O Dionysus powers to victory in Miracle Wood S.

Bodemeister’s 3-year-old colt O Dionysus is now a two-time stakes winner following his three-length tally in Saturday’s $75,000 Miracle Wood S. at Laurel Park.

Make his first stakes start at a mile, O Dionysus performed like the even-money favorite he was. Jockey Jevian Toledo had the bay colt under a stout hold until midway around the turn, when he ranged up three-wide to engage the leaders, then drew off in the stretch to win going away in 1:37.06 on a fast main track.

“This is a pretty good horse. I just tried to relax him and he relaxed pretty good today,” Toledo said. “I took him to the outside to stay out of trouble like he had last time. Turning for home I knew I had a lot of horse and when I asked him he responded like he always does, and he did the job.”

Trainer Gary Capuano said the $100,000 Private Terms at about 1 1/16 miles March 18 at Laurel is a likely landing spot for O Dionysus’ next start, with the $125,000 Federico Tesio April 22 – a ‘Win and You’re In’ event for the Preakness Stakes (G1) – as a long-range goal.

“We’re still looking for a two-turn race. The next race will be two turns and if everything goes well he’ll be back for that,” he said. “He doesn’t miss a trick so we’ll keep going. The goal is the Tesio. From there we’ll see how good he is and where he takes us.”

O Dionysus, who captured the Elser Memorial S. last year, is now 3-3-1 in eight starts and has earned $171,272 for owner Marathon Farms, Inc. He is one of three stakes horses this year for Bodemeister, whose first crop are 3-year-olds of 2017.