Ricardo Santana, Jr. with the other four contenders doing little to reel in the top pair.
“I didn’t want to rush, so I put myself wide,” Ortiz said. “I just waited, waited as long as I could, and when I asked him to go, he responded really, really well.”
Emboldened by the challenge, Twinkle Town dug in gamely down the center of the course, pulling away again to win convincingly by six widening lengths. A strung-out group of rivals followed him home, with Booked a clear second by seven lengths over How’s Al Today and Rasasi another 5 1/4 lengths back in fourth. Uncle Kef and Flight Command completed the order of finish.
For as impressive as the colt was around one turn today, McPeek said his best races may be at farther distances down the line.
“I think he is definitely a two-turn horse, but we’re going to have to retool him a little bit at the end of the year or later in the year into next year,” McPeek said. “He’s just naturally talented.”
McPeek added that he will likely point Twinkle Town to the local seven-furlong Grade 1, $300,000 Spendthrift Farm Hopeful on September 6, with an eye towards the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne on October 3 around a one-turn mile at the new Belmont Park.
Booked’s Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said his colt was hampered by the slow start, and tipped his cap to Twinkle Town.
“He didn’t break great,” Asmussen said. “They went 21-and-4, what do you think he went? He’s a solid horse, but a good horse won. That horse ran great. Times aren’t yielding what he just did today.”
As for the beaten favorite Flight Command, jockey Flavien Prat said the Rudy Rodriguez trainee – who romped by 10 lengths in his June 25 debut at Belmont at the Big A – lost all chance at the start.
“He broke poorly and after that he never got comfortable,” Prat said. “After the start, it was a scramble.”
Bred in Kentucky by 4G Racing’s Lance and Clint Gasaway, Twinkle Town is out of the winning Liam’s Map mare Southern Grayce and his second dam, She Be Keene, is a half-sister to 2009 Eclipse Award Champion 2-Year-Old Filly She Be Wild. He banked $137,500 in victory while returning $9.08 on a $2 win bet.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with an 11-race card that includes two rescheduled stakes in the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls and the Listed Curlin presented by Casamigos in Races 8 and 9. The card also features the Grade 3, $225,000 Adirondack in Race 10. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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