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Federico Tesio, A ‘Win And In’ Race For Preakness, Returning To Pimlico

For the first time since 2015, Maryland's local audition for the 146^th Preakness Stakes (G1) in Baltimore, Md., will provide horses with an opportunity to prep over the same legendary Pimlico Race Course main track that serves as home for the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

The $125,000 Federico Tesio headlines seven stakes worth $750,000 in purses on the Spring Stakes Spectacular program Saturday, April 24, originally scheduled to be run at Laurel Park. With the ongoing evaluation of Laurel's main track, live racing has been shifted to Pimlico effective Thursday, April 22.

Laurel's spring meet, delayed seven days to an April 8 opening amid an equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) quarantine, was scheduled to run through May 2. The Preakness Meet at Pimlico is scheduled for Thursdays through Sundays through May 31, with no live racing Sunday, May 16, or Thursday, May 27, and a special Memorial Day holiday program Monday, May 31.

The 1 1/8-mile Tesio – named for the noted Italian breeder, owner and trainer whose homebreds Nearco and Ribot dominate Thoroughbred bloodlines around the world – debuted at Pimlico in 1981 and stayed every year but two through 2015. Laurel Park hosted the Tesio in 1987 and 1989 and each year since 2016.

For the sixth straight year, the Tesio will serve as a 'Win and In' qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated 3-year-olds to the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes Saturday, May 15. Among the horses under consideration are Grade 2 winner Brooklyn Strong, Grade 3-placed Tarantino, stakes winners Hello Hot Rod and Maythehorsebwithu, and stakes-placed Tiz Mandate.

All five horses are Triple Crown nominated, with Laurel Park-based Maythehorsebwithu and Tiz Mandate's eligibility coming at the late March 29 deadline. Shackled Love, another Laurel horse that beat Maythehorsebwithu in the March 13 Private Terms, is also being pointed to the Tesio.

Laurel-based trainer Lacey Gaudet was an assistant to her late father when Eddie Gaudet won the 2011 Tesio at Pimlico with Maryland-bred Concealed Identity, owned by his wife, Lacey's mother Linda, along with Morris Bailey. Sheldon Russell, still part of Maryland's jockey colony, was the rider.

The Tesio was actually the second straight win at Pimlico for Concealed Identity, a two-length triumph over Ruler On Ice, who would go on to capture the Belmont Stakes (G1). It would be the only Preakness appearance for Eddie Gaudet, patriarch of one of Maryland's best-known and respected racing families.

“I remember my mom and I discussing, 'OK, this is our goal. If he can win going two turns, and then win the Tesio, we'll go to the Preakness. It was the local prep and it we decided that if we won it, we'd go,” Lacey Gaudet said. “It was fairly cool. There was a lot of personal sentiment at the time. Sheldon had rode him for us and if you watch the replay when he comes past where we stand in the regular winner's circle at the wire, Sheldon kind of pointed over at us.

“He won convincingly,” she added. “Sheldon pointed at us as he crossed the wire for the Tesio because it was like, 'OK, guys. We get to have fun now.' It was really cool and it definitely gave us a confidence booster that he won over the racetrack. He was essentially the only horse going into the Preakness winning two in a row and at the track. It was exciting.”

Serving as the Tesio's co-headliner on the Spring Stakes Spectacular program is the $125,000 Weber City Miss, a 'Win and In' qualifier for 3-year-old fillies to the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Friday, May 14 at Pimlico. Each of the first four Weber City Miss winners since its 2016 debut have gone on to run in the Black-Eyed Susan including Lights of Medina, second by a head in 2017. Grand Cru Classe did not race in last year's Black-Eyed Susan.

Spring Stakes Spectacular includes a pair of $100,0000 dirt sprints, Frank Y. Whiteley for 3-year-olds and up and Primonetta for fillies and mares 3 and older. With the change in venue, the Whiteley has been shortened from seven to six furlongs, same as the Primonetta.

Also scheduled are the first three turf stakes of the year – the $100,000 Henry S. Clark for 3-year-olds and up and $100,000 Dahlia for females 3 and older, both at a mile, and $100,000 King T. Leatherbury for 3-year-olds and up, carded for 5 ½ furlongs at Laurel but to be contested at five furlongs at Pimlico.

The Preakness highlights a program of 10 stakes, six graded, worth $2.25 million Saturday, May 15 that includes the 120^th edition of the $250,000 Dinner Party (G2) for 3-year-olds and up on turf, Pimlico's oldest stakes race and the eighth-oldest in the country, debuting in 1870.

