When first-time starter Sun Above broke awkwardly leaving the starting gate in a $48,000 maiden special weight Saturday at Laurel Park, trainer Madison Meyers had one thought.

“I just thought, ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’” she said afterwards. “I like the horse, you know? When I saw him break, I just kind of thought, ‘Oh, boy, we might be cooked here.’”

Despite facing a tough field featuring several runners who’d already run well, she needn’t have worried.

Under a patient ride from jockey Wes Hamilton, Sun Above bided his time much of the way and saved ground throughout before spinning off the turn widest of all. In the lane, the two-year-old Optimizer gelding exploded past his rivals to win by a widening 1 ¼ lengths over post time second choice Leverage. He covered the final quarter-mile in a sharp 23 2/5 seconds.

“We’re super-excited,” Meyers said.

Sun Above paid $23.20 to win and topped an exacta that returned $41 for a one-dollar wager.

Leverage finished two lengths ahead of Vignon Manor, who was disqualified and placed fifth for impeding a rival, elevating Red Dawn Coming to third. Post time favorite Midas Factor led early but faded to sixth.

Sun Above is out of the winning Kitten’s Joy mare Joyful Joyful and is the first of three runners out of the mare to win at first asking. Sun Above was bred in Kentucky by Robert Bonnie and Julie Gomena and is owned by their own Bonnie Rye Stable and Bonnie’s mother’s Stonelea Stable.

Stonelea and Bonnie Rye are also the ownership behind the stakes winner Desvio, who finished third in last year’s Grade 3 Virginia Derby.

Like Desvio, Sun Above is a horse that projects to want to go farther. Sire Optimizer was Grade 1-placed in the 1 ¼-mile Manhattan, and Kitten’s Joy was a Grade 1 winner at 1 ½ miles.

“I do tend to start a lot of mine off sprinting, regardless of pedigree or anything, just to get a run into them,” Meyers said. “But with the way he works, it’s always like, it’s the eighth after the wire that you’re kind of watching like, ‘Okay, he’s on the bridle,’ and he’s put in some really nice works here. My husband [Kieran Norris] sort of manages the Laurel horses, and he’s just been getting better every week.”

It was Meyers’ second win of the day – “my first double,” she said. She had given Hamilton a leg up on Regalo Perfetto in the day’s first race, and they posted a front-running score in a starter/optional claimer.

As for the future, well, it’s getting awfully late in the turf season in the Mid-Atlantic. Maybe there’s another start on the horizon this season for Sun Above, but then again, maybe not. Either way, after drubbing a solid field of local maidens, it seems likely his best days are ahead of him.

“If he comes out of this well and we can get a race to go, then we’d love to give him a second start before we put him away,” Meyers said. “But if not, especially off of a debut effort like that, they’ve got a beautiful farm where he can have some time, and we’ll get back into him in the spring.”