A healthy mix of proven stakes runners and last-out maiden winners will take to the turf for the $125,000 Laurel Futurity Stakes on Saturday. Trainer Kenny McPeek will lead the way with two juvenile colts shipping to Laurel Park after victories at Colonial Downs earlier this month. Green Light Day and S S Quality took their respective maiden special weights in Virginia six days apart, both closing from well back to win by less than a length. Green Light Day won at the Laurel Futurity’s 1 1/16-mile distance on turf, while S S Quality earned his late-flying victory at seven furlongs on dirt. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “Both horses deserve a bit of a step up,” McPeek said. “S S Quality came back pretty quick, but he was impressive in his maiden win. I think he’ll like the stretch-out and I think he’ll like the turf.” Five runners in the field of 11 are coming out of races at Colonial, including the colt Jutland from the Kelsey Danner barn and the Jonathan Thomas-trained gelding Kid Charlemagne. The two rivals finished second and third in the $125,000 Kitten’s Joy on Sept. 6, delivering improved efforts in their first races beyond a mile. Proton, a gelding trained by Graham Motion, will try a route for the first time after winning a 5 1/2-furlong sprint on debut at Colonial last month. Though he was facing restricted maiden special weight rivals, Motion said he was happy with the three-length victory. “I thought he won very comfortably,” Motion said. “You just don’t know what’s behind him, but I would also imagine this is what he wants to do, stretch out.” Trainer Todd Pletcher will crash the Mid-Atlantic juvenile race with Sunrise, a third-time starter shipping in from Saratoga after a $100,000 maiden special weight victory. The colt broke from the far outside post and dueled through soft fractions on the turf to earn his first victory by a head. He will break from the far outside again on Saturday. Selima Stakes Ultimate Love, a juvenile filly making her stakes debut for Mike Trombetta, will get a stiff test in the $125,000 Selima. But after winning her first two starts by 9 1/2 lengths, it’s hard to argue that the filly isn’t prepared. “They’re all young horses and they have to find their way,” Trombetta said. “Being that she graduated those two conditions pretty quickly, it leaves us with no options other than to keep trying.” Following a rousing 2 3/4-length victory in her July debut at Colonial, Trombetta entered Ultimate Love in a $49,000 allowance on Sept. 5 at Laurel. It was expected to be a hard-fought race with Ixchel, but Ultimate Love overwhelmed that favored rival in a 6 3/4-length blowout. The waters will get deeper in the Selima, but she remains the filly to beat. The Irish-bred filly Celebrity Warrior might not have won her debut at Saratoga last month, but Pletcher has decided to treat her like a winner anyway. In a $100,000 maiden special weight at 1 1/16 miles on the turf, she chased in second early on and briefly led in the stretch before giving in to the Brad Cox filly Fille d’Oro. “We felt like she ran a winning race,” Pletcher said. “Had she actually finished first, we’d be going into a stakes, so we felt like she showed enough talent.” Though she came up short that day, Celebrity Warrior earned a sharp 74 Beyer Speed Figure, one of several factors that encouraged Pletcher to put her in stakes company in her second start. Motion entered two fillies in the Selima, though he has had vastly different amounts of time to prepare them. Autonome will make her fourth start for the trainer after three maiden tries at Delaware, while Amberia will make her North American debut after finishing 10th in the Group 3 Princess Margaret at Ascot in July. She will enter the Selima off two published workouts for her new trainer. Spitfire is the only filly in the field of 11 who doesn’t have any turf experience, but McPeek said the 1 1/16-mile distance should be ideal. The filly won a restricted maiden special weight going six furlongs at Saratoga in July and improved to finish second in the $100,000 Sorority at Monmouth Park at a mile last month. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.