The Lead:
Saturday's 12-race festival of Maryland racing, the 37th Jim McKay Maryland Million, gets underway with a special 11:30 am ET first post time. The $150,000 Classic matches 3-year-olds and older over 1-1/8 miles in Race 11 and features the past two winners of the race. Will history repeat, or is their a new king of the Free State waiting to be fitted for a crown?

Horseplayers on the 1/ST BET and Xpressbet platforms Saturday can take advantage of up to a $10 money-back special on their first win bet on the Maryland Million Day card at Laurel. If your first win bet finishes second or third, you'll get up to $10 of that bet refunded.

​Field Depth:
PRENDIMI and MONDAY MORNING QB have won this race the past 2 years. The lineup includes the 1-2-3-4 finishers from 2021, including TAPPIN CAT, THE POSER and TORCH OF TRUTH. Among the fresh faces are Bald Eagle Derby winner VANCE SCHOLARS, last year's Maryland Million Sprint runner-up DOUBLE CROWN and OURNATIONONPARADE, back to Laurel for the first time since winning the 2019 Maryland Million Nursery at age 2.

Pace:
Horses on the lead or dueling for the lead have won this race 4 straight years and 8 of the last 9. Given the 1-1/8 miles distance, it's important to get near the front and outlast a field rarely challenged this far during the season. PRENDIMI and MONDAY MORNING QB obviously have shown that in recent vintages of this race. Other early speed here should come from TAPPIN CAT, AIN'T DA BEER COLD, VANCE SCHOLARS and OURNATIONONPARADE. While it appears to be a race with plenty of early pressure, you still don't want to be far out of it at this distance and class level.

Our Eyes:
With 5 repeat winners in this race's history, PRENDIMI is a logical place to start. The defending champ was also second in this race in 2019, but was dueled into submission by MONDAY MORNING QB in this race in 2020. Jockey Paco Lopez is known for aggressive, front-end handling, so expect PRENDIMI to be active from the outset ... perhaps to a fault with the other pressure expected. A healthy MONDAY MORNING QB is a much better horse than PRENDIMI, but he's lost 5 straight since his score here 2 years ago and has changed hands in the claiming game. The previous champs look to cancel each other out on Saturday to this eye.

Last year's Classic alumni -- TAPPIN CAT, THE POSER, TORCH OF TRUTH, CROUCHELLI and AIN'T DA BEER COLD -- are in different career arcs at the moment. Only AIN'T DA BEER COLD has won more races in 2022 than 2021, going from 0-for-5 to 3-for-8 and carrying a 2-race winning streak into the Classic. This is a far better 4-year-old than when tossed to the wolves last year at age 3. AIN'T DA BEER COLD has an excellent tactical style of late, sitting second/third and pouncing. TAPPIN CAT, 19-35 in the exacta lifetime, got a sprint sharpener last time that I think will suit him well while also pressing from just off the leaders.

If not the defending champs, or the pursuers improving this year, then the Maryland Million Classic likely runs through fresh faces VANCE SCHOLARS, DOUBLE CROWN or OURNATIONONPARADE. The best resume belongs to VANCE SCHOLARS, though he clearly has run his best races when able to get the lead. DOUBLE CROWN tends to flatten late in his longer trips, probably due to his sprint damsire, so 9 furlongs will be a big hurdle. OURNATIONONPARADE has been primarily a sprinter, but blasted an allowance field in Indy when able to go slow early and explode late. His big speed figures, 3-race winning streak and high-percentage trainer Jamie Ness likely will attract considerable public attention at the betting windows.
​
Most Certain Exotics Contender:
TAPPIN CAT is 9-18 in the exacta at Laurel, has finished second and third in this race in previous tries, and should get the the right trip from just behind a hot pace, but pressing close-up.

Best Longshot Exotics Contender:
TORCH OF TRUTH rallied for fourth in this race last year and hits a typically strong second-off-the-layoff portion of his form cycle. His 15-for-21 in the trifecta at Laurel is commendable if he swings back into his old self, now age 7, after the freshening.

Sending it in ($100 bankroll):
$70 win AIN'T DA BEER COLD. $5 exacta key-box AIN'T DA BEER COLD with TAPPIN CAT, OURNATIONONPARADE and VANCE SCHOLARS ($30).