Howl may be set for bigger and better after a popular one-length victory in Saturday’s Safely Kept for 3-year-old fillies traveling seven furlongs at Laurel Park. The Safely Kept was one of three $100,000 stakes on the program, joining the Richard W. Small for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles and the City of Laurel for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs. Trained by Brad Cox for LNJ Foxwoods, Howl, the prohibitive favorite in the seven-horse field, settled into a nice rhythm from a three-wide tracking position as Unified Alliance and Liquidator sparred through fractions of 23.20 and 47.32 seconds. Jockey Jevian Toledo pushed the button at the quarter pole and Howl took command. She got a bit leg-weary in the final sixteenth, weaving about and popping back to her left lead under urging, but had enough to last over Apple Picker. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Warrior’s Ransom was another 2 1/4 lengths back in third. Then came Worst Behaviour, Liquidator, Unified Alliance and Dot Marie. Howl returned $2.80 to win. A 7 3/4-length debut winner at Keeneland on Oct. 28, Howl might utilize the Safely Kept as a steppingstone to the Grade 1, $300,000 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. That was a race Cox mentioned when talking to Daily Racing Form earlier in the week. “She’s a nice talent,” Cox said. “She’s a big, big filly that covers a tremendous amount of ground.” Bred in Kentucky by Fredrick Wieting, John McCormick and Bridget Sperl, and Castle Park Farm, Howl was purchased by Solis/Litt on behalf of LNJ Foxwoods for $190,000 as a 2021 Keeneland September yearling. She is a daughter of Practical Joke with lifetime earnings of $116,575. City of Laurel Post Time made a successful return to his home state with a game victory over Ninetyprcentmaddie in the City of Laurel. Post Time, last year's Maryland-bred 2-year-old champion, settled off the pace under jockey Sheldon Russell as Byk cleared from his outside post to set uncontested fractions of 23.53 and 46.60 seconds. Russell started scrubbing on Post Time on the turn, but it appeared the notoriously quirky colt was only one-paced. Meanwhile, Ninetyprcentmaddie advanced along the rail, eased outside of Byk at the top of the stretch, and took over the lead. Post Time finally grabbed a firm hold of the bit, and he set sail after the leader in midstretch. Ninetyprcentmaddie gave his all, but Post Time showed off his class and put his head down in front after seven furlongs in 1:24.23. Ninetyprcentmaddie finished 4 1/4 lengths ahead of late-running third-place finisher Praetorian Guard. Veeson, Byk and Let It Ride completed the order of finish. Coffeewithchris, Super Accelerate and Giant Mischief scratched. Post Time returned $2.80 to Win. "I said I was scared," said owner Ellen Charles in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel Park. "Sheldon said 'I wasn't, I was petrified.'" Trained by Brittany Russell for Charles's Hillwood Stable, Post Time won all three of his starts last year, including a victory in the Maryland Juvenile Stakes. He returned from a lengthy layoff to take his seasonal debut, a second-level allowance at Pimlico on Sept. 22, then tasted defeat for the first time when a solid third in Keeneland's Perryville Stakes on Oct. 21. Bred by Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman & Milton P. Higgins III, Post Time is a gray colt by Frosted. An $85,000 yearling purchase, Post Time is out of stakes-winning turf router Vielsalm. He has earned $252,910. Richard W. Small Jockey Abner Adorno had a problem turning into the stretch of the Richard W. Small Stakes. He was sitting on a powder keg with King Kumbalay, but the Pennsylvania-bred gelding was trapped in and among horses. There was nowhere to go. When a seam finally presented itself, Adorno took advantage. He quickly guided King Kumbalay through the hole, took over the lead, and had plenty left to deny stretch-running Forewarned by 1 3/4 lengths after nine furlongs in 1:51.63 seconds. Favored Be Better wasn't as lucky. He saved ground inside King Kumbalay, had to wait until the winner got the jump, followed King Kumbalay through the breach, and rallied belatedly for third, a head behind Forewarned. They were followed home by Market Maven, Hay Chief, Outlier, and pacesetters Ain’t Da Beer Cold and Movisitor. King Kumbalay returned $8 to win as the third choice in the wagering. "I just can't say enough about the job Abner did," winning trainer Butch Reid said in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel Park. "He took him back, sat on him. He was inside the quarter pole, and he still hadn't dropped his head. He got a little swallowed up, but this horse is tough and pushed his way through. He showed a lot of class." Reid took over King Kumbalay’s training during the spring, and the gelding improved steadily. Based at Parx Racing, he finished third in the restricted Storm Cat on Aug. 21, won the off-turf Alphabet Soup on the Pennsylvania Derby undercard, then placed second in the M. P. Ballezzi Appreciation Mile on Oct. 17. Bred by the late Jonathan Sheppard, King Kumbalay is a 5-year-old gelding by Shanghai Bobby, and is a half-brother to Grade 3 winner Daisy. He was purchased by Kingsport Farm for $35,000 as a 2019 Keeneland September yearling and has won 7 of 22 starts for lifetime earnings of $372,430. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.