Other graded-stakes on the Preakness undercard are the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) for 3-year-olds sprinting six furlongs, $150,000 Gallorette (G3) for fillies and mares 3 and up going 1 1/16 miles on the grass, $150,000 Maryland Sprint (G3) at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up, and $100,000 Arabian Derby (G1) for Arabian 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.

A total of six stakes, four graded, worth $1 million in purses help comprise the May 14 Black-Eyed Susan Day card, including the historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 3/16 miles, $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) for 3-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs, and $150,000 Allaire du Pont (G3) for fillies and mares 3 and up going 1 1/8 miles.

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Trainer Lacey Gaudet Hoping To Add Another Chapter In Family’s Success Story

Carrying the mantle for one of Maryland's best known and respected racing families, trainer Lacey Gaudet has been proud to continue the tradition her late father, Eddie, began in the 1950s.

Saturday, the 33-year-old Gaudet is hoping to add another chapter to the family's legacy and join her father as a graded-stakes winner.

Gaudet will send out Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park, co-headliner with the $250,000 General George (G3) on a nine-race Winter Sprintfest program featuring six stakes worth $900,000 in purses. Post time is 12:25 p.m.

One of Eddie Gaudet's three career graded victories came with Star Touch in the 1991 General George, the first year it carried graded status, then Grade 2. He also won the 1985 Anne Arundel Handicap (G3) with Classy Cut and 1994 Garden State (G3) with Alleged Impression.

Overall, Eddie Gaudet won more than 1,700 races before retiring at the end of 2011, passing away at age 87 in January 2018. Two years earlier Gaudet and her mother, Linda, herself a noted horseman, owner and trainer, combined their stables into Team Gaudet with great success.

They turned John Jones, a $25,000 claim in the summer of 2018, into a multiple stakes winner and track record holder at Colonial Downs before he was retired. They broke Double Crown's maiden at Laurel in 2019 before the horse was sold and became a multiple stakes winner and twice graded-stakes placed including runner-up in the 2020 Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico Race Course.

The new stable star is Dontletsweetfoolya, a winner of five consecutive races by 28 ¼ combined lengths, the last two wins coming in stakes – the Nov. 28 Primonetta and Dec. 26 Willa On the Move. By multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, she will be making her season debut in the Fritchie for Gaudet, four wins shy of 200 for her young career.

“We're going into the race confident and we know that we have a nice filly, and I think that it's just going to be fun from here on out,” she said. “If she wins, great. It's not going to take anything away from her if she gets beat, but to go for six in a row and get a graded stakes under her belt? That would be fantastic.”

The connections remained patient as Dontletsweetfoolya matured from her high-strung juvenile days. She went winless in two starts at 2, and needed two more races before breaking her maiden last July. Following an allowance win at Laurel in September, Gaudet resisted the temptation to step up in a race like the Miss Preakness (G3), part of the rescheduled Preakness Day program in October.

Instead, Dontletsweetfoolya went to Pimlico anyway for an optional claiming allowance two days earlier, overcoming an eventful ship and a troubled start for a three-length triumph that earned her a shot at stakes company.

“She matured a lot as a 3-year-old from her 2-year-old season, and that showed on her form last year. So, hopefully she can start off her 4-year-old season the right way,” Gaudet said. “She's doing everything right. We stayed the course and we went through the races that we hoped to hit and we said that this was going to be our ultimate goal. We're here, she's ready and she's doing great, so it's time to test her.”

Dontletsweetfoolya drew Post 3 in a field of eight and was made the 7-2 third choice on the morning line for the Fritchie behind 8-5 favorite Hello Beautiful and Grade 3 winner Sharp Starr. Hello Beautiful, a five-time stakes winner including each of her last three starts, will break from the far outside.

Gaudet's last graded-stakes attempt came with long shot Chauncey, second by a neck at odds of 42-1 in the 2018 Charles Town Oaks (G3).

“We drew inside of a lot of the speed,” Gaudet said. “The last couple of races I've left it up to [jockey Jevian] Toledo, and she just does whatever he wants her to. So, I think I'm just going to leave it up to him.

“I know Hello Beautiful has a lot of speed. I don't think she's the only one, but I do think that we'll definitely be the pace, the two of us, and we'll see how they fare,” she added. “It takes a little bit of the pressure off, because we know where she's going to be. We're not going to change our tactics in this race.”

