But over the years, a number of Tesio winners have made some noise in Maryland racing’s biggest day. In total, 22 horses have won the Tesio and gone on to run in the Preakness. Here are the top Tesio winners ranked by Preakness finish:

1^st – Deputed Testamony (1983): The Maryland-bred winner of the 1983 Tesio is thus far the only horse to complete the Tesio-Preakness double. Bred in Maryland by the Boniface family’s Bonita Farm, trained by Billy Boniface, and owned by Bonita and Francis Sears, Deputed was the less-fancied half of a two-horse entry that went off at 14-1 in the 108^th Preakness. But under an astute ride from another Marylander, Donnie Miller, he shot up the rail to win by almost three lengths.

• Notable: He remains the most recent Maryland-bred to win the Preakness… Deputed Testamony also remains the Pimlico track record-holder at 1 1/16 miles; he won the ’84 City of Baltimore handicap in 1:40 4/5… Deputed Testamony later won two additional graded stakes…

2^nd – Oliver’s Twist (1995): Remarkably enough, the only Tesio winner to finish second in the Preakness was bred and trained by the same connections as the only Tesio winner to win the Preakness. Owned by Charles Oliver, the Bonita-bred, Boniface-trained Oliver’s Twist had an undefeated two-year-old season but was winless in four tries as a sophomore until winning the Tesio as the 3-1 second choice. Off at 25-1 in the Preakness under jockey Alberto Delgado, he ran a huge race to be second, a half-length behind winner Timber Country and may well have been best, though traffic issues stalled his momentum in upper stretch.

• Notable: Though he raced until 1997, he won only one more race after the Tesio, taking a Laurel allowance that October… Two horses that he sired have made starts in 2023…

3^rd – Broad Brush (1986): Maryland-bred Broad Brush was a well-beaten third in the 111^th running of the Preakness behind runaway winner Snow Chief and Derby hero Ferdinand, and he had also been third in the Derby. He already had one Grade 1 win – the Wood Memorial – under his belt and went on to add three more including the following year’s Big ‘Cap. Trained by the late, great Dickie Small for Robert Meyerhoff, Broad Brush was ridden in the Preakness by Chris McCarron.

• Notable: An Ack Ack colt, Broad Brush earned over $2.6 million in his career, which Is even more impressive when you consider the Preakness purse was just $350,000…

3^rd – Rock Point (1989): By 1989 – after it had produced a Preakness winner, as well as Preakness third- and fourth-place finishers – the Tesio was a Grade 3, and that year it went to Rock Point, who went from the Tesio to a runner-up finish in the Wood Memorial and a third-place finish in the Preakness. He was two lengths clear of everybody else in the Preakness, but few remember him in part because that Preakness is best remembered as one installment in the epic Sunday Silence-Easy Goer rivalry. Rock Point was bred by George Cheston and trained by Sidney Watters for Brookmeade Stable.

• Notable: He did not win again following his Tesio victory, losing the final five starts of his career… Chris Antley rode the son of Believe It in the Preakness…

3^rd – Icabad Crane (2008): Four of the first five Tesio winners to run in the Preakness finished fourth or better in the Middle Jewel, but only two of 17 since have done so. The most recent was this New York-bred Jump Start gelding, who finished nearly six lengths behind easiest of winners Big Brown but was only a half-length out of second. Graham Motion trained Icabad Crane for Earle I. Mack LLC, and in the Preakness, Jeremy Rose, just three years removed from his masterpiece aboard Afleet Alex, was in the irons. He won a handful of stakes later en route to a seven-win career that saw him bank over $585,000, but he never did secure a graded win.

• Notable: His Tesio win came in the fourth start of his career and came by just a head over Mint Lane… Icabad Crane earned arguably greater acclaim for his post-racing career, as he became an event horse and earned the title of America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred for 2014 as part of the Thoroughbred Makeover…