Charles Town: Someone else's turn

Barring a slew of scratches, a trainer other than Scott Lake will win a stakes at Charles Town.

Lake has swept all five stakes run this season at the West Virginia oval and has Morine's Victory entered for this weekend's $50,000 Cortan at seven furlongs. Morine's Victory is stuck on the also-eligible list, along with two-time West Virginia Breeders Classic winner Confucius Say. To run, Lake's horse would need at least three horses to scratch to get into the 10-horse field.

The deep closer Vanna's Honeybear and Unison Moon come into the Cortan in sharp form.

Vanna's Honeybear, making his first start in nearly three months, came from 10 lengths back to finish second to multiple stakes winner Cherokee's Boy three weeks ago. He shows strong Beyers of 96 and 99 in his last two races, both at seven furlongs.

Unison Moon has had nearly a month to recover from a nose victory going 6 1/2 furlongs in which he earned a career-best 97 Beyer.

Other contenders include Donald's Pride, a stakes winner going 1 1/8 miles last summer who is 5 for 8 in sprints of similar length to the Cortan, and North Broad, a consistent performer at the distance who prepped for his first start since November by working four furlongs from the gate in 47.80 seconds on Wednesday.