Vodka With a Twist dazzles in Churchill’s Debutante, becomes Thousand Words’ 1st stakes winner

Vodka With a Twist shot to the lead and never looked back as she rolled to an impressive three-length victory in the $225,000 Debutante S. Sunday at Churchill Downs.

The 2-year-old filly is the first stakes winner for top-three First-Crop sire Thousand Words, who has a half-dozen individual winners of $381,766 to date. He is the only Freshman Sire in the top five to stand for $5,000.

Vodka With a Twist left no doubt as who was the best horse in the six-furlong race over a muddy track. She took the lead in the first few jumps and set a quick first quarter-mile time of :21.51. The bay filly had a one-length lead around the turn, then opened up on the field when set down for the drive at the top of the stretch. She finished up with good energy and all alone at the wire, stopping the timer in 1:10.58 and delivering as the race favorite.

“We broke really fast out of the gate and she showed a lot of natural speed today,” said winning rider Flavien Prat. “Going this far for the first time she handled it really well and she was able to take her speed all the way to the wire.”

The winner is trained by Phil D’Amato for Medallion Racing, Omar Addabbagh and William Strauss. The dark bay, who broke her maiden May 17 at Churchill, is 2-0-0 in three starts and has earned $209,320.

Vodka With a Twist was bred in Kentucky by Pillar Property Services Inc. Her third dam is Grade 1 winner Mayo on the Side.