Three chase after first stakes

Lady Linda, Media Access, and Lady of the Future have each had nibbles of big purses in turf stakes this season. None of the three 5-year-old mares has won a stakes, though, and two of the three are winless this year.

Someone's luck is due to change in Saturday's Waya Stakes, a $75,000 turf race for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles at Laurel Park.

Lady Linda finished second in the Grade 3 All Along at Colonial Downs, and fourth by 2 1/2 lengths in the Grade 3 Matchmaker at Monmouth Park. Lady Linda returns to Laurel's turf course for the first time since August 2002. She is 3 for 3 there.

Media Access and Lady of the Future are a combined 0 for 11 this year, but in races against stakes horses, they have been good enough to win the Waya.

Media Access was third in the West Virginia President's Cup at Mountaineer, and second by a neck in the Rosenberger at Delaware. She has lost 11 straight since winning a stakes in October 2001.

Lady of the Future, a deep closer, rallied too late in the Grade 3 Glens Falls at Saratoga and the Grade 2 Canadian Handicap at Woodbine, then failed to fire in the Indian Maid at Hawthorne this month.

Others who could challenge in this field are Leebearski, third in the Maryland Million Lassie two weeks ago; Xi'an, who came off a two-month layoff to finish just ahead of Lady Linda in a high-priced optional claimer; and With Patience, most recently second in a third-level allowance race in New York.