Due to an excess of entries, the $100,000 Sandy Bottom Stakes will be split into two divisions on Saturday at Colonial Downs. Of all the trainers who took their chance in the one-mile race for older fillies and mares, it’s possible that no one benefited from the split more than trainer Hugh McMahon. By separating the white-hot Passage East and fast-improving Think Fast between the sixth and seventh races Saturday, McMahon has been able to double his Sandy Bottom chances with a pair of 4-year-old fillies he adores. Both are owned by the similarly fortunate Larry Rabold. One might think McMahon’s confidence between the two divisions would be skewed in Passage East’s direction. Since claiming her for $30,000 in December 2024 and guiding her to a maiden victory last April, the filly has won seven of her last eight starts, culminating in an upset victory in the $200,000 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel Park last month. “It was more the hand of providence than our ability to manipulate things to our favor,” McMahon said. “In this industry, you’re so desperately aware that there’s so much out of the realm of control.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. In the midst of this torrid stretch, Passage East is now forcing McMahon out of his comfort zone. The trainer said he wasn’t sure about the four-week break, nor does he believe that his prized runner is best suited to the one-turn mile. The post position on the rail doesn’t help, and regression after the Barbara Fritchie weighs heavily on his mind. McMahon said he seriously considered scratching her, but for all the warning signs, Passage East has been a filly possessed since her most recent victory, bucking in her stall and jumping at the slightest activity around her. From her trainer’s perspective, she’s screaming for the starting gate. “Right now, I’m feeling like if I don’t run her, she’s going to do herself an injury because she’s just feeling that good,” McMahon said. While Passage East keeps pushing McMahon to more precarious heights, Think Fast represents a sort of reprieve for the trainer. Instead of intense expectations, the last-out Laurel allowance winner inspires quiet optimism in the Sandy Bottom’s second division. “When a horse has had a few races, they’re more collected, more composed with their breathing,” McMahon said. “They’re more balanced. She didn’t have that, but now it’s starting to come into shape. I secretly like her.” In the first division, Passage East will be helped along by several scratches in the field of seven, as trainers Wesley Ward and Michael Stidham said Running Away and Amalfi Drive will not start. Her Laugh, a 4-year-old filly trained by Riley Mott, will remain Passage East’s sharpest rival, having run in graded stakes in her last two starts. Last month, she earned a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Inside Information at Gulfstream. “We went into those last couple races knowing that it was going to be difficult, but you could see that she tried hard and ran well against decent fields,” Mott said. “We’re hoping that dropping her back into listed stakes company can do the trick and get her a confidence-builder.” :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  In the second division, Think Fast will be lined up with a slightly classier field of seven, led by 6-5 morning-line favorite Eunomia. Last month, the filly returned from a short layoff to finish a distant third in the Grade 3 Royal Delta for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Queen Azteca also will come out of graded stakes competition after a disappointing sixth in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 24. She entered Rodolphe Brisset’s barn late last year. Since then, he said she has not shown as much in the afternoon as she has in the morning. The trainer will now add blinkers in hopes of a sharper effort. Stidham said he plans to stay in the second division with Conch Fried Rice, a 10-length allowance winner at Fair Grounds last month. If the 4-year-old filly successfully runs back to the 92 Beyer she earned that day, she could be a profoundly dangerous contender in her first dirt stakes start. Royal New Kent It takes a great horse to make a strong field look weak, but Dragoon Guard may have that chance in the $100,000 Royal New Kent Stakes on Saturday at Colonial. The Brad Cox-trained horse will make his 5-year-old debut in search of his first stakes victory since August 2024. “He missed a little bit of time this winter, nothing major at all,” Cox said. “Just had a small setback, missed a little bit of training. But he’s training really well. He’s sharp, he’s moving fantastic, and I think this is a good run to get his season started.” Dragoon Guard’s 4-year-old campaign was not as flashy as the year prior, when he picked up two Grade 3 victories in the Indiana Derby and West Virginia Derby. He ended 2025 with the strongest race of his career, however, finishing second in the $250,000 Cherokee Mile on Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs. “He showed more speed than I expected in that one-turn mile at Churchill,” Cox said. “But it definitely gives [Irad Ortiz Jr.] some options to let the race unfold to the inside of them or take control of it.” On Tuesday, trainer Rob Atras said Komorebino Omoide, the other graded stakes winner in the field of six, was loosely on track to run the one-mile race on a short turnaround. In his first start for the trainer on Feb. 28, Komorebino Omoide won a three-horse running of the $150,000 Stymie at Aqueduct. Tour Player, who has not run five straight races without a trainer change in his career, will make his second start for Whit Beckman. In January, the 5-year-old took a well-deserved step up to the Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper and finished fifth behind star sprinter Knightsbridge. Raise Cain, a near-forgotten player from the 2023 Kentucky Derby scene, will return to stakes company in his second start for new trainer Brittany Russell. The 6-year-old came back from an 11-month layoff to win a Laurel allowance by 4 3/4 lengths on Dec. 28. Pay Billy and Rolando round out the short field with strong outside chances. In an allowance last month, Pay Billy earned his first victory since running in the Preakness last year. Rolando, meanwhile, has not won since setting the track record at Colonial in the $100,000 Petramalo Mile last August. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.