Named for the noted Italian breeder, owner and trainer whose homebreds Nearco and Ribot dominate Thoroughbred bloodlines around the world, the Tesio for an eighth straight year serves as a ‘Win and In’ qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated 3-year-olds to the 148^th Preakness Stakes May 20 at historic Pimlico Race Course.

Coffeewithchris and Prince of Jericho ran against each other in the Heft Stakes December 30, Spectacular Bid January 21, and Miracle Wood February 18. The duo finished one-two in all three races, with Coffeewithchris winning the first and third of those races and Prince of Jericho taking the middle one.

Prince of Jericho bypassed the March 18 Private Terms to await this spot, while Coffeewithchris did face the starter that day and went on to finish second.

Co-owned by trainer John Salzman Jr., Fred Wasserloos and Anthony Geruso, Coffeewithchris has the most experience of any Tesio horse, having finished worse than third just three times from 11 starts. He has raced at distances from 4 ½ furlongs to 1 1/16 miles, with the Private Terms marking his first time around two turns.

Coffeewithchris was never far from the lead in the Private Terms despite racing wide on both turns and was unable to hold off Hayes Strike, who came back to run seventh in the Blue Grass (G1) April 8 at Keeneland. The Maryland-bred Ride On Curlin gelding, made a late Triple Crown nominee for $6,000 by the late March 28 deadline, finished 1 ¾ lengths behind the winner but was 3 ¾ lengths ahead of show horse Circling the Drain.

 “I didn’t like the outside post last time, and I feel like if I was inside of that horse I don’t think that horse beats me,” Salzman said. “I was five wide around the first turn and three wide all the way around the second turn, and he still ran his eyeballs out. He got to the lead at the head of the lane and that other horse just had the perfect trip, sat in behind him and run by. But even when he got by me my horse didn’t give up, so he acts like he will go on. He just keeps going.

“My horse came out of the race good and he’s doing fine,” he added. “He didn’t give up. That horse got by him and he just dug in. He didn’t just fold up where you could say, he can’t go any further. Every time I run him he keeps going, so we’ll give him another chance and if he shows me he can go there then I may head to the Preakness.”

Laurel winter meet-leading rider Jaime Rodriguez gets the return call from the rail.

Michael Dubb and Morris Bailey’s Prince of Jericho sandwiched a season-opening win in the Jan. 21 Spectacular Bid at Laurel between seconds to Coffeewithchris in the 2022 Heft and Feb. 18 Miracle Wood. Trainer Brittany Russell, who recorded her first Grade 1 victory with Doppelganger in the Carter Handicap April 8, opted to skip the 1 1/16-mile Private Terms March 18 to point for the Tesio, which will mark Prince of Jericho’s two-turn debut.

“He’s trained really well. The time between I think has been really good for him,” Russell said. “I think this is a horse where the mile and an eighth is a question mark, but mentally he’s really good. He’s done what we’ve asked him to do. I think he’s a really nice horse. We just have to determine what his distance limitation will be, and this will be the test.”

The one-mile Miracle Wood is the longest race to date for Prince of Jericho, whose three wins from six starts have come at either six or seven furlongs. The son of multiple graded-stakes winning sprinter Munnings will break from outermost Post 9 under Russell’s husband, champion rider Sheldon Russell.

“He can settle and sit off horses which is to his benefit, but also sometimes with horses like that you’re not sure if they’re [just] a good closing one-turn horse. It’s just different going two turns,” Russell said. “He is a smart horse. The way he runs in the afternoon you want to think that’s his style based off how he breezes in the morning. He’s kind of been full of himself. He is touting himself.

“Two works back he worked exceptionally well. That was a really good work for him,” she added. “We came back and tried to do a little less a week before the race and, to be fair, he was really cooperative and did what we needed him to do that day, too. He’s been doing everything we ask each week, so that’s really encouraging.”

Ninetyprcentmaddie, another late nominee to the Triple Crown also is entered in the Tesio. Trained at Parx by Butch Reid for LC Racing, Ninetyprcentmaddie, by Weigelia, won the City of Brotherly Love Stakes by nearly 10 lengths in his last outing March 6. That came one race after he had been eased in the Grade 3 Withers.

Other Triple Crown nominees in the field include Russell’s other runner, Circling the Drain, who was third in the Private Terms; Fletcher, a Chuck Lawrence trainee who broke his maiden two back at Laurel; and Summer Cause, who graduated at Gulfstream last out for trainer Christophe Clement.