Deputed Testamony

BREAKERName: Marshall W. SilvermanMaryland Ties to Preakness: Spartan Cat (6th, 1998).Role: To untested yearlings, Marshall Silverman is Mr. Manners. He has broken thousands of spirited young thoroughbreds, teaching them to accept a rider, to behave. "Never had a horse I couldn't break," says Silverman, of New Freedom, Pa. "The trick is to move at the animal's pace. You don't want to jerk all of the heart out of them." Spartan Cat was relatively easy to break, he says, "considering his ornery temperament.

Good Fellas Stables purchased Smart Guy as a yearling at the Timonium sales for $10,000. Obviously, he was a bargain.The Smarten colt returned the purchase price more than four-fold yesterday with a resounding victory in the $75,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at 8-to-1 odds.A full brother to the accomplished Maragold Princess, Smart Guy "is not a very big horse," according to trainer Tim Ritchey. "But I liked the way he looked in the ring and the way he moved."With jockey David Appleby in the irons, Smart Guy stalked an honest pace for six furlongs, then exploded to the front and went on to win by 9 1/4 lengths over another long shot, Scootch.

Bettors obviously didn't think much of La Reine's Terms' chances to win the $60,000 Humphrey S. Finney Stakes yesterday at Laurel Park.They made the Private Terms colt the longest shot in a field of eight -- based primarily on his sluggish performance against four of the same rivals in the Deputed Testamony Stakes on June 7.La Reine's Terms finished a well-beaten sixth in the Deputed Testamony. Yesterday, however, the surface changed from dirt to turf."He got a lot of dirt in his face that day and said, 'That's it. I'm not going anywhere,' " said trainer Larry Murray.

Although the $200,000 Federico Tesio Stakes showcased 3-year-olds born anywhere in the country, the four other stakes comprising Maryland Spring Challenge yesterday at Pimlico featured horses born in this state.$100,000 Jennings Handicap: Testafly pressed early leader and favorite Fireside Brass for most of the 1 1/8 -mile race before swooping past in the stretch for a 1 1/2 -length victory.The celebration in the winner's circle was jubilant. Testafly's trainer, Dale Mills, 32, celebrated his first stakes victory.

Among the horses who have beaten Raghib are Coronado's Quest and Lil's Lad.So, it was no surprise that the New York invader was established as the favorite in yesterday's $75,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.And the son of Phone Trick upheld his billing with a hard-earned length victory over P Day, who nosed out Farwell Look for the place.Raghib is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, but assistant Bob Witham was here for the Maryland-bred stakes over 1 1/8 miles."He's growing up and getting better," said Witham of the winner, who covered the distance in 1 minute, 50 3/5 seconds over a fast track.

Before Algar successfully defended his title in the Maryland Million Classic yesterday, Winsox captured the Turf for the second straight year.Winsox bolted into the lead under jockey Edgar Prado and never looked back, winning the 1 1/8 -mile race by 1 3/4 lengths. Winsox's victory at even money gave his trainer, Bill Boniface, his seventh Maryland Million winner. No trainer has more.And Winsox also pushed his sire, Bonita Farm's Deputed Testamony, into the lead for sires of Maryland Million winners -- into the lead for two races, that is. When Algar won the Classic, he kept his sire, Horatius, apace Deputed Testamony.

The owner of Touch Gold said he wants to try something different in his next race."We're going to try a new strategy," Frank G. Stronach said. "We're going to walk him out of the gate."Silver Charm took the Preakness in a blanket finish yesterday, but Touch Gold won the award for heart.He stumbled out of the gate and assumed a five-point stance as his nose went in the dirt. Somehow, jockey Chris McCarron stayed on board and rallied Touch Gold to fourth, a length and a quarter behind show horse Captain Bodgit.

Mixed Count will return to his own level today when he takes on seven other Maryland-bred horses in the $75,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at Pimlico."He's worked great and his training is terrific," trainer Ron Benshoff said of the Polish Numbers gelding who will be making his first start since finishing 11th in the Preakness at 99-to-1 odds."

There were four Triple Crown nominees in the original field for the $75,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes, but none of them reached the wire first at Pimlico yesterday.That distinction belonged to Foolish Pole, ridden deftly by Herb McCauley to a 6 1/2 -length romp over 1 1/8 miles."My horse was full of run and placed himself perfectly," said McCauley, who came in from New Jersey to ride two winners and a runner-up in his three mounts. "We got the ideal trip."With the pace snail-like (25 seconds for the quarter and 48 3/5 for a half-mile)

Donnie Miller Jr. remembers well that muddy May day when he guided Deputed Testamony through a hole on the rail to a stunning victory in the 1983 Preakness.Miller recalled that after crossing the finish line he didn't think: "Thank God I won the Preakness."No, this Maryland native -- at the time three weeks shy of his 20th birthday -- said he remembers thinking: "Thank God I didn't screw it up."That gilded memory is one of many Miller carries into retirement. After 16 years riding horses for a living -- he won 2,856 races and his mounts earned $37,472,579 -- Miller, 33, has quit for health reasons.

