Hayes Strike may head to a major Kentucky Derby prep at Keeneland after registering a gritty 1 3/4-length victory over favored Coffeewithchris in Saturday's $100,000 Private Terms for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Laurel Park. The Private Terms was one of five stakes on the program, with the $100,000 Beyond the Wire for 3-year-old fillies at one mile, the $100,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial for 4-year-olds and up at a mile, the $75,000 Not For Love for Maryland-bred 4-year-olds and up at six furlongs, and the $75,000 Conniver for statebred fillies and mares at seven furlongs. "We're probably going to go to the Blue Grass," winning trainer Ken McPeek said in a telephone interview following the Private Terms. "I'll have to talk to Mr. Shively [William Shively, owner of Dixiana Farms] and Steve Cauthen, the racing manager. We'll put a circle around that one or the Lexington." The winner of the Grade 1, $1,000,000 Blue Grass on April 8 will receive 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points while the Grade 3, $400,000 Lexington offers 20 qualifying points to the first-place finisher. :: Bet the races on DRF Bets! Sign up with code WINNING to get a $250 Deposit Match, $10 Free Bet, and FREE DRF Formulator.  Hayes Strike, one of two Triple Crown nominees in the Private Terms, settled in a comfortable spot stalking the pace on the outside in fourth position as Register set fractions of 24.95 and 49.16 seconds while prompted from the outside by Howgreatisnate and a three-wide Coffeewithchris. Register took them through six furlongs in 1:13.71, but he was soon engulfed by Coffeewithchris, who attempted to float a rallying Hayes Strike extremely wide turning into the stretch. Coffeewithchris and Hayes Strike battled until the eighth pole, where the latter took command for good. He completed the distance in 1:45.46 seconds under jockey Horacio Karamanos and returned $18.20 as the sixth choice in the wagering. Circling the Drain, the other Triple Crown-nominated horse in the race, finished three-quarters behind Coffeewithchris in third. He was followed home by Howgreatisnate, Feeling Woozy, Riccio, Register and Marty's Magic. "He needs a little bit of a stalking run," McPeek continued. "That was perfect." Although Hayes Strike won only a maiden race last year at 2, he acquitted himself quite well in graded stakes company at Churchill Downs, finishing second in the Street Sense behind Two Phils on Oct. 30, and third in the Kentucky Jockey Club behind Instant Coffee on Nov. 26. "We knew if he ran back to his races as a 2-year-old, that he was competing against some of the best in the nation, we thought we could get him in gear," McPeek said. Hayes Strike placed fourth in his final start of 2022, the Gun Runner at Fair Grounds on Dec. 26. He ran last of nine in his seasonal debut, the Leonatus at Turfway on Jan. 21.  McPeek told Daily Racing Form earlier in the week that Hayes Strike had excuses for his poor showing in the Leonatus. “The ship got complicated because of the traffic, he got in late, and he didn’t handle synthetic,” McPeek said. “In hindsight, we probably should have scratched." Foaled in Kentucky, Hayes Strike is a Dixiana homebred by Connect out of the multiple stakes-winning Deputy Commander mare Plaid. He is a half-brother to Senior Investment, who won the 2016 Lexington for McPeek before finishing third in the Preakness and fifth in the Belmont. Another half-sibling, General Downs, captured the Native Dancer Stakes at Laurel in 2019. Hayes Strike has won twice from nine races for lifetime earnings of $194,507. *Beyond the Wire Lady Lowery passed the distance and surface test with a front-running score in the Beyond the Wire. Ridden by Jack Gilligan in his first-ever Maryland mount, favored Lady Lowery ($5.60) jumped out to the front, controlled fractions of 24.54, 48.10 and 1:13.15 while prompted by Cairo Sugar, then repelled Happy Clouds through the long stretch to prevail by three lengths in 1:39.29. It was another 2 1/2 lengths back to Cairo Sugar in third. Next came Cats Inthe Timber, Voodoo Mama Juju and We’ll See. Pharoahs Baby Gyal scratched. “When Brittany Russell’s horse scratched this morning, our game plan changed a little bit,” winning trainer Will Walden said in the winner’s circle. “That filly showed quite a bit of pace, and we thought maybe her and the 7 [Cairo Sugar] would link up and we could sit behind. With her scratching on the inside, and we move into the two hole, we thought coming out of a sprint that she would put herself there.” Lady Lowery was starting for only the third time in the Beyond the Wire, and it was her first race on dirt, and first going a route after two 6 1/2 furlong maiden special weights over Turfway’s polytrack surface. “We were confident,” Walden said about whether Lady Lowery would like dirt. “She’s out of a mare that never raced and is obviously out of an awesome family. She never raced, but Bill Mott did train her and every time he had to send her home, he always asked to have her back. He said she was extremely talented.” Lady Lowery was bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm. She was purchased for $50,000 by Ready Made Racing as a yearling and made her debut on Jan. 18. Lady Lowery was 10th after a half-mile in that race, but closed resolutely to finish second, 2 3/4 lengths behind Garden Belle. After that race, Lady Lowery was purchased privately by Wachtel Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber. She graduated by 2 3/4 lengths on Feb. 15 in her first start for the new partnership. Lady Lowery is a daughter of Munnings out of Last Dance, by Revolutionary.  Walden mentioned the Grade 2, $500,000 Eight Belles Stakes on the Kentucky Oaks undercard as a potential next step for Lady Lowery. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.