BALTIMORE – Robert LaPenta, Madaket Stables, Siena Farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stables’ Catholic Boy, last seen finishing off the board in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) in November, made a triumphant return to the races in Saturday’s $250,000 Maker’s Mark Dixie (G2) at Pimlico Race Course.

Inaugurated in 1870, the 118th running of the 1 1/16-mile Dixie for 3-year-olds and up on the grass was among nine stakes, five graded, worth $2.8 million in purses on a 14-race program, and immediately preceded the 144th Preakness Stakes (G1), the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

Ridden by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano for his sixth victory of Preakness weekend, five of them in stakes including four on Black-Eyed Susan Friday, Catholic Boy ($4.80) got to the wire a half-length ahead of fast-closing Admission Office in 1:41.09 over a firm turf course.

Trainer Jonathan Thomas decided to put Catholic Boy, a Grade 1 winner on dirt and turf last summer, back on the grass for his 4-year-old debut. Despite drawing the far outside post in a field that scratched down to 10 with the defections of Twenty Four Seven and Flameaway, the More Than Ready ridgling was sent to post as the 7-5 favorite.

“I was thinking [in the stretch] he might need a better trainer. No, but he’s just such a gifted horse. I would have been happy coming here and running a good second or third and galloping out well. But he has it in him to win. It was great to see,” Thomas said. “We thought this race was a good launch pad for the bigger races going into the remainder of the year.

“Sometimes turf is a little easier on them coming back and that was the plan we utilized,” he added. “Javier – it’s a rare game when you get to see a Hall of Famer hone their trade. He’s a rare rider and I thought he rode him beautifully.”

Castellano hustled Catholic Boy into a contending position from the gate, racing in third behind pacesetter Real Story and 40-1 long shot stalker Paret, who led through a quarter-mile in 23.46 seconds and a half in 47.71. Though Real Story was still in front after going six furlongs in 1:11.25, Catholic Boy loomed a threat on his outside after moving up to second on the turn.

O Dionysus began to launch a bid on the far outside approaching the stretch and got up to third, but Catholic Boy asserted his class once straightened for home and powered through the lane ahead of several challengers, none more serious than Admission Office, who overcame early trouble with a dramatic dash up the rail.

“Right out of the gate we kind of got squeezed a little bit and I kind of lost my spot, but he came running after at the end with a nice run up the inside. He got beat by a good horse,” jockey Joel Rosario said. “I had to just kind of wait and when he had room he really put in a nice run and finished up but the other horse already had the jump on us.”

Grade 3 winner Just Howard, Maryland’s champion 3-year-old male, turf horse and Horse of the Year in 2017, was a neck behind Admission Office in third, and a nose in front of Real Story. O Dionysus, Inspector Lynley, Phlash Phelps, Paret, Have At It and Something Awesome completed the order of finish.

Catholic Boy now owns seven wins, six in graded-stakes, and $1,992,000 in purse earnings from 11 lifetime starts and could be headed next to the Suburban (G2) July 6 at Belmont Park going 1 ¼ miles on dirt.

The Dixie is Pimlico’s oldest stakes race and the nation’s eighth-oldest, first run as the Dinner Party Stakes at a distance of two miles. The inaugural winner was Preakness, whose name was adopted for the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, which debuted in 1873.

$250,000 Maker’s Mark Dixie (G2) Quotes

Jonathan Thomas (Winning trainer, Catholic Boy): “I was thinking [in the stretch] he might need a better trainer. No, but he’s just such a gifted horse. I would have been happy coming here and running a good second or third and galloping out well. But he has it in him to win. It was great to see.”

“We thought this race was a good launch pad for the bigger races going into the remainder of the year. Sometimes Turf is a little easier on them coming back and that was the plan we utilized. I think the Suburban at Belmont might be a race now under strong consideration.”

“[Jockey] Javier [Castellano] – “Javier - it’s a rare game when you get to see a Hall of Famer hone their trade. He’s a rare rider and I thought he rode him beautifully.”

Javier Castellano (Winning jockey, Catholic Boy): “He was great. He’s a super horse. You can do whatever you want. He can be on the pace, he can come from behind. I like the way he did it. Coming off a layoff since the Breeders’ Cup, that’s a long time to put in a good race like he did today. It was a great performance. We’ve been working together with [trainer] Jonathan [Thomas], and he did an excellent job with the horse to bring him to perform the way he did. He can go any distance - a mile and a sixteenth, a mile and a quarter. On the dirt or turf. He’s a super horse. We don’t see to many horses like that. Grade 1 on the turf and the dirt.”

Brian Lynch (Trainer, Admission Office, 2nd): “I think if he gets a good trip today, he wins. He didn’t have the best of trips. I thought he got sort of pinched off coming out of the gate and took the worst of it out the back door. Every time he tried to move forward, a horse backed up in front of him or he got boxed in. Fortunately he got some clean racing room late and closed gamely to be a good second to Catholic Boy, which you should never be disgraced about.”

Joel Rosario (Jockey, Admission Office, 2nd): “Right out of the gate we kind of got squeezed a little bit and I kind of lost my spot, but he came running after at the end with a nice run up the inside. He got beat by a good horse. I had to just kind of wait and when he had room he really put in a nice run and finished up, but the other horse already had the jump on us. He ran great.”