Pimlico: Legal Control all the way

A very slow pace helped Legal Control and jockey Luis Garcia turn back stretch bids from Monster Chaser and It's Time to Smile and win the $50,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at Pimlico. Monster Chaser finished a head back of Legal Control in second and a neck in front of It's Time to Smile, who was third in the 1 1/16-mile race for Maryland-bred 3-year-olds.

Legal Control ($5.20) used the rail to grab the lead going into the first turn and set fractions of 25.51 and 50.26. In the stretch, It's Time to Smile made a run at him from the outside, and Monster Chaser, at 8-5 the slight favorite, ducked to the rail. Neither was able to reach Legal Control, who covered the distance in 1:45.80.

The victory for Legal Control, a son of Thunder Gulch owned by Fitzhugh LLC and trained by Richard Small, was his second in a stakes. He won the Maryland Juvenile Championship at Pimlico last December, also defeating Monster Chaser.