Thursday Marks Return of G3 Winner Wondrwherecraigis
Journeyman Jorge Ruiz Rejoining Maryland Jockey Colony
$125,000 Federico Tesio for 3-Year-Olds to be Drawn Wednesday

BALTIMORE – Stakes winners No Sabe Nada, Mid Day Image, Pyron, Determined Kingdom and Mr. Hustle are among nine older horses entered for the first grass race of the season Thursday, April 13 at Laurel Park.

The third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs scheduled for the Dahlia turf course serves as the finale for an eight-race program that begins at 12:25 p.m.

Laurel’s 142-foot wide turf course allows for six different layouts based on the position of the portable rail, each named for some of racing’s finest champions – All Along (hedge), Bowl Game (17 feet), Kelso (35 feet), Dahlia (52 feet), Exceller (70 feet) and Fort Marcy (87 feet).

Boat’s a Rockin (Post 1) and Pyron (Post 5) each have graded-stakes placed credentials. M3 Racing Stable’s Boat’s a Rockin, 6, was second in the 2022 Turf Monster (G3) last September at Parx and has gone unraced since capturing a second-level optional claiming allowance going 5 ½ furlongs on the Laurel turf Oct. 9.

Happy Got Lucky Stable Inc.’s 7-year-old Pyron, winless in two starts this year, is entered to make his first start off a $40,000 claim March 18 on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park by Laurel’s winter meet-leading trainer Jamie Ness. Pyron won the 2022 Colonel Power at Fair Grounds, has placed in four other stakes including the 2021 Palos Verdes (G3), and was fourth in the 2020 Chick Lang (G3) on the main track at historic Pimlico Race Course for trainer Steve Asmussen.

D Hatman Thoroughbreds and Kingdom Bloodstock Inc.’s Determined Kingdom won the 2022 Punch Line and 2021 Jamestown for Virginia-breds, both at Colonial Downs. Now 4, he was most recently sixth facing older horses in Colonial’s 5 ½-furlong Meadow Stable last September.

R Racing Stable’s No Sabe Nada won the 2021 First State Dash at Delaware Park and is entered to make his turf debut in his first race for trainer Ned Allard. Front-running winner of the 2021 Claiming Crown Emerald, Mid Day Image cuts back to a sprint for the first time in two years exiting a gate-to-wire triumph Dec. 7 at Tampa Bay Downs going 1 1/16 miles. Mr. Hustle, 6, won stakes on Woodbine’s all-weather and turf courses in 2019 and returns to the grass for the first time since back-to-back runner-up finishes over Laurel’s turf last fall.

Thursday’s card also includes a third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs in Race 6 that features the return of Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Madaket Stables and Michael Caruso’s multiple stakes winner Wondrwherecraigis.

The 6-year-old Munnings gelding is favored at 9-5 on the morning line against 10 rivals including 2021 Tom Fool (G3) winner Chateau and his David Jacobson-owned and trained stablemate Synthesis, a nine-time winner that ran third in the 2018 Best Pal (G2); Borracho, third in the 2019 Woody Stephens (G1); Witty, a 7 ¾-length winner of the 2022 Spectacular Bid at Laurel; and War Tocsin, three times graded-stakes placed including a second to Cordmaker in Laurel’s 2022 General George (G3).

“‘Craig’ is great. We’re excited to get him going,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “We saw he was eligible for this race and we figured it would be a good spot to bring him back, and it turned out to be a pretty salty race.”

Wondrwherecraigis gave Russell her first graded-stakes win in the 2021 Bold Ruler at Belmont Park, one race after he finished first in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) at Laurel but was disqualified to second for interference. He captured the Fire Plug in his season opener last January and was sent to Dubai, where he finished off the board in the Golden Shaheen (G1).

In his first start back, Wondrwherecraigis ran second in the De Francis before finishing fourth in the Russell Road at Charles Town and second by a head to stakes winner Alwaysinahurry in an optional claimer last September at historic Pimlico Race Course.

