Graded winners Wondrwherecraigis and Special Reserve headline the $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash for 3-year-olds and upward at six furlongs. The De Francis Dash is one of four stakes Saturday at Laurel Park. The others are each worth $100,000: the Alma North, Prince George’s County, and Big Dreyfus. A 5-year-old trained by Brittany Russell, Wondrwherecraigis finished first in last year’s De Francis but was placed second behind Jalen Journey for causing interference. He rebounded with a Grade 3 victory at Belmont Park on Halloween, then missed Aqueduct’s Gravesend due to a foot infection. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. Wondrwherecraigis began his 2022 campaign winning Laurel’s Fire Plug gate to wire on Jan. 29. Russell tested the gelding in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, but Wondrwherecraigis faded to 10th and has not run since that March 26 race. Wondrwherecraigis runs well fresh, has crossed the wire first in all four of his Laurel appearances, and should be forwardly placed under Sheldon Russell. Special Reserve was claimed for $40,000 by trainer Michael Maker at Oaklawn in February of 2021, and has earned far more than that since. He won the Maryland Sprint at Pimlico in May 2021, captured the Iowa Sprint at Prairie Meadows about six weeks later, finished a close third in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt, then won the Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland on Oct. 8. In his final start of 2021, Special Reserve finished fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Beren should not be overlooked after a game effort last month for trainer Butch Reid when second, beaten a length, in Penn National’s Chocolate Town. Reid feels he might be catching the two favorites at the right time as they return from layoffs. “We’re fast, fit, and happy,” Reid said. “I think he’s a better horse this year than last.” Kelly Breen sends out Royal Urn and Pickin’ Time. Royal Urn cuts back after finishing third with a wide trip going a mile over a sloppy track in a New Jersey-bred stakes at Monmouth Park. Pickin’ Time won the Grade 3 Nashua at 2, and finished second behind Jackie’s Warrior in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob at Parx last year at 3. War Tocsin has hit the board in his last three graded attempts but might be more effective at seven-eighths. Karan’s Notion and Threes Over Deuces also entered. Alma North Stakes Chub Wagon, 11 for 12 in her career, faces strong competition in the Alma North for fillies and mares going 6 1/2 furlongs. Chub Wagon won her first eight before finishing second over sloppy going in the Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial at Parx last summer. She won her final two races of the year, including her two-turn debut in the Plum Pretty on the Pennsylvania Derby undercard in September. Trainer Guadalupe Preciado said he wanted to run Chub Wagon in New York after that race, but was convinced by the owners to give her a freshening. Chub Wagon returned from a nine-month layoff to win the off-turf Power by Far Stakes at Parx on June 27. “We were more concerned about the wet track than the layoff,” Preciado said. “But she finished pretty strong. She seems more relaxed.” Fille d’Esprit earned a gaudy 99 Beyer when taking Penn National’s Susquehanna Valley on June 17. “I expected to win that day,” trainer John Robb said. “She’s coming into this race as good as I’ve ever seen her.” Late-running Kaylasaurus was third as the favorite in the six-furlong Susquehanna Valley and gets another half-furlong in the Alma North. “Going into that race, I was a little nervous that Penn can be a speed-favoring surface and that Kaylasaurus wouldn’t get the pace she needs,” David Bushey, stable manager for co-owner Bush Racing, said of the Susquehanna Valley Stakes “Getting back to Laurel and stretching out could help.” Cheetara, a Group 2 winner in her native Chile, ships in from Hawthorne after a stakes tally at this distance. Buy the Best also is in the lineup. Prince George’s County Pixelate returns from a 202-day layoff to defend his title in the Prince George’s County for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on turf. The Godolphin homebred won last year’s edition by a length when the race was contested at Pimlico. Trainer Michael Stidham said the time off was by design. “He had run without ever getting a break,” Stidham said. “At the end of December he was perfectly sound, but we decided to freshen him and have a great spring or summer.” Stidham said Pixelate is “dead fit,” and with little speed in the race, he hopes Pixelate is just a few lengths off the early lead. Eons and Beacon Hill finished one-two in the 1 1/16-mile Bensalem Match Series on turf at Parx on June 14, and they renew hostilities in the Prince George’s County. Late-running Eons benefited from a hot pace in the Bensalem Match Series and held off Beacon Hill’s bid. Trainer Arnaud Delacour is excited to stretch Eons back to 1 1/8 miles. The Giant’s Causeway colt has won two of three starts at the distance. Delacour also is concerned about the pace scenario on Saturday, and is hopeful Eons can stay close to the front if it is slow. “If nobody wants it, I will have no problem sending him in front,” Delacour said. :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! Beacon Hill was beaten a nose by Eons at Parx. Trainer Michael Matz said Beacon Hill hung when he got up to Eons. “This race being a bit longer might help,” he said. Also in the field are English Tavern, Nathan Detroit, Somekindofmagician, and Nick Papagiorgio. Big Dreyfus Stakes Stidham sends out Alms in the Big Dreyfus for fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles on turf. The multiple Grade 3 winner hasn’t scored since early 2020. “It’s been very frustrating because the talent’s there,” Stidham said. Stidham felt Alms had an excuse for her fifth-place finish in Monmouth’s Grade 3 Eatontown on June 18. “Somehow she was last where they ran the half in 50,” Stidham said. “She had no chance.” Deciding Vote and In a Hurry ran one-two in the Dahlia here on April 23. Deciding Vote took advantage of a quick pace to win and subsequently ran fourth in the Neshaminy Match Series at Parx. In a Hurry recently finished third in the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico. Petricor, a stakes winner in France last year, is trained by Bill Mott. She makes her third start in North America, having won an allowance race at Keeneland in April and finished fourth in the Grade 3 Mint Julep at Churchill Downs on June 5. Also in the field are Bellagamba, Fool Yourself, Coconut Cake, Tightly Twisted, Double Fireball, and Tic Tic Tic Boom.