Last month trainer Michael Gorham stood dejectedly while the stewards determined that his trainee Moon Cache had fouled Safe Trust in the stretch of the $100,000 Beyond the Wire Stakes.

Today, while he waited out the stews, the stakes were higher.

Gorham’s Pay Billy was first past the post in the $150,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park, but he was in the midst of a tightening group of runners into the first turn that saw jockey Paco Lopez nearly come off Sacred Thunder. That prompted the stewards to hang the inquiry sign.

“They want to torture me,” Gorham laughed later.

He could laugh because the stewards took no action, leaving Pay Billy the winner of race, earning his connections $90,000 – and a spot in the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes May 17 at Pimlico Race Course.

“It’s a win-and-you’re-in race here. The fees are paid,” Gorham said afterwards. “If he’s doing well, it’s a good possibility.”

Pay Billy has now won four of five, including two stakes. His only defeat in that sequence came when second by a nose to two-time stakes winner Barbadian Runner. Today’s win pushed Pay Billy’s earnings to more than $230,000.

Breaking from post nine, Pay Billy had his heels clipped from behind heading into the first turn as several runners converged, but jockey Raul Mena quickly settled him into a stalking position in the four-path. He raced just off the early pace, staying close through fractions of 24.13 and 48.60.  

“A couple of jockeys tried to get position,” said jockey Raul Mena, now four-for-five with Pay Billy. “On paper, it didn’t look like there was a lot of speed, but I think a couple of riders were thinking the same way. When we get to the corner, we get a little bit tight, all of us.”

Sacred Thunder took the worst of it, nearly losing his jockey, but when the dust settled, Mena had Pay Billy, an Improbable colt owned by RKTN Racing LLC, in a good spot settled a length or two off a modest pace set by the duo of 31-1 Right Wing Runner and 80-1 Bold Diversion.

As the field bunched up down the backstretch, Pay Billy advanced three wide into the far turn, gradually gaining ground. Near the quarter pole, he angled inside to take a short lead and was immediately confronted by longshot Just a Fair Shake, who had swept up impressively after racing five-wide on the first turn and four-wide on the far turn.

“He took a really good trip,” Mena said. “[With] a couple of horses running on the lead and settling behind, he got pretty confident, quiet.”

The two colts battled head-to-head at the top of the lane, but Pay Billy dug in gamely along the rail and edged away late to win by 1 ½ lengths in 1:52.78. Just a Fair Shake, at odds of 22-1, ran the best race of his career, making the winner work for every inch of the victory and holding second. Surfside Moon, second in the Withers in February but unraced since, tracked the leaders along the rail for much of the race and loomed a threat in upper stretch after swinging into the three-path but flattened out late to finish third 3 ¼ lengths behind the winner.

“He was always there for me when we traveled home,” Mena said. “He’s a very classy horse.”

Kentucky Outlaw, off at 5-2 after entering undefeated, had early trip trouble, made a bold middle move to contention, but could not continue into the lane, ultimately finishing fifth.

Pay Billy paid $6.60 to win and topped an exacta that returned $51.30 for a one-dollar wager.

The win was the culmination of one of the rarer things in horse racing: a plan coming to fruition.

“We had discussed earlier on about trying to get Derby points,” Gorham said. “I suggested maybe we could go the low road with these races and maybe the Preakness was possible.”

Gorham was on the Derby trail for much of the winter with Omaha Omaha, who accrued 26 Derby points but did not run well last out in the Wood Memorial and will get some time off while pointing to a summer campaign. Now, with a horse who was a maiden into mid-December, he could have the first Preakness starter of his career.

“I think my horse ran a big race,” Gorham said. “He settled nice, like he’s supposed to, and finished strong.”