‍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. Other graded stakes-placed entrants include HARROW and WHAT SAY THEE among the field of 5 after the Saturday morning scratches of likely favorite DRESDEN ROW and THUNDERING.
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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. Deep closers could be at a disadvantage.
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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: scratched.

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, and while he felt like an underlay price for this distance and further class rise earlier in the week, now he's strictly the horse to beat after scratches.

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: scratched.

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:
CRUISE THE NILE may not be best at 9 furlongs, but he'll get every chance to extend his pace after the key scratches.

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.
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Sending it in ($100 bankroll):
$85 daily double CRUISE THE NILE to Race 11 Gallorette Stakes pick #2 RIBALTAGAI, one of my key plays on the Saturday card. $15 daily double A BOURBON FOR TOBY over #2 RIBALTAGAI.

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