Bring the Smoke will see if he can bring the heat in the Grade 3, $150,000 Maryland Sprint, which should already be sizzling. A flashy winner when last seen at Laurel Park, Bring the Smoke returns for this six-furlong race, which should have plenty of speed. He faces a well-matched lineup of older males that includes stakes winners Celtic Contender, Faster Gator, and Slam Notion, as well as streaking Faust. Bring the Smoke, originally trained by Lacey Gaudet, made his debut in December at Laurel, finishing third behind the well-regarded Lonesome Road. Both would win their next outings. In Bring the Smoke’s case, it was an 18 1/4-length maiden romp on a muddy, sealed Laurel track in February which got him some attention. After the win, he was privately purchased by a partnership and transferred to Whit Beckman. In his first outing for the barn, Bring the Smoke was a pace-prompting second to the consistent Senior Officer in a Keeneland allowance. Beckman indicated he was pleased with the gelding’s most recent breeze at Churchill Downs. :: Get ready for Preakness with DRF past performances, picks, and betting strategies! Tyler Gaffalione has a return mount on Bring the Smoke in what could become a riders’ race. The first six horses from the rail all want to be on or just off the lead, which could set up a sharp early scramble. Bring the Smoke will shed the blinkers he has worn in his three starts, which could both help him relax off the pace and escape the rail, as he appeared to briefly pause when rail-drawn in his debut. Like Bring the Smoke, Faster Gator, in post 2 under Irad Ortiz Jr., returns to Laurel, where he won his first two starts and now gets to run out of his own stall. He is making his first start since winning Steel Valley Sprint in November at Mahoning Valley in Ohio to finish a productive 3-year-old campaign. “He’s been on time with all his works. We haven’t really missed a work,” trainer Anthony Farrior said. “Actually wanted to get a race into him before this, but with the winter we had, [it didn’t happen]. Not the race I really wanted off a layoff, but he’s doing well.” Farrior does not believe Faster Gator needs to have the lead. “I think he’ll take dirt,” he said. “He doesn’t have to have the lead. He relaxes. He’s a very smart horse. It’s not like he’s going to run off, so he’ll relax.” Faust has shown versatility that could benefit him. He was third and pressing last time out before kicking clear for a four-length allowance score at Oaklawn Park, his second open-lengths win in a row. The next three in the gate are Haileysfirstnotion, Floodlites, and Celtic Contender, all coming off front-running wins in their respective season debuts. Celtic Contender, who earned the field’s top last-out Beyer Speed Figure, a 100, was third in the Maryland Sprint last year at Pimlico. His multiple stakes wins at Laurel include the 2024 Maryland Million Sprint. Slam Notion is drawn toward the outside, where he could make a nice run from off the pace. He won the 2025 Maryland Million Sprint over next-out winners Twisted Ride and Haileysfirstnotion. The gelding followed with a win in the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial, but he was most recently fourth in the General George in February. Trainer Robbie Bailes felt the uncharacteristic effort was perhaps the product of a long campaign, and Slam Notion has gotten time on the farm since. Skipat Stakes The sister race to the Maryland Sprint is the $125,000 Skipat Stakes earlier on the card, which should also have plenty of pace. Kappa Kappa scored her biggest win in the Grade 2 Raven Run last October at Keeneland. She is making her 2026 debut after trainer Butch Reid elected to pass on the Grade 3 Vagrancy on May 3 at Aqueduct. “We weren’t quite ready for that spot. She needed just a couple more weeks,” Reid said. “Then she just breezed brilliantly for me the other morning and came out of it great.” Striker Has Dial was last seen winning the Endine in September at Delaware Park. She should be fresh off the layoff from the rail, with Kappa Kappa in post 3. Modo comes off back-to-back stakes wins in Texas. She should benefit from being drawn in the outside post and not getting pinned inside by the other speed. Barbara Fritchie winner Passage East cuts back off a third in the one-mile Sandy Bottom last out.  Complexity Jane and Sporting Lady, who were both cross-entered in Friday stakes at Laurel, scratched in favor of those places. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.