Eighteen-year-old apprentice-rider Yedsit Hazlewood, who already has 277 wins to his name in his short, 13.5-month career, won the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes on Maryland-bred Big Cuddle (MD) yesterday on the Preakness Day undercard at Laurel Park.
The race was Hazlewood’s 1,169 start since his debut last year on March 21. He was the Leading Jockey for Laurel Park’s winter meet this year and has already earned over $8.957 million in winnings.
The Sir Barton Stakes was three-year-old Big Cuddle’s second stakes win in only 4 career starts, after winning the Maryland Million Nursery Stakes last October. The big bay colt is by Great Notion out of the Maryland-bred mare Frechette (MD), bred by Two Legends Farm and trained by Gary Capuano.
Hazlewood won two other races yesterday at Laurel — the first race on Boujee Bubblez (MD) for Maryland-based trainer Hugh McMahon and the third race on Limo for trainer Michael Stidman. After riding Love Yourself (MD) to second in the 14th race of the day, Hazlewood left for Belmont Park to ride Kentucky-bred Di’s Surprise in the third race today for McMahon.
The future looks bright for both Hazlewood and Big Cuddle — certainly a pair to watch in the coming years.
