The word was out in Sunday’s third race at Laurel Park, a $47,000 maiden special weight contest for three-year-olds going six furlongs.

In a race that included a couple of horses coming off promising performances, it was a first-time starter that took all the money. Commonwealth New Era Racing LLC’s Surgical Precision, making his career bow, went off at 3-5.

He ran to his odds, too, sitting a perfect trip under jockey Sheldon Russell, pouncing on the tiring leaders in upper stretch, and inching away to a two-length win. Running time for six furlongs on a fast main track was 1:12.31.

“I just love the way he traveled. I love the way he finished,” said Commonwealth New Era’s Todd Mosteller, also the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), which represents horsemen at Penn National. “I love the way he took dirt. He didn’t look any worse for wear back here. So, I mean, those were all positives.”

Mosteller’s group paid $50,000 to acquire the Complexity colt last April at the Ocala Breeders Sales two-year-old in training sale and then immediately put him on the shelf.

“I bought him with [a chip] in his ankle, and my vet said if I take it out right away and I give him four or five months [the horse would be fine],” Mosteller said. “That’s exactly what I did, and that’s why we were able to get him at the price that we got him at.”

That’s also how Surgical Precision got his name, for the surgery to get him to the races.

By a popular young sire, Surgical Precision is out of the Paynter mare Lazy Daisy. Lazy Daisy won the Grade 2 Pocahantas in 2019 and then finished sixth in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Mosteller initially sent Surgical Precision to begin training at Penn National, where he is based, but subsequently sent him to Maryland and Brittany Russell’s barn.

“This is our second horse with her, and we really enjoy the communication,” Mosteller said. “She’s got a great staff back there. It’s a team effort; it’s like a bunch of bees back there buzzing around in the morning.”

So maybe it’s not so surprising that Surgical Precision took plenty of wagering dollars: Russell wins at a hefty clip with first-time starters, and, in addition to being well-bred, Surgical Precision had been training forwardly.

For good measure, he was the lone horse in the field nominated to the Triple Crown. That set Commonwealth New Era back $600; had they waited until the second round of nominations and decided to put him in the hunt, it would have cost them $6,000.

“The bottom line is, if you like a horse, it’s foolish not to spend the $600 for what you have to pay down after the fact, right?” Mosteller said. “We don’t have any dreams or delusions of that from a timing standpoint. If he takes us there, which would be, in this game, a total longshot at this point, but longshots do come in.”

The next race on the Maryland route to the Preakness is the 1 1/16-mile Private Terms March 22.

Suremeanttobe ran a good race in defeat, dueling for the early lead and staying on to be second, while Serendipitymonday, who dueled with Suremeanttobe, finished third. Surgical Precision paid $3.20 to win.

One race later, another first-timer, Mr. Keys, also impressed. Trained by Madison Meyers for her own Ballyerin Racing, Mr. Keys, a four-year-old Collected gelding, overcame a jostling start and a wide journey to win a $40,000 maiden claimer by 9 ½ lengths in a sharp time of 1:11.88 for six furlongs.

Also ridden by Sheldon Russell, Mr. Keys returned $10.20 to win.