Gaudet and Five Hellions will have another stakes starter Saturday, Fraudulent Charge, in the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies. Making her season debut, she is fourth choice of nine at 6-1 behind 2-1 program favorite Street Lute, a winner of four straight stakes and five overall. Fraudulent Charge nearly ended that streak in the Dec. 26 Gin Talking, her late rally coming up a nose short.

“We always liked her, but she definitely ran huge last time. She's matured since then, she's grown since then and she's just going into this race fantastic,” Gaudet said. “I know there's speed. I don't think that she'll be speed, she's kind of a little different from [Street Lute]. [Jockey] Johan [Rosado] says that she's very push-button, so I think that he'll be able to rate her a little bit behind the speed and if she can make that run like she did last time, I think she'll be very dangerous.”

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Laurel’s Winter Sprintfest Includes Rematch From Spectacular Bid Stakes

Kenny Had a Notion and Maythehorsebwithu, separated by a neck following a stretch-long duel in the Spectacular Bid last month, will hook up again as the primary challengers in Saturday's $100,000 Miracle Wood at Laurel Park in Maryland.

The 26th running of the one-mile Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds and the 28th renewal of the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies are among six stakes, two graded, worth $900,000 on the nine-race Winter Sprintfest program.

Serving as co-headliners are the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) for fillies and mares 4 and up and the $250,000 General George (G3) for 4-year-olds and up, both sprinting seven furlongs. Older horses will also go about 1 1/16 miles in the $100,000 John B. Campbell and $100,000 Nellie Morse for females.

Post time for the first of nine races is 12:25 p.m. ET. The Miracle Wood will kick off the stakes action in Race 3 (1:23 p.m.) with the Street Lute carded as Race 6 (2:53 p.m.).

The Miracle Wood will be the third meeting between Kenny Had a Notion and Maythehorsebwithu dating back to the First State Dash last September at Delaware Park, where they ran sixth and second, respectively.

Since then, Louis Ulman and Neil Glasser's Kenny Had a Notion won the 5 ½-furlong Jamestown over Laurel's world-class turf course and the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery on dirt – one of four wins on the program for sire Great Notion – before running sixth in the James F. Lewis III and emerging with a displaced palate that required minor surgery.

Stretched out to seven furlongs for his two most recent starts, Kenny Had a Notion capped his juvenile campaign running second by a neck to James Lewis winner No Cents before his thrilling battle with Maythehorsebwithu in the Spectacular Bid.

“He's pretty game and he's going into this well. He worked good the other day so we'll stretch him out another eighth and see if he can get another eight against these horses,” trainer Dale Capuano said. “I think that he can do it. He sure seems like it. Until he does it you don't know for sure, but all indications are he could go at least another eighth of a mile, I think. We'll just have to see how it plays out.”

Kenny Had a Notion broke running in the Spectacular Bid, briefly losing the lead entering the stretch, but surged again along the rail for his third career stakes win. Jorge Ruiz, aboard for all three races, gets the return call from Post 5 in a field of seven.

“He has a lot of speed so I would assume that he'll probably in front again. We'll have to see if he can carry his speed that far, really,” Capuano said. “He came out of his race good so he's ready to go again. We'll see what happens. We'll see how he runs and how he comes out of it and then we'll decide what we'll do with him after this. But we have options.”

Michael Dubb and Bethlehem Stables' Maythehorsebwithu is the narrow 2-1 program favorite in the Miracle Wood over Kenny Had a Notion (5-2). Trained by Brittany Russell, the gelded son of 2009 Whitney (G1) winner Bullsbay has been sent to post as the favorite in each of his last three starts.

“He's great. He's a really good-training horse and he comes out of every race so far the same way. He touts himself. He trains well, and he hasn't missed a beat,” Russell said. “You want a horse like him. He has gas, but I think he'll keep going. I think he'll be fun moving forward.”

Maythehorsebwithu will also be racing beyond seven furlongs for the first time. He broke his maiden at first asking going 5 ½ furlongs in a maiden claimer last summer at Delaware, and captured a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Dec. 11 in his Laurel debut to punch his return ticket to stakes company.

“He ran really hard last time. I like this horse enough that I can see him jumping up and winning one of these races,” Russell said. “I think he'll like the mile, but you don't know until you try. He trains in the morning like he'll keep going, so I'm excited to see how the mile sets up for him.”

Russell's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, gets the riding assignment from Post 4.

Klaravich Stables' Subsidize ships in from New York where he was a 3 ½-length maiden special weight winner Jan. 7 at Aqueduct in his fourth career start and first at 3. Victor Carrasco, who missed time recently with a minor toe injury, will ride for trainer Chad Brown from outside Post 7.

