Trainer Gary Capuano worked hard to prepare 3-year-old colts Hollywood Import and Wild Warrior for the $200,000 Withers at Aqueduct, but adverse weather and a tight training schedule left him with too much to do. Back home at Laurel Park, the promising pair will instead make their 2026 debuts as key contenders in the $100,000 Spectacular Bid Stakes on Saturday. “A little bit of the weather, and with Hollywood Import, I just wasn’t sure about stretching out to a mile and an eighth,” Capuano said. “I didn’t get as much work into him as I needed to get ready for that kind of jump from sprints.” Hollywood Import, the winner of the $100,000 Heft in December, has never run beyond a mile, but Capuano worked him rigorously in January in the hopes that he could tackle 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct. Though he has set those plans aside, after three one-mile workouts and a four-furlong breeze on Jan. 24, the colt should be more than prepared to run seven furlongs over his home track. “For now, we’ll stay home and work from there,” Capuano said. “He’s dead fit for the seven-eighths, and depending on how things shape up, he fits well in there.” :: Celebrating 100 Years of racing at Tampa Bay Downs! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Wild Warrior, a 2 3/4-length allowance winner at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 14, will make his stakes debut in the first sprint of his career. Capuano said he appreciated the colt’s eagerness going longer in his last two starts, and hopes that early speed can keep him in the mix while cutting back. Capuano also entered Awesome Andy, who will enter his stakes debut off two straight victories in sprints at Laurel. The Spun to Run colt needed four tries to earn his maiden victory, but in his first start against winners on Jan. 9, jockey Yedsit Hazlewood lost his crop and still managed to coax him home by three-quarters of a length. He is yet another dangerous runner for Capuano in the field of eight 3-year-olds. The Spectacular Bid will feature an eclectic mix of proven stakes runners and fresh faces. Capuano might have the numbers, but Trendsetter offers the most experience for trainer Ben Colebrook. If he takes the trip from his base at Keeneland, he will run on dirt for the first time since August. After winning two state-restricted races at Colonial Downs last summer, including the $100,000 Hickory Tree, the gelding returned to Kentucky and switched to turf. Outmatched in the $1 million Juvenile Sprint at Kentucky Downs and $300,000 Indian Summer at Keeneland, Trendsetter returned on Jan. 3 and finished second in the $125,000 Turfway Prevue on synthetic. Xtra Heat With many tracks focusing on longer stakes races for 3-year-olds, Laurel has attracted a large contingent of shippers for the $100,000 Xtra Heat on Saturday. Only two fillies entered in the six-furlong sprint are based in Maryland, with five preparing to come from elsewhere. Trainer Ethan West said the six-furlong stakes was ideally timed for Unfaithful Rose, who will ship off a hard-fought third in a $55,000 allowance at Fair Grounds on Dec. 4. An 18-1 longshot on a sloppy track that day, she successfully ran back to the 76 Beyer Speed Figure she earned in a 12-length romp against maidens at Mahoning Valley in November. West recently tried to squeeze her in as a main-track-only runner in an allowance at Fair Grounds, but the race wasn’t taken off the turf. “It’s tough, and it seems like a lot of these sprinting horses are wanting to stretch out, just trying to see if they can get any kind of [Kentucky] Oaks points,” West said. “The sprints are few and far between, so we’re take a little swing at this and see if we can get some black type.” Based at Turfway Park, Unfaithful Rose is one of two fillies who will be taking the trip from Kentucky. Bresha, a debut winner at Turfway on Dec. 26, will step up to stakes company for Wayne Catalano. Trainer Mike Maker will bring the only runner with stakes experience in open company, as Victory Music ran fourth in the $75,000 Sharp Susan at Gulfstream last summer. In December, she finished third behind next-out stakes winner Counting Stars in the Astral Spa at Oaklawn. Trainer Tom Morley could bring the heat from New York, as For the Ladies is expected to be a strong pacesetter breaking from the rail in her stakes debut. The filly kicked clear to a 7 1/4-length maiden victory at Aqueduct in November, but she was pressured and faded badly in an allowance on Jan. 10. Sweet Shenanigans, the only filly based at Laurel, will return to stakes company after three straight allowance defeats for Capuano. The trainer said her last effort was compromised by a taxing trip near the front end, making it all the more important for her to settle in this speedy field. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.