Hazlewood heads to Kentucky with five wins, fist bumps
Secures fifth straight Maryland meet title
Frank Vespe
June 28, 2026
Yedsit Hazlewood smiled and fist-bumped a couple of people after winning Sunday’s fifth race at Laurel Park aboard the talented five-year-old gelding Stronsino.
The win, his second of the day, gave him 22 at the meet, which concludes today. That’s one more than Jeiron Barbosa, and with Barbosa at Churchill Downs Sunday to ride The Stork Club in the $225,000 Debutante Stakes, gives Hazlewood his fifth consecutive meet riding title in Maryland.
It’s also a nice sendoff as he heads to Ellis Park for the summer.
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“I’m excited [about going to Kentucky],” Hazlewood, 18, said. “It’s a new experience, so that is good: new trainers and new jockeys. It’ll be fun.”
In Maryland Hazlewood has become a dominant performer, regularly riding for top trainers like Jamie Ness, Gary Capuano, and Jose Corrales.
He’ll need to build his business in Kentucky, but early indications are that he’ll get a big shot at it. He’s named on 15 horses during his first four days, July 2-July 5, and those include horses for Mike Maker, Wesley Ward, and Ron Moquett, who shipped Hymn to Maryland to win Saturday’s De Francis Dash, among others.
He also has a mount in Saturday’s Dade Park Dash there aboard Capovivo for trainer Larry Rivelli.
Hazlewood will most likely head to Kentucky as the nation’s leader in wins. He entered the day with 179 wins, tied with Irad Ortiz, Jr. for the top spot, and grabbed five more on Laurel’s Sunday card.
For his career, Hazlewood, last year’s runner-up in the voting for champion apprentice, has won 320 races with purse earnings of more than $10.3 million from about 1350 races.
As for whether he plans to make Kentucky a permanent base, the rider said he would take it as it comes.
“I don’t know yet. I’ll see what happens over there for the trainers and jockeys,” the native of Panama said. “I think a couple times, I’ll come back.”
Hazlewood’s apprenticeship, which expired earlier in June, came under the watchful eyes of veteran trainer Jose Corrales, likewise a native of Panama who brought the young rider to the United States, and agent John DiNatale. Hazlewood closed the meet with a win in the ninth aboard Pudge Boy Palace for Corrales.
In today’s third-level allowance/optional claimer, the Ness-trained five-year-old Stronsino was making his 13th career start – but his first in over a year, since June 13, 2025. In that contest, he went to the front and drew away to win by over seven lengths.
Today’s race off the bench was more challenging – but looked remarkably similar.
Hazlewood sent Stronsino to the lead as soon as the gates opened, and the Dialed In gelding had a half-length lead after a half-mile in 47.32 seconds. That grew to three lengths after six furlongs went by in 1:12.00. He was still well clear in mid-stretch and had plenty in the tank to hold safe the late run of stablemate Worcester by three parts of a length.
It was Stronsino’s fourth win from 13 career starts and pushed his bankroll to over $229,000. He paid $8.00 to win.
“The trainer said, with him coming back from the last time, in front is better,” Hazlewood said. “So the instructions were to put him in front and see what happened. My horse never stopped.”
NOTES Ness won three times Sunday, also scoring with Vanilla and Spidey Man, to secure the trainer title… A pair of two-year-olds who won at first asking at Laurel this spring ran in rich juvenile stakes Sunday at Churchill Downs, but both The Stork Club, in the Debutante, and Call Me Micky J., in the Bashford Manor, were well beaten versus deep fields…
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