SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Gun Pilot gave a breakthrough performance in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard and is the even-money morning-line favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 True North Stakes for 4-year-olds and up traveling 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga.Trained by Steve Asmussen, Gun Pilot earned a stakes-placing around two turns last year before finishing off the board in both the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile and Grade 1 Woody Stephens.Asmussen then gave Gun Pilot an extended layoff, and the Gun Runner colt has returned stronger than ever with three wins and a second from four starts this year.“We were actually disappointed with what he got done as a 3-year-old,” Asmussen said, “With the freshening, he came back as the horse we always expected him to be.”Asmussen wondered how the Saratoga track will play. We’re “running on it at a time they’ve never run before. He’s a big, strong horse, and I’m concerned about the racetrack being loose.”Accretive placed in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga as a 3-year-old in 2022, then won twice here last summer before placing in a pair of Grade 2 events downstate during the fall. Trained by Chad Brown, Accretive finished second in two high-level allowances in his last two starts. “He’s been a little bit inconsistent,” Brown admitted. “I do think he likes Saratoga and I thought it was worth a shot, and he might get the right setup. I really wanted him to earn his way into the race based on his works. I’m optimistic that he can run a race very similar to his last, which was pretty good.”Rain is expected on Thursday and Friday, and there is a chance the track will be wet. “I’d rather not have it for this horse in particular,” Brown said.Baby Yoda popped a 114 Beyer Speed Figure when winning a first-level allowance over this track and distance in 2021. While he has never come close to duplicating that race, he enters the True North after posting a narrow gate-to-wire victory over Accretive.Rotknee has won 10 of 19 starts and could be the pacesetter after wiring the field in the Affirmed Success. All six of his stakes wins came against fellow New York-breds.Ninetyprcentmaddie paired up Beyer tops in two starts this year, including a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Runhappy.Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. “got him a little bit jammed up on the rail,” trainer Butch Reid said. “He thought he would have won with a cleaner trip.” Ninetyprcentmaddie breaks from the fence under Jose Lezcano on Saturday. “I think it’s important that you get him a clear spot turning for home so he’s not in too tight. I expect him to be a little bit off it, and he’ll come running,” Reid said. Gun It earned a 96 Beyer when he was a front-running winner of his 8-year-old debut on May 26.“We had to give him a little time, but he came back and ran a nice race,” trainer Linda Rice said. “It’s back on maybe short rest, but based on that performance, we want to give him as many opportunities as possible.”Twenty Four Mamba also entered.