BY STEVE KOCH

Crystal Quest, a Florida-bred 4-year-old colt, will compete in Saturday’s $125,000 Prince George’s County Stakes at Laurel Park. The 3-year-olds and up race is scheduled for 4:36 p.m. EDT and covers one and one-eighth miles on turf.

The colt is owned by Live Oak Plantation and trained by Michael Trombetta. He will be ridden by Jorge Ruiz from post position 1 and carries 124 pounds. Morning line odds are set at 4-1.

Crystal Quest is a homebred for Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak operation, and sired by Uncle Mo out of Giant Crystal, by Giant’s Causeway.

In 2025, Crystal Quest has made two starts with one victory and earnings of $77,500. His most recent race was a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico on May 17. He won the ESMARK Turf Classic Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on March 30.

 

Over his career, Crystal Quest has 12 starts with four wins, two seconds, and earnings of $277,230. He broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park in January 2024 and has won stakes races at Tampa Bay Downs in both 2024 and 2025.

 

Crystal Quest’s primary competition comes from Trikari, the 2-1 morning line favorite trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Graham Motion. The Kentucky-bred 4-year-old colt by Oscar Performance has compiled a record of five wins from 12 starts with career earnings of $1,386,405. Trikari captured the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs in May 2024 and the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park that July. He also won the Grade 2 Secretariat Stakes at Colonial Downs in August 2024. This year, Trikari finished third in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland in April and ninth in the Grade 3 Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico in May, the same race where Crystal Quest finished fifth. Trikari will be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez and breaks from post position 2.

However, if conditions force the race to the main dirt track, Crystal Quest would face a different challenge from Passioned, the Ontario-bred gelding listed at 9-5. The 4-year-old son of Paynter won his last race, a claiming event at Laurel Park on May 31. Passioned has three wins from 14 career starts with earnings of $111,815 and notably finished fourth in the Grade 3 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie in September 2024. Trained by Justin Nixon and ridden by Jean Briceno, Passioned would enter from post position six if the surface changes.

The field includes Crystal Quest (4-1, Jorge Ruiz, Michael Trombetta), Trikari (2-1, John Velazquez, Graham Motion), Summer Cause (9-2, Jaime Rodriguez, Miguel Clement), Siege of Boston (3-1, Victor Carrasco, James Toner), Kingmax (6-1, Chantal Sutherland, Jorge Delgado), Wolfie’s Dynaghost (10-1, Sheldon Russell, Jonathan Thomas), and Omni King (15-1, Horacio Karamanos, Blake Kelly). Passioned is listed as a main-track-only entry at 9-5 odds with jockey Jean Briceno and trainer Justin Nixon.

Parts of this article were drafted by Claude.ai.

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