Since taking his shot in the Preakness, trainer Mike Gorham has been immensely patient with Pay Billy, giving the 3-year-old colt six months to prepare for the next stage of his career. Once a rising star in the local ranks, the two-time stakes winner will make his long-awaited return to Laurel Park in the $100,000 City of Laurel Stakes on Saturday. “We’ll see how the pace sets up, and hopefully he can run into it and then finish strong,” Gorham said. “That’s what I’m looking at. But I think it’s a stepping-stone for down the road where we can stretch them out a little farther.” In April, Pay Billy stretched out to 1 1/8 miles for the first time and won his second stakes at Laurel in the $150,000 Federico Tesio. That victory earned him an automatic spot in the Preakness, where he finished 15 1/2 lengths behind Journalism the following month. Pay Billy will be the only runner in the deep field of 12 coming off a layoff, and Gorham said that the seven-furlong distance could be too short for him. His trainer also sees upside, however, as he has developed during the layoff and will face off against other 3-year-olds. The looming threat in the City of Laurel is undoubtedly Slam Notion, the 5-2 favorite trained by Robert Bailes. The Maryland-bred gelding has won his last three starts on dirt and improved to win the $100,000 Maryland Million Sprint with a 93 Beyer Speed Figure. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. More than half the field will be shipping for the City of Laurel, including two who last raced at Charles Town. Spotafreeone, a West Virginia-bred colt trained by Jeff Runco, will leave his home track for the first time after five straight wins. “The horse has done everything right,” Runco said. “He’s improved almost every race, ran a big number last time. So we want to give him a chance down here. But the horse is training great and he’ll love the distance.” In his last two statebred stakes starts, Spotafreeone prevailed by a neck over Pascaline, who also is entered Saturday for trainer Arnaud Delacour. Safely Kept Stakes Trainer Gary Capuano had several reasons to scratch Onyx Ten from the Willa On the Move Stakes last weekend, but it helped to have a next start in mind. Back against 3-year-old fillies, she should be the one to beat in the $100,000 Safely Kept Stakes on Saturday. “Last week, the race came up a little tougher than I thought it might, and the track was a little [wet] and she had the inside post,” Capuano said. “Just a lot of things where we were up against it a little bit. Speed looked like it was probably going to be holding, so we just opted to wait and try straight 3-year-olds and hope the race didn’t come up quite as tough.” Most of Capuano’s success at Laurel this year has come with juveniles, but Onyx Ten helped to diversify the trainer’s résumé when she defeated older rivals in the $100,000 Maryland Million Distaff in October. Trainer Gustavo Delgado said that Reputation will likely scratch from the Safely Kept, while John Servis filly Mega Mil ran in the $75,000 Cornucopia on Wednesday at Parx Racing. With the morning-line favorite and third choice likely out Saturday, Onyx Ten should earn considerable attention on her home track. The Safely Kept will be her first seven-furlong race against other 3-year-old fillies since February, when she won the $100,000 Wide Country at Laurel. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.