The Lead:
Saturday’s Preakness Day card at Laurel is loaded with stakes up and down the 14-race lineup. We’ve got you covered in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown via the 1/ST Preakness Stakes Wager Guide. The undercard headliner annually is the Grade 3 $250,000 Dinner Party Stakes at 1-1/8 miles on turf. It’s Race 10 on Saturday (4:11 pm ET post time) and makes its first appearance on the expansive Laurel Park turf course. The Dinner Party kicks off an all-stakes pick 4 ending in the Preakness.

Players at 1/ST BET and Xpressbet be sure to play in the $20,000 Exacta-Thon promotion this weekend both Friday and Saturday for Laurel’s full-card. And also note up to a $10 money-back special if your win bet finishes second or third in either the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (Friday) or Preakness Stakes (Saturday).

​​Field Depth:
Grade 1 winner FORT WASHINGTON is defending champ in his race and has the field’s other signature score. DRESDEN ROW is a Grade 3 winner and Grade 2-placed. Other graded stakes-placed entrants include HARROW and WHAT SAY THEE among the field of 7.
​
Pace:
The pace picture is murky with CRUISE THE NILE capable of setting the tone if sent along but won the local prep from off the pace. THUNDERING and DRESDEN ROW project to be forward in a race should not clip along very fast. Deep closers could be at a disadvantage.
​
Our Eyes:
Here are my horse-by-horse notes.

1-WHAT SAY THEE: Added blinkers when winning an April 17 Laurel allowance fresh off the claim that day for Horacio DePaz. The 8-year-old was picked up for $25,000 at Turfway when oddly dropped in price off a $40,000 claiming win just prior. He’s earned just shy of $500K and is 3-for-7 at the distance.

2-THUNDERING: Maryland-bred makes his first trip home after racing in Canada, New York and Florida through 14 starts. He’s well-drawn in post 2 to take advantage of a rather paceless race and putting speed-friendly jockey Paco Lopez aboard would indicate that intent – even if this gelding has never made the lead in any start so far. He’s 0-6 in stakes, however, so I prefer others even if he gets the trip.

3-CRUISE THE NILE: The good news is that he’s won 4 in a row, including the local prep, the Henry S. Clark. The bad news is that trainer Graham Motion indicated immediately after the Clark that he’s more inclined not to stretch him out to 1-1/8 miles in the Dinner Party just yet and always thought he’s a miler. The field came up a bit light on numbers and here they are, but he feels like an underlay price for this distance and further class rise.

4-FORT WASHINGTON: Last year’s Dinner Party winner was the record-padding sixth in this race for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. The ‘title defense’ loses some of its handicapping relevance with the venue change from Pimlico to Laurel as we can’t necessarily check the box that he’ll run as well in his local debut. The pace scenario works against the late-running 7-year-old as does history. No horse has repeated in this race in exactly 100 years – sine Sarazen in 1925-’26.

5-A BOURBON FOR TOBY: With all the clamor about running back on 14 days for the Preakness, nobody told trainer Tom Morley that his Dinner Party colt didn’t belong just 9 days after an Aqueduct allowance third. The son of 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini was a late bloomer, winning 2 of 3 since losing his first 10 starts. He’ll pick up Irad Ortiz Jr.

6-DRESDEN ROW: Good-looking Keeneland allowance winner April 8 after 5 months away should be perfectly prepped for the re-rise in class. In the last dozen years, more winners of this race exited Keeneland (4) bids than any other venue. Trainer Todd Pletcher has only 1 starter Friday at Laurel and just this 1 on Saturday’s Preakness Day card. Plenty of reasons to skip if this wasn’t a perfect spot. Catches a soft pace set-up and should be anywhere Flavien Prat wants him to be. Highly effective over 9 furlongs on synthetic at Woodbine when with Lorne Richards, though this will be his longest race on turf. Horses adding distance have been very effective in the Dinner Party in recent history.

7-HARROW: Late-runner failed to make a big dent in 2 Gulfstream allowance miles earlier this year and takes a step up in class after being left on the Churchill also-eligible list for an allowance race Thursday. The extra distance should help the Barbados Gold Cup winner for Saffie Joseph Jr., who also is stakes-placed stateside; but he won’t get any pace help here.

Most Likely Exotics Contender:
DRESDEN ROW is 16-for-16 in the trifecta lifetime and should get a comfortable trip near the front. Hard to see him giving that fully away and missing the board.

Best Longshot Contender:
None projected, though 12-1 ML offering WHAT SAY THEE has handled the course and responded to the equipment change last out.
​
Sending it in ($100 bankroll):
Confident top tab, not so much for the underneath runners. Turn to a $100 daily double DRESDEN ROW to Race 11 Gallorette Stakes pick #2 RIBALTAGAI, one of my key plays on the Saturday card.