Pair of juvenile stakes hold key to betting success on Saturday card

Back-to-back 2-year-old stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday will give handicappers plenty to ponder, especially since they fall during the late pick four, pick five, and Rainbow 6.

The James F. Lewis III, race 6, and the Warrior’s Reward Smart Halo, race 7, are each worth $100,000, will be run at six furlongs, and have eight-horse fields. They top a nine-race Military Family Appreciation Day program, which features team horse jumping and mounted national anthem presentations in addition to discounted food and beer prices.

The Lewis matches sharp debut winners Sir Back in Black and Bernie’s On Fire against a pair of runners who are hitting the reset button on their young careers, Tuggle and Raging Whiskey.

Sir Back in Black will be well supported off his 3 1/2-length debut victory at Parx for trainer Richie Vega, which netted him a field-high Beyer Speed Figure of 78. He will be first-time Lasix on Saturday.

Bernie’s On Fire was similarly impressive for trainer Claudio Gonzalez, running off to a 5 3/4-length score while earning a 73 Beyer.

Both Sir Back in Black and Bernie’s On Fire came from off the pace in their win, which could work to their advantage with the quick Newstome breaking from post 1 for trainer Michael Trombetta.

Tuggle is arguably the horse to beat despite having finished ninth and sixth in his last two starts, both for Jeremiah Englehart. He won first time out as the 6-5 favorite at Belmont Park in June and then finished third to Green Light Go after setting the pace in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special. Englehart then switched the son of Point of Entry to turf and stretched him out in distance against graded stakes company, but Tuggle tired each time.

He is fast and dangerous with this return to a dirt sprint. Englehart has worked him five times since his last start in the Grade 3 Pilgrim.

Raging Whiskey has been transferred from Doug O’Neill to Jeremiah O’Dwyer and will be making his first start outside Southern California. A Maryland-bred son of Bourbon Courage, he should hit harder in the Mid-Atlantic than his 2-for-7 record suggests.

Sheldon Russell, who leads the rider standings at the Laurel fall-winter meet, has the mount. Russell, a five-time meet leader in Maryland, is gunning for his first title since the winter of 2015.

◗ The Smart Halo goes through Summer Fortune, a front-running 1 1/4-length debut winner four weeks ago at Belmont for Englehart. Summer Fortune opened up by four lengths in upper stretch of that race and earned a 72 Beyer, which makes her a player in this field.

But the Smart Halo is loaded with other speed, including Letsstaypositive, whom Michelle Lovell claimed from Wesley Ward for $75,000 out of a runner-up effort in a first-level optional-claiming race at Keeneland. The O’Dwyer-trained duo of Ilchester Cheetah and Cruise and Danze also have good early lick.

If the pace overheats, the Smart Halo should set up nicely for Cofactor, who has won back-to-back starts for Kelly Breen. Since weakening to finish third in her debut, Cofactor has won a Monmouth Park maiden race by a neck – earning a race-high 75 Beyer – and a first-level optional claimer at Keeneland by a head.

After going to the lead in her first two races, Cofactor showed a new dimension in Kentucky by rallying from fifth position. Joe Bravo will make a rare Maryland appearance to keep the mount.