“I feel super-excited, a lot of emotions involved here,” Concepcion said afterwards. “A lot of sacrifice. Thanks to the owners and trainers to give me the opportunity to win some races here. I’m very grateful and excited to win my first stake.”

Apprentices tend not to get many stakes opportunities. The weight advantage that attracts many trainers to bug riders is not available in stakes races, and given level weights, most trainers choose more established pilots. Concepcion entered the day with eight stakes attempts among his more than 670 starts thus far this season.

But trainer Michael Maker and owner Three Diamonds Farm tabbed Concepcion to ride Field Pass in the $75,000 Find, a race restricted to Maryland-bred or -sired runners. A son of Lemon Drop Kid, Field Pass was bred in Maryland by Mark Brown Grier. Though he entered the Find off a couple of off-color races, Field Pass possessed  a large class advantage over his rivals: the only graded victories in the bunch, a Grade 2 and four Grade 3 wins, and a $1.2 million bankroll that was more than twice any of his rivals’.

For all that, Field Pass went off a wildly overlaid 4-1, just the third choice in the field of nine. Bettors made the hard-hitting Sky’s Not Falling, winner of last October’s Maryland Million Turf Sprint, the 2-1 favorite, with The Addison Pour the 3-1 second choice two races after winning a Maryland-restricted allowance.

After an early steady nearing the first turn, Concepcion settled Field Pass in mid-pack up the backstretch while Wish Me Home ticked off the early fractions, a half-mile in 48 seconds flat and three quarters in 1:11.75.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST OFF TO THE RACES RADIO!

“The assistant told me, [Maker] ‘didn’t give me instructions,’” Concepcion said. “I followed the number seven [Sky’s Not Falling]. I’m trying to save ground all the way, and when I asked the horse, he responded very well.”

Field Pass came towards the outside nearing the stretch and fanned wider still entering it before inching past his rivals to win by a neck over Crabs N Beer with Wish Me Home holding third, another half-length farther back. Running time for 1 1/16 miles on a firm course was 1:41.70.

The win was Field Pass’s first since being elevated by disqualification to the win in the Texas Turf Classic last July and his first the old fashioned way – by crossing the wire first – since the November 2021 Grade 2 Seabiscuit. It gave him 10 career wins and pushed him past $1.2 million in earnings.

It also had his young rider thinking about the journey that’s brought him here. The 18-year-old, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, turned professional January 1 and won 21 races there before coming to the mainland, winning his first race here in late February.

“When I was a kid, when I saw my first horse, I told my father and my mom, ‘I’m gonna be a jockey one day,’” Concepcion remembered. “A lot of work, going to [the Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school], thanks to all the teachers.”

NOTES Last fall’s Maryland Million Turf winner, Wicked Prankster, was pulled up rounding the first turn but walked off under his own power… One race prior, in the All Brandy for Maryland-bred fillies and mares, a frantic finish saw Downtown Katie prevail by a nose over 21-1 Gold Digging Broad. Downtown Katie was disqualified for bumping fifth-place finisher Amplio Esquema in the stretch, however, elevating Gold Digging Broad to first. Carlos Lopez rode the winner, who led most of the way but could hold off Downtown Katie before profiting from the DQ. Gold Digging Broad is trained by Miguel Verz for Jean Mahoney and notched her second career victory…