Onetime claiming horse Paradise Valley continued to check off his allowance conditions Sunday at Laurel Park, rallying from a troubled start to win the featured $56,000 contest.

It was Paradise Valley’s fourth win from seven starts since being claimed by trainer Kathleen DeMasi and Pewter Stable. The five-year-old Lookin At Lucky gelding now has seven wins from 15 career starts and more than $200,000 banked.

“He was just a runner,” DeMasi said of the decision to claim him for $25,000 in November 2023. “I think they were running him where he belonged, and I got lucky. We worked on a few things, and it’s worked out for me.”

After claiming Paradise Valley, DeMasi gave him several months off, and the horse responded with a four-race streak in which he won three times and was beaten a nose once.

He received another couple of months off after a disappointing fourth-place finish behind the hard-hitting Veeson this past November but returned with another fourth-place finish, again behind Veeson, Jan. 28.

“I don’t think he particularly liked the winterized tracks, you know,” DeMasi said.

Perhaps not. But he certainly liked the wet surface at Laurel today.

“Today was the first time over the wet, so I didn’t know if he liked it or not,” the trainer added. “I just think everything worked out really well for him.”

But it didn’t start out as if it would.

When the gates opened, Cold Feet zipped to the lead from his inside stall. But Paradise Valley broke awkwardly and stumbled and immediately found himself in last. Cold Feet tugged the field through a sharp opener in 22.11 seconds, with Paradise Valley a distant 11 ½ lengths away.

The field collared Cold Feet nearing the quarter pole, with Talented Man taking charge. Paradise Valley, meanwhile, came widest of all under regular pilot Sylvestre Gonzalez to mount a rally in the middle of the track. He made up nearly four lengths in the final furlong to win by a length, with Talented Man second, narrowly ahead of No Easy Days, though the order those two was flipped by the stewards after an inquiry and objection.

Seven’s Eleven finished fourth, followed by Five Dreams and Cold Feet. Running time for the 5 ½ furlongs over a muddy, sealed surface was 1:05.72.

Off as the third choice in a field of six, Paradise Valley paid $8.60 to win. The exacta returned $12.40 for a one-dollar wager.

The waters only get deeper from here for Paradise Valley, who has now won three allowance contests. But it’s a good problem for DeMasi and her team to have.

“He did a lot of really cool stuff today,” the trainer said. “Everything came together. Sylvestre rode him great.”

NOTES It was a two-bagger for trainer Milan Milosevic, who scored with Diane Lee, who won the opener by 10 ¾ lengths under Forest Boyce, and with Sweet No No, a 9 ½-length winner under Jevian Toledo in the nightcap… The disqualification of Talented Man was the second DQ of the day. In the day’s fourth race, winner Fitness, with Mychel Sanchez up, was placed second after herding out runner-up Golden Aurora (Weston Hamilton)… Nine-year-old Yodel E. A. Who earned the 16^th win of his career in the sixth race…