Hayes Strike ($18.20), dismissed at odds of 8-1, completed the distance in 1:45.46 over a fast main track to snap a six-race losing streak going back to his maiden triumph last August at Ellis Park. It was the first Private Terms victory for both Kentucky-based trainer Ken McPeek and veteran Maryland jockey Horacio Karamanos.

“We couldn’t be more pleased,” McPeek said. “He’s had some races that were tosses, and the last race was a toss. He didn’t handle the synthetic and the travel, and in this case we were able to regroup. He really wanted to run on the dirt. The jock did a great job, just stalking out there, so we’re real pleased.”

Last of nine in the one-mile Leonatus Jan. 21 at Turfway Park, a race that produced next-out Gotham (G3) winner Raise Cain, Hayes Strike found himself racing in the clear in fourth as New York shipper Register jumped out to the front, going the first quarter in 24.95 seconds, chased by Feb. 18 Miracle Wood winner Coffeewithchris, both trying two turns for the first time.

Howgreatisnate, who stumbled and lost rider J.D. Acosta out of the gate in the March 4 Gotham after winning each of his first four races, two of them in stakes, raced in third along the rail and had to steady in traffic rounding the clubhouse turn but moved up to second following a half in 49.16.

Coffeewithchris was the first to go after Register, moving up alongside on the far turn and taking over the top spot entering the stretch. Karamanos had tipped Hayes Strike further out to make a run and set him down once straightened for home, coming with a steady run to pass a gutsy Coffeewithchris inside the eighth pole and edge clear by 1 ¾ lengths.

Finishing a decisive second was Coffeewithchris, 3 ¾ lengths in front of late-running Circling the Drain, making his stakes debut. It was three-quarters of a length to Howgreatisnate in fourth, followed by Feeling Woozy, Riccio, Register and Marty’s Magic.

“This horse likes to sit behind wherever he’s comfortable. Today I was able to sit out of the gate and put him right behind the speed,” Karamanos said. “The speed didn’t go much, really. I saw [Howgreatisnate] in trouble and [Coffeewithchris] was going nice and comfortable in front of me. I got a good position outside and at the three-eighths pole my horse wanted to go so I let him pick it up a little bit.

“In the straight, we went head-to-head with [Coffeewithchris] and he drifted out, but my horse didn’t care. He took the lead and gave me a nice even kick to the wire,” he added. “He galloped out through the wire. If they had another sixteenth of a mile, he’d win again.”

Hayes Strike ran second in the Street Sense (G3), third in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) and fourth in the Iroquois (G3) and Gun Runner as a 2-year-old. By Connect out of the Deputy Commander mare Plaid, he is a half-brother to Senior Investment, who McPeek trained in 2017 to a win in the Lexington (G3) and a third in the Preakness. Senior Investment would later come back to win the 2020 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial at Laurel for trainer Scott Lake.

Laurel’s next stakes for 3-year-olds is the $125,000 Federico Tesio going 1 1/8 miles April 15, a ‘Win and In’ qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the Preakness. McPeek said it was likely Triple Crown-nominated Hayes Strike would stay closer to home.

“We’ll probably bring him back in the Blue Grass [G1 April 8 at Keeneland],” he said. “He’s got a Kentucky-based owner. Dixiana will probably give him a shot back home.”

NOTES In the companion race for fillies, the track’s latest prep for the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan to be run the day before the Preakness, Lady Lowery made a similar trip from Turfway Park to win the Beyond the Wire by three lengths. Trained by Will Walden for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Gary Barber, and Wachtel Stable, Lady Lowery made her first start on dirt a triumphant one, leading at every call. She now has two wins from three career starts and could return to action in the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs May 5… Nimitz Class made it three straight wins with a dominant, 6 1/4-length score in the $100,000 Harrison Johnson Memorial Stakes, getting the mile in a sharp 1:36.43. Trained by Bruce Kravets for Tom Coulter, Nimitz Class, the 3-5 favorite, could try graded company soon…