Afleet Willy seeks second straight win in Challedon Stakes

Two $75,000 seven-furlong dirt sprint stakes headline a terrific Saturday card at Laurel Park, which attracted 136 entries across 12 races.

The Challedon Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward is race 9, and the Shine Again for fillies and mares is race 11. Both are for horses who have never won a stakes.

Afleet Willy comes into the Challedon off a gate-to-wire victory in an optional-claiming event over a mile on dirt at Delaware Park on Aug. 14 in his first start since March. Two starts back he was a close second in the Harrison Johnson Memorial Stakes over 1 1/8 miles at Laurel, and he won going seven furlongs in January.

Rockinn On Bye was second in this race last year, and returns for another try. He has recorded back-to-back third-place finishes in stakes, but his last win came in November 2015.

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Another key contender in the Challedon is Red Dragon Tattoo, who will shorten up and add blinkers after fading in the West Virginia Governor’s Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Mountaineer on Aug. 5.

What appears to be a hotly contested pace on paper could set things up for Furyofthenorsemen, who will run first off of the claim for trainer Lacey Gaudet. He was claimed for $32,000 from a third-place finish in a one-mile dirt race that came off the turf Aug. 4 at Laurel.

Summer House and True Romance, the winner and runner-up in an $80,000 optional-claiming race at Saratoga on Aug. 10, battle again in the Shine Again.

Summer House was claimed out of that start by trainer Robertino Diodoro and owner M & M Racing. Summer House sat just off of True Romance in the six-furlong dirt sprint and pulled in front just strides from the wire.

Summer Reading has drawn the outside post in the 13-horse field and will make her first start since July 24, when she finished a eighth in the Caress Stakes on turf at Saratoga. A return to dirt should be to the benefit of Summer Reading, who is trained by Jimmy Jerkens. She was an easy winner in an allowance in a six-furlong sprint at Monmouth Park two starts back on June 18, and prior to that start was second in the Skipat Stakes at Pimlico over a sloppy track May 19.

Jerkens will also saddle Bombshell in the Shine Again. Bombshell comes into the race on the strength of back-to-back victories around two turns. She won most recently on Aug. 11, going 1 1/16 miles at Laurel Park.

Line of Best Fit has won three times in six starts this year. She was given time off following a third-place finish behind the recently retired Songbird in the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap two starts back July 15, and was second in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint at Timonium on Sept. 4 in her first start off the layoff.