LRL: “Project” Zevon upsets allowance
8-year-old wins for second time in five starts
Frank Vespe
April 19, 2026
Zevon didn’t need lawyers, guns, and money to reach the winner’s circle. He just needed the lead.
Eight-year-old Zevon, a Maryland-bred Imagining gelding with just 16 career starts to his name, found the front early and the finish late to win a $49,000, first-level allowance on the Laurel Park lawn Sunday afternoon. It was his second win from 17 career starts and came just over six months removed from his most recent start, an eighth-place finish in the Maryland Million Turf.
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“He likes to sit handy,” said Danielle Hodsdon, who trains Zevon for owner-breeder Mary Voss. “I was a little surprised when he actually hit the lead, but then they were allowed to go easy enough fractions. And he loves just galloping along like that.”
Veteran rider Horacio Karamanos scooted Zevon to the front out of the gate and doled out sensible fractions on the firm turf: a length to the good in a quarter-mile in 24.18 seconds, a half in 48.59, and three quarters in 1:12.43.
Karamanos gave Zevon his cue turning for home, and the gelding spurted away, opening up a three-length lead by mid-stretch. Under a drive, he had enough in the tank to hold off the late bid of Alakan by three parts of a length in 1:42.51 for 1 1/16 miles on firm turf.
“I thought he was going to get tired, actually,” Hodsdon said. “When he hit the lead early, I thought he might be a little short.”
Alakan finished second, and Punxsutawney Phil was third. Post time favorite Drilling for Gold, last early, rallied mildly into sixth. Zevon paid $41.40 to win.
“If you’ve got a ticket on Zevon, you might be an ‘Excitable Boy,’” called Laurel track announcer Dave Rodman, referencing one of the singer Warren Zevon’s more popular songs.
Zevon’s racing career began in 2022. But he made just two starts that year and two the next, and he didn’t break his maiden until last July at Colonial Downs.
Hodsdon said that she’d been sent Zevon initially because “he wouldn’t get on a trailer, only big vans, and so he came to fair Hill, and we worked with him.”
It took a while, but now with two wins and two seconds in his last five starts, it appears that Zevon has at last hit his stride.
“He’s always been a little bit of a project,” admitted Hodsdon. “I got him when he was four, but he’s just been a fun horse that always tries.”
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