Maryland Million supporting stakes have plenty to offer

The four Maryland Million supporting stakes for 3-year-olds and up at Laurel Park on Saturday are the Turf, Ladies, Sprint, and Distaff. The seven stakes on the 11-race card are topped by the $150,000 Classic.

The Turf and the Ladies each has a purse of $125,000. They are carded as race 8 and 9, immediately preceding the Classic. The Turf will be run at one mile and the Ladies is a 1 1/8-mile grass race.

The Sprint and Distaff, both of which are handicaps, are worth $100,000 each. The Sprint, race 4, is at six furlongs and the Distaff, race 7, is at seven furlongs.

The Turf will match youth versus experience as 3-year-old Somekindofmagician and 7-year-old Talk Show Man are two of the top contenders in the nine-horse field.

Talk Show Man is a local favorite. He won the Turf in 2014, the Henry Clark at Pimlico on 2015, and has raced well this year after missing the entire 2016 season.

Talk Show Man’s last two races have not been his best. He was squeezed back to last early and then raced wide when eighth in the 1 1/2-mile Laurel Turf Cup. Before that he finished an even fifth in the Find Stakes over soft turf.

Talk Show Man should perform better at a mile over firm ground.

“A mile suits him pretty good,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “He’s coming into the race fine. We look for him to run a big race.”

Somekindofmagician will be stretching out from six furlongs after winning a first-level allowance over the Belmont Park turf for trainer Michael Trombetta. In his prior start, he finished second in a turf allowance at Saratoga.

The horse to beat in the Ladies is Barrel of Dreams, who is based at Belmont Park with Charlton Baker and cross-entered there in Saturday’s Ticonderoga Stakes for New York-breds. Barrel of Dreams finished fourth last out in the $125,000 John Hettinger for statebreds at Belmont. Before that she rattled off back-to-back Saratoga wins in an open first-level allowance and a second-level statebred optional claimer.

Devilish Lady won the Ladies a year ago but has raced only three times since and is coming off an eighth-place finish against Pennsylvania-breds in the Mrs. Penny Stakes at Parx, which was taken off the grass and run over a sloppy track.

Blu Moon Ace is the Sprint Handicap highweight at 122 pounds. He will give from three to 12 pounds to his rivals. Blu Moon Ace, who is trained by Kevin Patterson, was run down in deep stretch of the Grade 3 De Francis Dash by Chublicious in his last start and beaten a neck.

Struth, the second highweight at 119, finished second to Blu Moon Ace in the Coalition Stakes at Timonium on Aug. 26. Kieron Magee trains both Struth and Nicaradalic Rocks, who is cross-entered in the Sprint and the Classic.

Nicaradalic Rocks won the Sprint in 2016 but is winless in 10 starts since, although he has finished second five times and third twice in the past year.

Crabcakes, 3, is a heavy favorite in the Distaff Handicap but will be facing older rivals and conceding weight.

Trained by Bernie Houghton, Crabcakes comes into the race on a two-race win streak. She defeated older opponents in her last start, a second-level optional claiming race at Laurel. Prior to that, she won the restricted Miss Disco Stakes over her own age group.

Crabcakes has been assigned 119 pounds and will be giving anywhere from two to 10 pounds to her rivals.

My Magician, who will carry 117 pounds, has won two of her last three races, all for Claudio Gonzalez, most recently a no-conditions allowance at Timonium.