Simon’s Choice, a gelded 3-year-old son of champion Bernardini, opened a commanding lead approaching the stretch and went on to a 2 ½-length victory in Race 4 Saturday at Laurel Park to give owner-trainer Scott Wolfendale his first career win.

Under jockey J.G. Torrealba, who had mounts in all nine races and won three of them, Simon’s Choice ($5.60) completed six furlongs in 1:15.22 over a fast main track as the 9-5 favorite over six rivals in the claiming event for maidens ages 3, 4 and 5. He was not claimed.

“It feels good. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way,” Wolfendale said. “It felt like it took forever.”

Breaking from the rail, Simon’s Choice dueled up front with Category Cinco racing in the clear two wide through a quarter-mile in 23.93 seconds before opening up a three-length lead after a half in 48.67. Simon’s Choice extended his advantage to 5 ½ lengths straightening for home and cruised through the stretch to turn back late-running A B C Ya.

“He showed a lot more speed than he normally does, but he was coming off those 5 ½-furlong races on the grass. Before he was showing no speed and was coming from way out of it,” Wolfendale said. “I was surprised to see him right there head-and-head for the lead the first quarter of a mile. When he opened up, I knew if I got beat from there, I’m in trouble.”

A third-generation horseman, the 29-year-old Wolfendale is the son of the late William (Bill) Wolfendale III, a Maryland-based trainer who won nearly 1,700 races from the mid-1960s until his passing in 2019 at age 74. Wolfendale’s uncle, Howard Wolfendale, won more than 1,500 races as a trainer from the mid-1970s to 2020. His cousin, Maggie, is an on-air analyst for the New York Racing Association.

“I first started working on the racetrack for my uncle and aunt, Howard and Tammy, at Laurel when I was 16. That was my first job,” he said. “This is always what I wanted to do. I grew up on a farm where my dad broke babies. My dad won 1,600 races before I was even born. He didn’t have me until he was 50, so I wasn’t really around my dad much when he had his racehorses. But I started galloping there on the farm when I was younger.”

The win came in Wolfendale’s 12th career start. Simon’s Choice had been his first career starter, finishing sixth in a maiden claimer Dec. 23, 2023 at Laurel. Wolfendale had gone 0-for-10 this year with Simon’s Choice and 6-year-old gelding Bermondsey each racing five times. Simon’s Choice had finished second April 7 and 19 and third May 4, and currently is Wolfendale’s only horse.

“One of my dad’s good friends, Bruno [Mathias], he gave me a shot with him. The first time I ran him he ran better than he did the time before, and then the second time I had him in he cut his eye wide open,” he said. “Bruno had two horses and they both weren’t doing so good. He wanted to get out of it so Bruno gave him to me. He’s a tough horse to gallop. He run off with me one day. I’ve only ever been run off with one time in 13 years. But he’s a lot better now. He’s really a cool horse.”

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