I am trying to override / hook `theme_table` from `theme.inc`.  
My theme name is `stat`.  
I have added following function to my theme `template.php`.

    function stat_table($variables) {
      //table logic here
      return $output;
    }
    
I have dev env configured with xdebug and while function is 'loaded'/processed when displaying page with table, it is never called.  
Original `theme_table` is called instead.
I already tried clearing cache via `drupal_theme_rebuild();`  
Using Drupal 7.