OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Throughout his four decades in racing – 30 years training horses – John DeStefano Jr. has lost countless horses through the claim box, most often without a second thought. But there was something about Kid Cruz that made DeStefano, now the managing partner of Black Swan Stable, think twice. So, after losing Kid Cruz for $50,000 via claim Nov. 22 out of a race he won by six lengths, DeStefano made multiple attempts to buy the horse back. After his first attempt to buy all of Kid Cruz was rebuked, DeStefano made a second attempt to buy part of him. Steven Brandt, who claimed Kid Cruz with his racing partner, Richard Boylan, and trainer Linda Rice, ultimately agreed to sell 45 percent of the horse back to Black Swan, a partnership that includes Sheryl Schwartz, the wife of former New York Racing Association executive Barry Schwartz, former newspaper publisher Paul Carlucci, movie producer Bob Greenhut, and Marty Scheinman. “I’ve been in this game a long time – you don’t worry about horses you lose,” DeStefano said by phone from Florida on Monday. “This one, I kept thinking about him – how when we broke him and were training him on the farm, how excited we were about him. And then when he won second time out, I decided to do this.” Last Saturday, in the $100,000 Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park, it became pretty evident why Kid Cruz had DeStefano feeling seller’s remorse. Rallying from as far back as 20 lengths, Kid Cruz roared to a four-length victory in the Private Terms. The performance earned Kid Cruz the opportunity to jump on the Triple Crown trail, where he could make his next start in the $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 5. “That’s definitely a big possibility,” Rice said Monday. [ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays] DeStefano, along with Lynne Boutte, purchased Kid Cruz, a son of Lemon Drop Kid, for $80,000 for Black Swan out of the 2012 Keeneland September yearling auction. He was named Kid Cruz in honor of New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, with whom Greenhut has become friendly. Bill Mott trained Kid Cruz for his first start, in which he finished seventh, beaten 16 1/4 lengths on turf. Mott and DeStefano agreed to run him for a claiming tag, believing the horse would not be claimed. “It was the right move,” DeStefano said. However, both Rice and Brandt liked Kid Cruz’s pedigree, and Rice liked how he looked in the paddock and decided to drop the claim slip. “In my mind, he looked like maybe he was more dirt-meant than turf-meant,” Rice said. “He had run one poor race on the grass, so obviously we were taking a shot. I told my client if he wasn’t worth [$50,000], he’s probably still worth [$25,000]. There couldn’t be that much downside, and the upside was obviously great.” In his first start for his new connections, Kid Cruz ran second in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race. Rice was looking to run back in the same condition, but the only race she could find for him was at one mile, and she didn’t want to shorten him up. Rice thought the Gotham Stakes was too tough, so she opted for the Private Terms. Rice watched the race on television at Aqueduct, and Kid Cruz wasn’t on the screen until the middle of the far turn before he unleashed a wide and powerful run under Julian Pimentel. After sweeping past the field by the sixteenth pole, Kid Cruz was hand-ridden to the wire. He covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:54.82 and earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure. “It was a pretty spectacular performance,” Rice said. For Brandt and Boylan, who race under the name Vina Del Mar Thoroughbreds, it was their first stakes win. Brandt said he was intrigued by Black Swan’s persistence in wanting the horse back, and after initially turning down the offer, “we re-evaluated it and sold a minority interest.” Brandt didn’t know DeStefano was involved in Black Swan and only found out after DeStefano called him following the Private Terms. Brandt said he met DeStefano at a party at DeStefano’s uncle’s home in Rumson, N.J., in 1984. Both were mutual friends of the Maryland horseman Fendall Clagett. Brandt said he bought his first horse in 1986 and has owned horses on and off since then. He said every time he’d tell his mother that he bought a horse, she’d say, “Are you sure you want to put all that money into horses?” Brandt said his mother, who died last month, had a different reaction when told last November that he had claimed Kid Cruz. “She was sick, but she perked up and said, ‘This one’s going to take you to the Kentucky Derby,’ ” Brandt said. “I thought, ‘Okay, Mom, you’re medicated.’ But she’d never said that to me before.” The Wood Memorial could determine if she’s right.