Morris Kernan Jr. and Jagger Inc.’s stakes winner Speedyness, one of the Mid-Atlantic’s top 3-year-olds in the runup to the Triple Crown but unraced in four months, is set to launch his comeback in Friday’s feature as the fall meet resumes at Laurel Park.

Bred, trained and co-owned by Jamie Ness, Speedyness is the 2-1 program favorite in Race 8, a third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles that attracted a field of seven including multiple stakes winners Shake Em Loose and Ain’t Da Beer Cold, dominant Oct. 12 Maryland Million Classic winner Brilliant Ice, and Grade 2-placed Unbridled Bomber.

Speedyness has not run since finishing sixth in his turf debut, the one-mile James W. Murphy May 18 on the undercard of the 149^th Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course. The connections gave brief consideration to the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown after Speedyness ran second as the favorite to multiple stakes winner Copper Tax in Laurel’s 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio April 20.

“We gave him the summer off. He’d been running hard since he was a 2-year-old, so this was kind of the plan all along, a summer vacation as a 3-year-old turning 4,” Ness said. “We gave him a few months and brought him back, and he’s been doing great. I haven’t pushed him too hard, but the race popped up and he’s eligible, so let’s go. He’s ready to go. Hopefully he can regain his form and be an upper-level horse for us all winter.”

Speedyness returned to the work tab Sept. 10 at Laurel and has had seven timed moves for his return, the most recent a six-furlong breeze from the gate in 1:15.37 Nov. 4 at Parx. Jaime Rodriguez is named to ride from Post 1.

“Do I think he’s 100 percent ready? No, probably not,” Ness said. “He’ll probably need one, but good horses sometime surprise you. He’s got speed, he’s got the rail, we’re going to go and see what happens. I’m excited to get him back.”

A gelded Maryland-bred son of Great Notion, Speedyness captured his debut last June at Laurel and threw in a clunker in his stakes debut three starts later, the Maryland Million Nursery, finishing 11^th. He followed up with back-to-back wins and a third in the Maryland Juvenile, then opened 2024 with two straight victories including the one-mile Miracle Wood. In the leadup to the Tesio, he was third – beaten a neck – by Copper Tax in the 1 1/16-mile Private Terms.

“He’s a homebred, a really nice little horse, a stakes winner which is really nice for us. We’re a small breeding operation,” Ness said. “He was one of those horses that won early, first time out, and had a little bit of a lull and then we stretched him out and he got better and better and better. He continued to progress and we hope now that he keeps getting better.”

Post time for the first of nine races Friday is 12:25 p.m. There will be carryovers of $6,293 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9) and $1,130 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) wagers.

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