Cruise the Nile switched styles in his stakes debut and flew home with authority to win the $100,000 Henry S. Clark by a neck at Laurel Park on Saturday. Unbeaten since switching to turf in December, he has passed every test for trainer Graham Motion. “I thought he was going to have to [come from off the pace] because there was a lot of speed in the race,” Motion said. “But I never really thought it was going to be an issue for him. He's a very sensitive horse. He's not speed-crazy.” Ridden by Jorge Ruiz in all five of his career starts, Cruise the Nile won both of his prior turf starts on the front end at Gulfstream Park, overwhelming maidens and allowance rivals with his high cruising speed. In a loaded stakes field at Laurel on Saturday, however, the lightly raced 4-year-old needed to find another way at a mile. Ruiz, who won two stakes Saturday, had the right idea. “There was a lot of speed in the race, but he’s getting better and better,” Ruiz said. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. While 27-1 longshot Bartlett gunned it through an opening quarter-mile in 23.29 seconds, Cruise the Nile settled into sixth, well within range of the front in the 11-horse field. Navigating traffic for the first time, he was slightly jostled around both turns but handled the pressure well. Bartlett, stubborn under Frankie Pennington, completed the half-mile in 46.83 and maintained control around the far turn and into the stretch. Horsepower, the 5-1 second choice trained by Joe Orseno, stalled early and was close enough to challenge, but the rest of the field was still well out of it. Showing the smallest hint of inexperience, Cruise the Nile responded to pressure to his inside and floated a few paths turning for home, but Ruiz corrected well and kept him in the mix. As soon as he straightened out, the 6-5 favorite took off like a shot for the leaders and prevailed by a neck at the wire. He paid $4.40 to win and completed the mile in 1:33.85. “I thought Jorge gave him a very cool ride,” Motion said. “He looked like he had a ton of horse. I was getting a little anxious, but he obviously knew he had a lot of horse.” Horsepower, a runner-up in four of his last five starts before the Clark, was denied again in his first start at Laurel. He finished two lengths clear of Bartlett, who battled all the way for trainer John Servis. With a stakes victory under his belt, Motion admitted he is tempted to wheel Cruise the Nile back for a start during Preakness week at Laurel next month. Finding the right spot will be more important, however, as the trainer said he does not wish to push the gelding much farther than a mile for now. In this sense, the Grade 3 Dinner Party at 1 1/8 miles would be an ambitious move. King T. Leatherbury Stakes It took an outlaw and a daring escape to settle the score in a chaotic running of the $100,000 King T. Leatherbury Stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday. Nearly half of the 13 runners in the stacked 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint made sweeping outside moves to enter contention late, but with a brilliant inside rally Outlaw Kid stole a gritty photo-finish victory. Entering his 2026 debut for trainer George Weaver, the 7-year-old gelding had not won a race since August 2024, though he ran gamely in the Grade 2 Woodford at Keeneland and the $150,000 Harvey Pack at Saratoga last year. Weaver had shipped him to Laurel twice before, notably for a photo-finish defeat in the 2024 Leatherbury. In his first of two stakes victories on the Laurel card, Jorge Ruiz could not have pulled off a better combination to launch the Weaver trainee into contention. Advancing from sixth with no way to get outside, he first cut the corner inside of other horses turning for home. But when Doncho, the notorious pacesetter who blew through an opening quarter-mile in 22.08 seconds and half-mile in 44, backed right into him, Ruize managed to tip Outlaw Kid just outside him, surging through a tight seam without losing momentum. They kept charging to join the top flight in the stretch. “I waited for my horse to break away and I went into the rail,” Ruiz said. “And when he kept rolling, I kept asking for a finish and he responded to me very well.” Jean Valjean, a longshot coming off a 17-month layoff, led a group of nine separated by 4 1/2 lengths at the top of the stretch. But after clearing Doncho, Outlaw Kid managed to take a short lead. There was still plenty to do. From a wall of horses that also included Schwarzmeier and 112-1 longshot Fore Harp, the Rob Atras-trained colt Chasing Liberty emerged like a shot down the center and seemed all but certain to pass near the wire. He challenged Outlaw Kid all the way to the wire, but Weaver’s gelding was running a race all his own. Ruiz kept him engaged until the very end and he hardly took notice of his outside rival, prevailing by a neck. He paid $24 to win and completed the 5 1/2-furlong distance in 1:01.59. Chasing Liberty, denied his third stakes victory for Atras, finished a length clear for second. Whenigettoheaven broke from the far outside for Nolan Ramsey and flew home late to take third by a nose over Fore Harp, who in turn finished a nose ahead of Schwarzmeier in fifth. Dahlia Stakes Summerintahoe shot straight to the front and never looked back in the $100,000 Dahlia Stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday. In the first start of what will likely be her final year of racing, the 5-year-old mare notched her first stakes victory by a nose with a perfectly managed ride from Jaime Torres. “She wants only go, go, go, and I used the first turn just to get to know her,” Torres said. “I've never been on her before, and I felt like if I kept fighting on her, she was going to get tired of me, and she was just going to turn the race loose. I just gave her her head, tried to get her away from horses, because if she gets by herself in front, she gets relaxed.” Though she entered her 5-year-old season without a stakes victory, Summerintahoe had already done all the work to make such a result feel inevitable. When she last ran in September, Summerintahoe won a $200,000 allowance at Kentucky Downs, a platinum-plated steppingstone back to stakes company. Trainer Michael Ann Ewing said finding the right stakes and winning was a priority for Tier Racing, who hopes to bolster the mare’s reputation by the end of this season. “In the last year, she’s matured, and as she matured, she's become more solid, a better racehorse,” Ewing said. “I put the blinkers on her and she's really changed. This is really going to be her last year we're going to race her, and then I think her owner will choose to breed her or sell her. So we want to look for stakes wins, that's the plan for this year.” In Summerintahoe’s last race at Kentucky Downs, Torres was aboard Reagan’s Flame and finished three-quarters of a length behind. That was the closest he had ever gotten to the Ewing-trained mare before riding her at Laurel Saturday, but he already knew everything he needed. Unstoppable out of the gate, the jockey urged the 3-1 third choice to an uncontested early lead, completing the opening quarter-mile in 23.19 seconds. By the time she blew through the half-mile in 46.31, she was 3 1/2 lengths clear. Favorites Curlin’s Angel and Ribaltagaia stalked in second and third, but neither runner was within striking range when she entered the stretch in firm command. In the end, neither of the top contenders launched a compelling bid, leaving 18-1 longshot Mahra’s Love to make a race of it from fifth. Jockey Vincent Cheminaud found the ideal trip from off the pace and flew home late, but his bid came up just short. Summerintahoe held on by a nose, completing the turf mile in 1:34.60 and paying $8.60 to win. “She only runs one way, and that's on the front,” Ewing said. “You always worry off a long layoff, but she ran a great race. Jaime did a great job.” Ribaltagaia showed belated interest from a stalking position under Jorge Ruiz, but the Graham Motion trainee had to settle for third by a half-length. With the job done at Laurel, Ewing has long-term plans for Summerintahoe. With a proven affinity for the course at Kentucky Downs, she hopes to return there later this year, among other locales at home in Kentucky. It could be a long sunset for the talented mare. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.