Kathleen and Robert Verratti's Silent Service was a front-running 6 ¾-length debut winner Jan. 22 at Laurel for trainer Mike Trombetta, whose first of four career Miracle Wood wins came in 2006 with Sweetnorthernsaint, who would go on to win the Illinois Derby (G3), run seventh as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and second in the Preakness (G1). Silent Service is also entered in a 6 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance Friday at Laurel.

Rounding out the field are Tiz Mandate, most recently fourth in the Spectacular Bid; multiple stakes-placed Newyearsblockparty, second last out in the seven-furlong Pasco Jan. 16 at Tampa Bay Downs; and The King Cheek.

Eight Look to Deny Street Lute Sixth Stakes in $100,000 Wide Country
One race before they send out respective stable stars Hello Beautiful and Dontletsweetfoolya against each other in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3), trainers Brittany Russell and Lacey Gaudet will look to upset five-time stakes winner Street Lute in the $100,000 Wide Country.

Team Gaudet and Five Hellions Farm's Fraudulent Charge came up a nose shy of Street Lute in the seven-furlong Gin Talking Dec. 26 at Laurel, just her second career start and first in a stakes. The Will Take Charge filly was a 6 ¼-length maiden claiming winner on debut Nov. 12, also at Laurel.

“We couldn't take anything away from her,” Gaudet said. “We kind of didn't have any other option but to try her in the stake. We were really looking for a third or fourth, a good effort to kind of just get her back over there. We think that she's a promising filly and I do think that she's going to want to go further, but winter racing you kind of have to do what Mother Nature lets happen.

“She ran her eyeballs out last time. Obviously, a very, very nice filly beat her, and she has not missed a jump since then,” she added. “[Street Lute] looks like she'll be the filly to beat again this time, but our filly will be ready and I think she'll appreciate having some more training and racing under her belt.”

Johan Rosado rides Fraudulent Charge from Post 3 in a field of nine.

Wonder Stables, Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables' Little Huntress scratched out of the Ruthless at Aqueduct after it was pushed back a day to Feb. 8 due to weather and Russell opted to stay home with the promising daughter of Frosted, making her stakes debut.

“To be fair we were planning to go to New York and then when they canceled and they brought the races back it gave us the opportunity to enter here, which we were considering anyway. She has a good win over this racetrack. Yeah, it's a bigger field than it would have been in New York but I just felt better about taking the next step out of her own stall,” Russell said. “She's put up some nice works in the morning. She appears to have taken a step forward in the morning so I hope that translates to the afternoon.”

Little Huntress was beaten less than a length when second in her Nov. 21 unveiling going six furlongs, then romped to a 14-length front-running maiden special weight triumph sprinting seven furlongs Dec. 27, both over her home track. Russell's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, rides from Post 7.

“We always liked her. It's sometimes deceiving when they win like that because you're not sure what was behind them,” Brittany Russell said. “With that being said, if there wasn't much behind her that's OK because she did it really well. I knew she was going to need a run that first time. We liked her and thought she could get the job done, but she was a big, heavy filly that was kind of hard to get fit and was going to need a race. So, to see her move forward so much from that first run was something we expected.”

Lucky 7 Stables' Street Lute is the 2-1 program favorite to earn her fifth consecutive victory and sixth stakes overall through seven starts. Her only loss came when second by a nose in the Maryland Million Lassie last fall.

Since then, Jerry Robb-trained Street Lute won the Smart Halo, Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship and Gin Talking to cap her 2-year-old season before launching 2021 with a five-length triumph in the return of the six-furlong Xtra Heat Jan. 16. Xavier Perez will ride for the fifth straight time, from Post 5.

BB Horses' Miss Leslie was second to Street Lute in the Xtra Heat, snapping a three-race win streak to end her juvenile campaign including the 1 1/16-mile Anne Arundel County by a head over Buckey's Charm. She was claimed by winter meet-leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez for $25,000 in mid-November.

“She ran into a nice filly the last time, and it was a little short. It was six furlongs, not seven and I think that maybe the seven furlongs is going to be a little better for us. I think she is better going longer. We don't have any races for 3-year-old fillies going longer so we'll give it a shot in here,” Gonzalez said. “She's doing good and she came back good from the last race. Maybe we can be there.”

Buckey's Charm and Hamilton Smith-trained stablemate Whiskey and Rye, fourth in the Gin Talking and Xtra Heat; Salt Plage, unbeaten in two Parx starts for New York-based trainer Linda Rice; and recent maiden claiming winners My My Girl and Lady Clau complete the field.