Edgar Prado was supposed to be the one riding overwhelming favorite Big Brown in his quest for the Triple Crown yesterday. That's what he wanted, and that's what trainer Rick Dutrow wanted. Instead, Prado climbed aboard Riley Tucker to try for an upset of the Kentucky Derby winner. Asked if the experience would be bittersweet, he said, "Definitely." An injury cost Prado his chance to ride Big Brown in the horse's debut in September. But Dutrow had his favorite jockey, Prado, aboard the colt for winter workouts in Florida.

His back is swayed like a Nike swoosh. His shaggy coat, a sign of age, would warm a woolly mammoth. At 28 - ancient for horses - Deputed Testamony looks like he should live at Charlestown. The retirement community, not the racetrack. Yet there he was, at 8 a.m., cavorting like a youngster in a grassy 2 1/2 -acre paddock at Bonita Farm in Darlington. In a nearby paddock, another stallion ambled nearer. In a flash, Deputed Testamony crested his neck in defiance and gave the interloper the stink eye. Hardly the spirit you'd expect of the oldest surviving Preakness winner.

In 30 years working with horses, Sykesville trainer Nancy Alberts had come about as close to the Preakness as most Marylanders. She'd watched the race on television. "I never dreamed I'd be in a big race like that," she said. But the talk in early 2002 said that no horse had emerged as a Triple Crown front-runner. And she had a medium-sized bay gelding named Magic Weisner who seemed to run a little better every time out. When she announced plans to saddle him in the Preakness, some local thoroughbred watchers told her she shouldn't lest she embarrass herself and the horse.

Legal Control battled foot problems and Preakness runner Malibu Moonshine in his most recent efforts and didn't fare well. Both experiences were behind him yesterday and the son of Thunder Gulch returned to front-running form, holding off Monster Chaser and It's Time to Smile to win the $50,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. With Luis Garcia replacing regular rider Jozbin Santana, Legal Control needed sound hooves to prevail by a head over Monster Chaser, who was a neck in front of It's Time to Smile.

HOLDING COURT in a spacious corner of Bonita Farm's most deluxe accommodations, the aging bay stallion greets visitors with a regal reserve that suggests he's well aware of his status in this four-generation family enterprise. By winning the 1983 Preakness, Deputed Testamony catapulted a small-time horse farm owned by J. William Boniface into a 400-acre, multimillion-dollar, nationally recognized breeding and training facility, and provided careers for a half-dozen other members of the Boniface clan.

Aloma's Ruler, who held the mantle of oldest living Preakness winner for 12 days, died June 21 at a farm in Illinois. He was 24. When Spectacular Bid, winner of the 1979 Preakness, died June 9 in New York, Aloma's Ruler became the oldest living winner of the second jewel of racing's Triple Crown. Aloma's Ruler captured the Preakness in 1982, defeating the heavy favorite, Linkage, by a half length. Aloma's Ruler and Linkage were stabled in Maryland. John J. "Butch" Lenzini Jr. trained Aloma's Ruler, and Maryland builder Nathan "Red" Scherr owned him. A 16-year-old jockey, "Cowboy Jack" Kaenel, rode the colt to victory in the Preakness.

ZWP Stable's Cherokee's Boy jumped on the Triple Crown trail by trouncing a small field of Maryland-bred rivals in the $75,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes yesterday at Laurel Park. Sent to the post as the 1-2 choice under apprentice Ryan Fogelsonger, Cherokee's Boy tracked pacesetter Brush Ahead through easy opening fractions before passing him around the far turn and easing to victory. The bay son of Citidancer completed the 8 1/2 furlongs in 1 minute 46.35 seconds - 7 1/2 lengths ahead of a late closing Foufa's Warrior.

For Testing, the second time, no; the third time, no, but the fourth time ... that was the charm. At sun-drenched Laurel Park, on the day billed as Maryland's day at the races, Testing charged from far back yesterday to capture the $200,000 Maryland Million Classic in his fourth attempt and shatter the track record for 1 3/16 miles. A 7-year-old gelding sired by 1983 Preakness winner Deputed Testamony, Testing romped by three lengths after running most of the race ninth in a field of 10. His time of 1 minute, 54.51 seconds bettered by one-fifth of a second the record set by Taking Risks in the Classic of 1994.

Lightning Paces gets little respect, although he does nothing but try - and that's often good enough. He'll likely be an overlooked contender today in the Maryland Million Classic. A 3-year-old son of Thirty Eight Paces, Lightning Paces has won two in a row and four of his last six. His richest score occurred three weeks ago in the $200,000 Virginia Derby on the turf at Colonial Downs. Bettors dismissed him at 14-1. Jerry Robb, his trainer, said he believed Lightning Paces would have had a chance in the Turf or the Classic.

On a slate-gray October day, with winter's gloom so near at hand, Horatius nibbles on clover from the palm of Cynthia McGinnes. On the opposite side of the Chesapeake Bay, Deputed Testamony accepts a pat on the shoulder from Bill Boniface. The tranquil scenes at far-flung horse farms defy the explosiveness of these two horses on the racetrack and their impact on Maryland racing in the breeding shed. The two stallions, distinguished senior citizens of the highest rank, stand apart from the state's more expensive, more fashionable sires.