Trainer Justin Nixon has been waiting some time to give Sheilahs Warcloud a chance around two turns. After 13 straight starts at a mile or shorter, the 4-year-old filly will stretch out to 1 1/16 miles as a lively contender in the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes on Sunday at Laurel Park. “It just hasn’t shaken out that we’ve been able to do it,” Nixon said of an attempt around two turns. “So, you know, we tried to enter in [a conditioned allowance] this weekend and it didn’t go, so we used this as a backup plan and here we are.” In the first race of her 2025 campaign in March, the deep closer kicked things off with a determined victory in the $150,000 Stellar Wind Handicap at Colonial Downs. It could have been a stepping-stone, but Nixon was left somewhat confused when she exited the race in diminished form. After a dull effort at Laurel in April, the trainer decided to give her a break over the summer. The layoff dragged on into the fall, and when Sheilahs Warcloud finally returned, she leapt right back into deep waters. In the $100,000 Maryland Million Distaff, she managed to shake off enough rust to run on for fourth in a stiff field of 12. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “It was a good group of horses, and she was coming off a bit of a layoff,” Nixon said. “So I was just happy to have her back in action and I thought she did well.” Nixon said that the Maryland-bred does her best running with a hot pace in front of her, and her first performance around two turns should be accompanied by honest fractions. Di’s Surprise and Complexity Jane, the only other runners exiting stakes competition, have both run on or near the lead in their most recent starts. Complexity Jane, a 3-year-old filly trained by Brittany Russell, seemed well on her way when she won the $150,000 Weber City Miss at Laurel in her third career start. Subsequent efforts in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks and $100,000 Tyson Gilpin at Colonial were not as inspiring, however. She will face older rivals for the first time off a three-month layoff on Sunday. Di’s Surprise, a 4-year-old filly trained by Hugh McMahon, is coming back from an even longer break in the Thirty Eight Go Go. In April, she switched to turf for her stakes debut in the $100,000 Dahlia, taking the early lead before fading to fifth in a four-length defeat. She has not run since and will make her first start on dirt since a seven-furlong allowance victory at Laurel in January. Among the deep closers likely to vie with Sheilahs Warcloud in the late stages, Beautiful Blome could be sitting on the strongest race. The Anthony Pecoraro filly ran against other 3-year-olds in stakes company earlier this year, most notably finishing second in the $75,000 Main Line at Parx Racing. Since returning from a layoff in July, she has won two starts against older fillies and mares at Delaware Park and finished second in a $52,000 allowance on Sept. 22 at Parx. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.