“There are some old wives’ tales in racing you can believe, and some you can’t,” trainer Chad Summers said the day after Tartabull earned his maiden win at Laurel Park on Oct. 25. “The first foal being smaller, for whatever reason, that one holds pretty true. I don’t know why that’s the case, but the first foal out of the mare, no matter what her size is, is always a little bit on the smaller side.”

Tartabull may be small, but he’s packed with pedigree and potential heading into Saturday’s $125,000 Juvenile Stakes at Laurel Park.

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The Juvenile, like the co-featured $125,000 Juvenile Filly Stakes, is contested at seven furlongs and is restricted to Maryland-bred or sired, and Virginia-bred or sired 2-year-olds. 

The first post time is 12 p.m. ET, and there are two “Value Pick 5” wagers, each offering a low 12% takeout rate.

By super-sire Tapit, Tartabull is the first foal out of the wildly-popular Anna’s Bandit, a West Virginia-bred who won 17 of 39 starts, and earned $806,655 for breeder and trainer Jerry Robb. Jockey Xavier Perez teamed with Anna’s Bandit for 15 of those victories.

“I’m over the moon just knowing I got to ride a baby of a horse that means so much for me in Maryland,” an emotional Perez said after coaxing Tartabull to a rallying win. “I’m grateful that [Summers] sent him down to us, and let me ride him, and enjoy him.”

Summers planned to debut Tartabull at Laurel on June 28, but a quarantine situation in New York forced his withdrawal. A race at Belmont didn’t fill, and Tartabull eventually started at Saratoga on July 5, finishing third to the impressive Ewing.

“He kind of lost his mind in the paddock with the pony and everything else, and Ewing came back and flattered the form, winning the Saratoga Special,” Summers noted.

With racing closed in Maryland during the summer, and Summers reluctant to race Tartabull in a stake at Colonial, the trainer elected one more start at Saratoga, and Tartabull finished fifth.

“We ran him seven-eighths,” Summers said about the second try. “I felt like he tried. They split the race, and we obviously got into the tougher division.”

The winner of that heat, Talkin, subsequently finished second in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes in New York. Also, the third-place finisher, Further Ado, captured his next two starts, including Churchill’s Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club.

The third time was the charm for Tartabull. Owned by Al Gold’s Gold Square LLC, Tartabull avoided a loose horse at the start, found inside position on the backstretch, altered course professionally back to the rail under Perez, and drove home to win that state-sired event.

“The incident out of the gate, then he ran up on heels,” Summers noticed. “He went through a hole, and that’s not an easy thing for 2-year-olds to do. I think the experience helped him. He was more impressive than the final number. All things considered, it was a pretty good effort.”

That race convinced Summers to keep Tartabull at Laurel Park, where he is bedded down in Robb’s barn and pampered by Robb’s assistant, Jessica Lindsey.

“Tartabull actually is in Anna’s stall,” said Lindsey, who was an integral part of Anna’s Bandit’s success. “He’s a dude. He’s very personable. Anna was very much [where] we worked for her. She was the queen.”

“You could tell in the winner’s circle how much they love Anna’s Bandit,” Summers said of Lindsey and Perez. “It was great. For me, it was an easy decision to leave the horse at Laurel for the Juvenile. I think he’ll appreciate the seven-eighths. It’s the next logical step.”

Summers is pleased with Tartabull’s preparation.

“He breezed really good with that horse, Power Grid, who came back and won an allowance race last week,” Summers said of the Robb-trained 2-year-old who is currently pointing to Aqueduct’s Jerome Stakes.

Mount Peru Farm’s Code of Silence was installed as the 7-2 morning line favorite by Ed DeRosa of Horse Racing Nation.

The Blofeld gelding, a half-brother to stakes-winner Tattooed, finished a troubled sixth in the Fasig-Tipton Maryland Million Nursery on Oct. 11, then rebounded with a rallying victory against state-sired maidens the following month.

“He’s just like a diesel engine,” said trainer Tim Keefe before the Maryland Million. “It takes a little bit of time to get going. He’s a big boy. He’s a lot like Tattooed.”

Angel Cruz retains the mount on Code of Silence.