Thursday will be Wondrwherecraigis’ first race in 208 days. He opened his 2021 season with a three-length victory sprinting six furlongs at Pimlico off a 259-day layoff. The Fire Plug was his first start since the Bold Ruler, a span of 2 ½ months, and the De Francis came 112 days after his run in Dubai.

“‘Craig’ always seems to run well off the breaks that we’ve given him, so we’re hoping that’s the case again,” Russell said.

Journeyman Jorge Ruiz Returning to Maryland Jockey Colony

After spending the winter riding at Gulfstream Park during its prestigious Championship Meet, jockey Jorge Ruiz is set to make his return to Maryland this weekend at Laurel Park.

Ruiz, 37, is named in three of nine races Friday at Laurel including first-time starter Contempt trained by Graham Motion in Race 6, a maiden claimer for 3-year-olds; and Greg Tatum Racing’s Fast Tracked, who he rode to a runner-up finish in the 2022 Maryland Juvenile Fillies, in Race 7, a one-mile allowance for Maryland-bred/sired females.

The Venezuela native is also named on Steve Newby’s Vance Scholars in Race 8, an open allowance for 3-year-olds and up going about 1 1/16 miles on the main track. When the horse was trained by Dale Capuano, Ruiz was aboard for 10 straight races from September 2021 to November 2022 including a victory in last summer’s off-the-turf Bald Eagle Derby. Following Capuano’s retirement, Vance Scholars is now trained by his nephew, Phil Capuano.

Ruiz finished ninth in Maryland with 51 wins at Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course in 2022 to go along with nearly $2.4 million in purse earnings, also winning the Prince George’s County with Eons, the Challedon with Factor It In and Maryland Million Nursery with Johnyz From Albany, another Capuano trainee. Though his overall win total dipped from 93 to 69 last year, he reached a career high with $3.33 million in purses earned.

“We had a good year last year in Maryland. I was working with Dale Capuano. We had a lot of winners and we won the stakes together,” Ruiz said. “A lot of people have been good and they support me. I look forward to being back.”

Ruiz had 13 wins, 20 seconds and 17 thirds with $568,255 in purse earnings over the winter at Gulfstream. Eight of his wins came for trainer Jimmy Toner, including a natural hat trick March 25. His average win payoff was $14.57.

“We had a good winter with Jimmy. I have to thank Jimmy and the owners for giving me the chance to ride their horses,” Ruiz said. “I’m going to Keeneland to ride for Jimmy on [April] 23 and 26.”

A winner of 923 races in Venezuela, Ruiz earned his first domestic victory on 80-1 long shot Star Milly Aug. 21, 2016 at Gulfstream. He moved his tack to Maryland full-time in 2018 and won 65 races in 2019, 43 in pandemic-shortened 2020 and 83 in 2021.

“I’m very happy with how the winter went. My first start in the USA was Gulfstream Park,” Ruiz said. “Now I am happy to ride in Maryland.”

$125,000 Federico Tesio for 3-Year-Olds to be Drawn Wednesday

Entries will be taken and post positions drawn Wednesday for the $125,000 Federico Tesio to be run Saturday at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Tesio headlines a program featuring four stakes worth $450,000 in purses on the first of back-to-back Spring Stakes Spectacular Saturdays. Also to be drawn are the $125,000 Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies, $100,000 Frank Y. Whiteley for sprinters 3 and up and $100,000 Heavenly Cause for females 3 and older going one mile.

For the eighth straight year, the Tesio will serve as a ‘Win and In’ qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the 148th Preakness Stakes (G1) May 20 at Pimlico. The Weber City Miss will earn the winner an automatic berth to the 99th Black-Eyed Susan (G2) May 19.

Fred Wasserloos, Anthony Geruso and trainer John Salzman Jr.’s Coffeewithchris was among a dozen late Triple Crown nominees made for $6,000 by the final March 28 deadline. Tesio-bound Coffeewithchris won the Heft at 2 and Miracle Wood at 3, and was most recently second in the March 18 Private Terms.