Having rediscovered his stakes-winning form in dramatic fashion last month after two disappointing efforts around two turns, Rose Petal Stable’s Copper Tax will face a familiar cast of characters when he returns in the $125,000 Federico Tesio Saturday, April 20, at Laurel Park.

The 43rd running of the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio headlines an 11-race program featuring five stakes worth $550,000 in purses on the second of back-to-back Spring Stakes Spectacular Saturdays, including the first three of the season scheduled for Laurel’s turf course.

Copper Tax turned in what trainer Gary Capuano felt was the Copper Bullet colt’s best effort to date in the 1 1/16-mile Private Terms March 23 at Laurel, a race where he overcame an eventful trip to emerge from a three-way photo a neck winner of his third career stakes and second at Laurel following the six-furlong James F. Lewis III last fall to cap a five-race win streak.

“Actually, I was kind of in awe in that last race,” Capuano said. “He was down on the inside, not on a good part of the racetrack most of the race. Going around the turn he just kind of hung there and it looked like he was going to fade a little bit. He finally got outside and got to running, and turning for home when he got a little daylight there just really kicked in. It was outright determination to get up to win that. That was a fantastic race.”

Runner-up Inveigled, also beaten a neck in the Lewis; Feb. 24 Miracle Wood winner Speedyness, another head back in third, and 2023 Maryland Juvenile winner Circle P, Startswithadream and Celtic Contender, who respectively ran fourth, fifth and eighth in the Private Terms, all return in the Tesio.

“That was the impressive part about it, [beating horses like] Speedyness and [Inveigled]. Those are two extremely talented horses that have been running extremely well,” Capuano said. “To come there and run that kind of race and run those horses down at the end was pretty impressive. That was a very, very solid field. Very solid.”

Copper Tax has previously knocked heads with such horses as Kentucky Derby (G1)-bound Dornoch and Sierra Leone, Grade 1 winners that ran 1-2 in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen (G2) Dec. 2 at Aqueduct, where Copper Tax finished sixth in his two-turn debut. After plans were disrupted by winter weather, Copper Tax was rerouted to Tampa Bay Downs for the 1 1/16-mile Sam F. Davis Feb. 10 and wound up 10th.

“Obviously the Remsen was just a super race. So many good horses have come out of that race, as we know. The track bias there that day that was a tough race for him,” Capuano said. “The Tampa race, I hate to give an excuse but he just didn’t get hold of racetrack at all. He really didn’t like that track, so to come back and run the way he did was a big sigh of relief. He can do two turns. Those [first] two two-turn races where he didn’t show up very well didn’t look too good. To come back and do it, it was nice, against a solid bunch.”

Copper Tax is one of nine Triple Crown-nominated horses in the Tesio eligible to take advantage of the Preakness incentive. Apprentice J.G. Torrealba, up for the Private Terms, returns to ride from outermost Post 11 for Capuano, who won the Florida Derby (G1) and ran second in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness with Captain Bodgit in 1997.

“I think the Preakness this year is going to really be a very, very salty race regardless of what happens in the Derby. I think it’s going to be the highlight of the Triple Crown, to be honest,” Capuano said. “It’s definitely a thought, but it’s not my goal. This horse, he’s not a great big horse. The races take a little bit out of him, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Copper Tax is the 7-2 morning line second choice in the Tesio. The morning line favorite is the Ken McPeek-trained Lat Long (5-2), who will have Horacio Karamanos up. Lat Long has a win from seven starts, and his top effort came when third in the Grade 3 Lecomte behind Track Phantom.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m. The Tesio is Race 10, with a post time of 4:56 p.m. EST

Named for the noted Italian breeder, owner and trainer whose homebreds Nearco and Ribot dominate Thoroughbred bloodlines around the world, the Tesio for a ninth straight year serves as a ‘Win and In’ qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated 3-year-olds to the 149th Preakness Stakes May 18 at historic Pimlico Race Course.

A total of 23 Tesio winners have gone on to run in the Preakness, Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, including last year’s winner, Perform, trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey. Maryland-bred Deputed Testamony, in 1983, is the lone horse to sweep both the Tesio and Preakness, while 2020 Tesio winner won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in his next start. Tesio runner-up Ruler On Ice (2011) went on to capture the Belmont Stakes (G1) in his next start, and 2002 Tesio runner-up Magic Weisner then finished second in the Preakness.

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