Trainer Gary Contessa has not started a horse at Keeneland since 2015, but that will change Saturday when he sends out Bell Gable Stable’s Nutella Fella in the 38th running of the $350,000 Commonwealth (G3).

“You don’t come here unless you have a good horse,” Contessa said after Nutella Fella got a feel for the track with a 3-furlong blowout in :36.60 with Lacey Williams aboard.

The lone Grade 1 winner in the field of 12 for the 7-furlong Commonwealth, Nutella Fella has been sidelined twice. After nine months away, he returned with a third-place finish in the Woody Stephens (G1) last June. The winner of the 2023 Hopeful (G1) did not return to the races until seven months later at Tampa Bay Downs.

Nutella Fella finished second in his comeback race and in his most recent start won the Pelican (L) on Feb. 8 at Tampa Bay Downs.

“The Commonwealth was the plan after the Pelican or the Carter (G2) at Aqueduct this weekend or the Count Fleet (Sprint Handicap-G2) at Oaklawn next weekend,” Contessa said. “But the owner (Nick Beaver) thought this was the best place to come.”

Luis Saez will have the mount Saturday for the first time, taking over for Junior Alvarado, who is sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Contessa is seeking his second Keeneland stakes victory. His first was a big one: the first Grade 1 score of his career with Do It With Style in the 1991 Ashland.