LAUREL, MD – Jamie Ness and Jaime Rodriguez, Laurel Park’s champion trainer and jockey, respectively, at the recently completed winter meet, wasted little time building on that momentum as they combined for Wild Vine’s upset victory in Friday’s featured fifth race, a high-level conditioned allowance with a $55,000 claiming option.

A strong group of seven older geldings lined up for the one-mile test. Odds-on favorite Hittheroadjak boasted three stakes placings and had won his prior three starts with Lasix by a combined 17 1/2 lengths.

Windsor Gold most recently downed 15-time winner Spikezone, who returned to place here with a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

Stakes-winner Concealed Carry dropped into the allowance ranks for the first time since last summer.

Secret Zipper brought a four-race winning streak into the fray, while Union Fleet finished third in last year’s Frank Y. Whiteley Stakes.

Mindtap had the hot barn angle as trainer Brittany Russell scored with 27 of 74 starters between Jan. 31 and March 29 and already saddled a winner on the Friday program.

Andrew Wolfsont rode Windsor Gold aggressively to make the lead, but Tais Lyapustina and Hittheroadjak wouldn’t let him get too far away through fractions of 24.15 and 47.41 seconds.

Hittheroadjak grabbed the lead after six furlongs in 1:12.32 but was immediately under siege from both Mindtap and a wide-rallying Wild Vine. The latter moved the best through the long stretch and handled Mindtap by two lengths in 1:38.34 over a fast track that retained moisture from overnight precipitation.

Wild Vine returned $16. Shaft’s Bullet scratched.

“He got a good break, we got a good post,” Rodriguez said. “I put him inside to save some ground. Once we turned into the top of the lane, I tipped him out into the clear, and he gave me everything.

Wild Vine has had success from on the pace in some of his past races, but Rodriguez studies race replays as part of his intense prep work, and noticed that Wild Vine could rate.

“I watched one of his other races where I think he finished second at Penn National,” Rodriguez continued. “He was on the rail the whole race, and he got beat by a nose on the rail. I realized he wasn’t afraid of the dirt.”

Bred in Pennsylvania by R R Equine Stables, Wild Vine is a 6-year-old gelding by Red Vine. He made his first 19 starts for trainer Flint Stites, winning six and earning a stakes-placing at Penn National last fall.

“I got this horse for nothing,” Flint Stites said in the Laurel Park winner’s circle after Wild Vine won a conditioned allowance on Jan. 26.

“I had a friend of mine set me up with this horse when he was a yearling,” Stites said. “He was turned out in a field in Kentucky and was still on his mother with another mare. He had never been touched by human hands.”

Ness claimed Wild Vine for $55,000 out of a fourth-place finish on Feb. 28 on behalf of his Jagger Inc. ownership group in partnership with Super C Racing. Wild Vine has now earned $224,270.

*Yedsit Hazlewood rides first two career winners

“I want to have the opportunity to talk to you a little bit,” trainer Jose Corrales said last month.

“I ride this apprentice, who’s going to run this week,” Corrales mentioned. “This kid is from Panama. He’s been in [jockey] school in Panama, and he’s been at the racetrack since he was nine years old. He’s got so much talent. I’m thinking he’s going to be one of the Ortiz kids in the future.”

Corrales knows about such things. A successful rider with over 1,000 wins in the United States and plenty more in Macau before switching to training, Corrales has mentored other successful young riders in Maryland.

He feels that 17-year-old Yedsit Hazlewood is one of his best pupils.

After Hazlewood failed to secure a victory in his first 12 races, Corrales’s faith was vindicated when the ten-pound apprentice scooted up the rail to win Friday’s sixth race aboard Addy’s Laddy T N T.

A half-hour later, Hazlewood rallied on the far outside aboard longshot Skip Thru Da Fire to take the seventh.

Corrales trained both winners and beamed like a proud papa as Hazlewood was given the traditional first-winner initiation by his fellow riders, which consisted of dousing him with several buckets of water followed by a coat of shaving cream and baby powder.

“He came here a year ago, but I could not get his paperwork ready for him to start riding,” Corrales said. “He got a job at Fair Hill and was galloping horses for a lot of other trainers. Now, he’s ready. I’m putting him on all my horses. I got [him] an agent [John DiNatale], and he’s got a chance to ride for everybody. He’s got the perfect size, the weight, and that’s the main thing.”

Corrales completed Laurel’s late Pick 3 when Fainor’s Filets won the final race on the program under jockey Weston Hamilton.

*Preakness Preview Day Nominations Close Tomorrow

Nominations close tomorrow for five stakes races on Saturday, April 19, Preakness Preview Day. There is no nomination fee for these stakes, and the racing office takes entries on Sunday, April 13.

The $150,000 Federico Tesio Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles is a “Win Today, See You in May” event. Any Triple Crown-nominated runner that wins the Federico Tesio will earn a free spot in the starting gate for the 150th edition of the Grade 1, $2,000,000 Preakness Stakes, the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, run at Pimlico on May 17.

A $30,000 value considering regular entry fees, the “Win Today, See You in May” designation offers horsemen a rare opportunity to qualify for a Triple Crown event automatically.

The $150,000 Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles is also a “Win Today, See You in May” race as the winner earns a berth in the Grade 2, $300,000 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico on Preakness eve.

There are three other $100,000 stakes scheduled for Preakness Preview Day with the Dahlia for fillies and mares at one mile on turf, the Henry S. Clark for 3-year-olds and up at one mile on turf, and the King T. Leatherbury at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.

*Nominations released for April 12 stakes

Nominations closed last Monday for four $100,000 stakes races at Laurel Park on Saturday, April 12.

The Frank Y. Whiteley Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward at seven furlongs attracted 37 nominations, including millionaires Post Time, Newgrange, Repo Rocks, and Surveillance.

Grade 2 winner Post Time, most recently third in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, breezed for the first time this year on March 29, working a bullet three-eighths in 37 seconds flat for trainer Brittany Russell.

Newgrange, a three-time Grade 2 winner trained by Jose D’Angelo, finished last of 11 in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 25.

Multiple Grade 3 winner Repo Rocks recently ran second in a restricted handicap at Colonial Downs on March 14 for trainer Jamie Ness.

Grade 3 winner Surveillance ran second in Aqueduct’s Grade 3 Tom Fool Stakes for trainer Linda Rice.

Other notable nominations include multiple stakes-winners Celtic Contender, Circle P, Maximus Meridius, Prince of Jericho, and Quint’s Brew.

Post Time, Quint’s Brew, and Repo Rocks were also among the 24 nominations to the Native Dancer for 3-year-olds and upward at 1 1/8 miles. Multiple stakes-winners Film Star, Speedyness, and Offaly Cool were also nominated.

Thirty-one fillies and mares were nominated to the Heavenly Cause at one mile, including multiple stakes-winners Beach Daze, Call Another Play, Irish Maxima, Malibu Moonshine, Opus Forty Two, and Sea Dancer. Pulp Fiction, a Group 1 winner in her native Argentina and now with trainer Graham Motion at Palm Meadows, would make her North American debut if she starts in the Heavenly Cause.

Call Another Play and Irish Maxima are also among the 26 nominees to the Primonetta for fillies and mares at six furlongs. Disco Ebo, third in Aqueduct’s Correction for trainer Butch Reid on March 2., is expected to defend her Primonetta title. Apple Picker, the winner of last year’s Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie Stakes, is also nominated.