The five stakes that precede Saturday night’s Grade 3, $500,000 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand are the obvious warm-up acts for the night’s headline event. But they stand on their own merits, offering the depth that horseplayers crave. Every stake drew nine or more entrants, and the $100,000 Indiana General Assembly and the Grade 3, $200,000 Indiana Oaks attracted overflow fields capped at 12 runners. The 12 horses in the Indiana Oaks would be the largest field in the 24-year history of the race, according to the track. Foremost among the entries is Street Band, winner of the Grade 2 Fair Ground Oaks and the 5-2 morning-line favorite. She is one of two fillies that competed in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in early May, the other being 5-1 shot Chocolate Kisses, though neither proved a factor. Street Band crossed the wire in seventh, elevated to sixth on the disqualification of another runner, and Chocolate Kisses was immediately behind her in eighth before being promoted to seventh. Chocolate Kisses later ran fourth in the Grade 3 Wonder Again on turf at Belmont June 6. Street Band returns from a freshening after an active campaign that saw her start five times, all at Fair Grounds, between November and March before her race in the Kentucky Oaks. Three works have followed, finalized by a five-furlong move in 59.80 seconds on Monday. Regular rider Sophie Doyle traveled from her Chicago base for the breeze. “The workout was tremendous,” said Doyle. “She was strong in my hands – everything you’d want in a horse going into another graded stakes. She really stretched out all the way to the wire and the same through the gallop-out.” A daughter of Istan owned by a partnership that includes trainer Larry Jones and his wife, Cindy, Street Band drew well in post 5 in the Indiana Oaks, which like the Indiana Derby is a 1 1/16-mile dirt race with a short run to the first of two turns. A stalker, she will be tasked with catching the rail-breaking Kim K, a wire-to-wire winner of a one-mile allowance race at Churchill Downs on June 27. She posted an 87 Beyer Speed Figure, one of the leading figures in the race. A daughter of Will Take Charge, Kim K faltered the one time she raced two turns when 13th in the 1 1/16-mile Alcibiades last fall at Keeneland. “I’m confident about the two turns, more concerned about the short rest – I think it is 16 days,” said trainer Peter Miller. “She’s training great. And she acts like she can do it.” Also stepping up from the allowance ranks from Churchill is With Dignity, a daughter of Declaration of War who is a half-sister to graded stakes winner McCraken. She is perfect in two starts, winning a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race May 11 by a half-length and then rolling to a 3 1/4-length score when tried at 1 1/16 miles in allowance company on June 2. Schaefer kicks off stakes Well before the Indiana Oaks is contested at 9:10 p.m. Eastern, followed by the Indiana Derby at 10:02, the stakes action gets underway beginning with the fourth race, the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial. There, graded winners Silver Dust and Flameaway face Mexican standout Kukulkan, along with Title Ready and Pioneer Spirit, the second- and third-place finishers from the June 22 Evangeline Mile. Another dirt stakes is next with the running of the Mari Hulman George Memorial. Mylady Curlin has been made the even-money favorite following a victory in the Grade 3 DuPont Distaff at Pimlico on May 17. Four of her nine challengers were cross-entered in the Indiana General Assembly, a stakes for fillies and mares on turf a couple of races later on the card. The action shifts to the grass for the sixth race, the Warrior Veterans for 3-year-olds and up on the grass, a competitive race in which recent allowance winners Dot Matrix and Lamartine face graded droppers All Right and Real Story. This race also begins an all-stakes pick four wager. The turf action continues with the seventh race, the Indiana General Assembly. The heavy favorite is Limari, who won four straight before a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Mint Julep at Churchill Downs. Usually a front-runner, she broke tardily and still managed to rally from seventh to miss by three-quarters of a length. First post on Indiana Derby night is 5:30 with the stakes beginning at 6:54.