Kid Cruz didn’t look like much of a racehorse when he finished ahead of just two rivals in his career debut on turf in early November. But when he was entered on dirt for a $50,000 tag, owner Stephen Brandt and trainer Linda Rice were intrigued enough to invest in the 2-year-old colt’s potential. Brandt, who races as Vina Del Mar Thoroughbreds, and Rice look pretty smart now. Kid Cruz won his maiden by six lengths the day he was claimed and moved forward again Saturday with an impressive last-to-first surge in the $100,000 Private Terms Stakes for 3-year-olds at Laurel Park. [ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays] Ridden for the first time by Julian Pimentel, Kid Cruz ($10.40) dropped 18 1/2 lengths behind pacesetter Roman Fire on the backstretch of the 1 1/8-mile race. He was still last of 10, 14 3/4 lengths behind the leader, after six furlongs in 1:49.92, and wasn’t in the picture when Joint Custody went past Roman Fire and took a clear lead in the stretch. But while Joint Custody was getting weary racing beyond a mile for the first time, Kid Cruz came flying down the middle of the track and drew off to win by four lengths. He completed the nine furlongs on a fast track in 1:54.82. “It took him a while to get rolling, but once he did he really took off,” Pimentel said. “I never thought we would be so far back. I figured we would be in the middle of the pack but it took me a while to get him going. He wasn’t going anywhere but around the three-eighths pole he kicked in by himself and got rolling." Joint Custody held on for second with the Bill Mott-trained Matuszak checking in third at 16-1. Another New York shipper, Baratti, finished sixth as the 8-5 favorite. Brandt said he disregarded Kid Cruz’s dismal debut because the horse looked uncomfortable on grass and jumped at the opportunity to invest at the claiming box when Rice agreed that the son of Lemon Drop Kid had a pedigree that indicated he would flourish going long on dirt. “After we claimed this horse, we evaluated him and thought he was a little immature mentally and detected some slight sensitivity in his left shin so we backed up on him a little, freshened him up,” assistant trainer Sam Randazzo said. “He started training very well for his last race and he ran very well that day to just miss by a half a length. His breezes between that effort and today were getting progressively better. Linda thought that the mile and an eighth here at Laurel and his running style would be suited to the Private Terms. I do think he will run further than what he ran today so we could see him in some longer races in the future.”