Stakes Spot Plays: Laurel Park Saturday

A quartet of stakes races will take place at Laurel Park on Saturday. 

Race 7 – Alma North S. 

A 6 1/2-furlong dash on the main oval for fillies and mares kicks off the stakes action on the day. I have to look for an off-the-pace type in a cast with so much blazing early foot and landed on the in-form #3 Love You More for conditioner Horacio de Paz. The chestnut daughter of Maclean’s Music broke slowly but ran down a nice field in the Rehoboth S. at Delaware last time out, and I feel that she could be a real threat inside the final furlong if she uses that same style of running against this fine field. 

Race 8 – Deputed Testimony 

The boys will run nine panels on the main oval, and I feel that #2 Jokestar will be a major factor for trainer Kevin Attard. The five-year-old son of Practical Joke gets back on the turf in here, and he was a dominant winner locally in the Post Time S. in February, which he followed up with a huge second in the Temperance Hill S. at Oaklawn Park. He faces a nice cast in this spot, but the gelding is my selection, nonetheless, with Mario Gutierrez in the silks. 

Race 9 – Japan Racing Association Turf Cup S. 

Nine will vie in the 1 1/8-mile turf tilt in what is a competitive cast on paper. Tom Morley’s #5 A Bourbon for Toby was a very good second in the Dinner Party (G3) on the oval on Preakness Day most recently and arguably faces an easier task in this one. The Bernardini colt has finished in the top two in each of his three lifetime runs at the distance, and he proved that he had an affinity for the course, as well. If he gets enough pace to rally into, then I expect him to pick up his first stakes win with Forest Boyce riding.

Race 10 – De Francis Memorial Dash

A big field will run six panels on the main oval in this spot. I’m not sure if #4 Pentathlon will get up traveling just six furlongs, but the McGaughey pupil has been in excellent form in 2026 and has the turn of foot to be a menacing figure in the lane. The Speightstown five-year-old was a smart stakes winner at seven-eighths at Gulfstream Park two back and will be rallying in the lane under Sheldon Russell.