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No ‘Kid’ding: Dontletsweetfoolya More Settled Alongside Goat Friend Entering Barbara Fritchie

There's a scene in the 2003 motion picture 'Seabiscuit' where trainer Tom Smith cradles a goat in his arms as he walks along the road on owner Charles Howard's California ranch leading to the stable where the movie's cantankerous main character has been keeping his connections on their toes.

“Goat racing?” Howard, played by actor Jeff Bridges, asks.

“Oh, no. Just trying to calm him down a little,” fellow Academy Award winner Chris Cooper, playing Smith, answers. “The smart ones, they hate being alone all the time. Sometimes, another animal just soothes them a bit.”

Moments later, the goat is seen exiting Seabiscuit's stall in mid-air before landing and scampering past an astonished Smith, standing with his mouth open and hands on his hips. Ultimately, Smith brings in a pony to keep Seabiscuit company, and the rest is cinematic history.

Trainer Lacey Gaudet hasn't had any such trouble since Doris, a 7-month-old baby goat, or kid, joined her Laurel Park barn in mid-January. Doris has been nothing but a positive influence for the entire stable, in particular the occasionally high-strung, multiple stakes-winning filly Dontletsweetfoolya, who is scheduled to make her 4-year-old debut in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) Feb. 13.

“She's become the barn mascot,” Gaudet said. “Everybody loves her.”

Especially Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya, who has reeled off five consecutive wins by 28 ¾ combined lengths including the Primonetta and Willa On the Move stakes at Laurel to cap her sophomore season, the latter on the day after Christmas.

“She since has added a goat to her stall, which we wavered back and forth on doing for a long, long time. It just happened that one of our neighbors got two little goats and they needed a spot for one,” Gaudet said. “It's been a fantastic experiment.

“She loves the goat, and the goat loves her. My rider swears that it has changed her in the mornings,” she added. “I definitely see a bit of a change in her through her daily routine. I guess we'll find out next Saturday if it has helped her much.”

Though having animals around the barn with the horses is nothing new to racing it is a first for Team Gaudet. The late Eddie Gaudet won more than 1,700 career races and was the patriarch of one of Maryland's best known and respected racing families. His wife, Linda, and oldest daughter have done the training since 2011.

“There's a lot of barns out there that have goats. Everybody does this from time to time, but this is our first time. My dad and my mom never had goats in the barn,” Lacey Gaudet said. “She is the tiniest little thing. She is not even as big as my Jack Russell. She is a tiny goat, but she has been great to have in the barn.

“Everybody loves her,” she added. “She's so quiet. She doesn't make any noise. We'll just walk by at any point in the day and she'll be sleeping between this filly's legs or the filly will be laying down and the goat is between her legs.”

Dontletsweetfoolya had her third and final breeze for the Fritchie Feb. 6, going a half-mile in 48 seconds in company with newly turned 3-year-old filly Fraudulent Charge, runner-up to multiple stakes winner Street Lute in the Dec. 26 Gin Talking who is pointing for a rematch in the $100,000 Wide Country, part of the Winter Sprintfest program of six stakes worth $900,000 in purses.

“She hasn't missed a beat. Her works have been fantastic,” Gaudet said. “She's just so push-button, where before she was always full speed ahead and we could not slow her down. She was a little rank. We would always try to settle her, to no avail. She's really gotten to the point where if we want her to work in 51 [seconds], she'll work in 51. If we want her to work in 48, she'll work in 48.

“Each work off of that last race was fantastic. Each was a little bit faster and it was definitely under control,” she added. “She's doing very well, so we're looking forward to it.”

Approaching her 200th career victory, Gaudet is chasing her first graded-stakes win in the Fritchie. Her most recent attempt came with long shot Charles Town Oaks (G3) runner-up Chauncey in 2018.

“It's fantastic. The last time we ran in a graded-stake my horse was [42-1] and she ran second and got beat a [neck],” she said. “It's fun to point toward this race and I think we actually have a chance.”

Among the horses Dontletsweetfoolya is expected to face are fellow multiple stakes winners Hello Beautiful, herself on a three-race win streak, and Needs Supervision; Sharp Starr and Victim of Love, both Grade 3 winners in New York last year.

“It's funny because last time when she won the stake … people were like, 'Oh, you're going to have to face Hello Beautiful now,'” Gaudet said. “I think everybody in Maryland, especially the people on the backside, and everyone that has seen these two fillies flourish, I think they're all really looking forward to these two coming together. And, we are too.”

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