Celtic Contender points to Maryland Sprint off huge effort

In Celtic Contender’s first race back from an eight-month layoff, trainer Hamilton Smith was expecting a promising allowance performance to propel the 5-year-old back into stakes company. It’s safe to say he’s ahead of schedule.

“We expected to see a good effort out of him, but he exceeded that a little bit,” Smith said.

Instead of jumping right back into his usual waters, Celtic Contender made his return in a $66,500 allowance last Saturday at Laurel Park, where he went off as the 2-1 second choice in a shortened field of four. Bettors might have been wary of the long break, which Celtic Contender needed to recover from a hairline hoof injury, but he showed no signs of rust, kicking clear on the front end to win by 3 1/4 lengths. In his first victory since December 2024, he earned a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure, a remarkable achievement for the seasoned Maryland-bred in his 18th career start.

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Following such a promising effort at Laurel, his home track, Smith said he plans to point Celtic Contender toward the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint in May. Typically run on the Preakness undercard, it will be temporarily moved from Pimlico to Laurel in 2026.

“He ran against some nice horses last year, held his own pretty good,” Smith said. “He’s filled out a little bit.”

In five starts last year, Celtic Contender never won but always finished in the money, often behind nationally recognized talents. Last March, he finished three lengths behind Book’em Danno in the $150,000 Boston Handicap. In the 2025 edition of the Maryland Sprint, he finished third behind three-time graded stakes winner Booth.

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