Fair Grounds and Laurel kick off Presidents Day weekend Saturday with stakes-packed cards. Fair Grounds’s main event is the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes, a Kentucky Derby points event. There are also five other undercard stakes, three of which are graded – the Grade 2, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra, and the Mineshaft and Fair Grounds handicaps, which are both Grade 3 races worth $150,000 each. At Laurel, the Barbara Fritchie and General George Stakes, which are both Grade 3 events worth $250,000 each, are supported by three other $100,000 stakes races. Rachel Alexandra Stakes Grade 1 Starlet Stakes winner Chasing Yesterday, a half-sister to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, was entered, but will not make the trip from California. That means Positive Spirit and Serengeti Empress are likely to battle for favoritism, and while it would be no surprise if either won, I’ll be playing against them. Positive Spirit makes her first start since winning the Demoiselle in early December with a performance that was explosive on two levels. For one, she ran off to score by 10 ½ lengths. In addition, Positive Spirit bettered her previous best Beyer Figure by a significant 21 points, to an 86. The thing is, the Demoiselle was run on a Cigar Mile Day at Aqueduct that was strange. There were a few races with suspect final times and/or fractions, and early in the card, at the very least, the main track was profoundly biased toward runners in outside paths. The Demoiselle was run when the bias was in full effect, and Positive Spirit rode the crest of it, going four wide on both turns and only drifting inside late when the race was over. I just want to see Positive Spirit do what she did in the Demoiselle when the conditions aren’t so unusual. Serengeti Empress makes her first start since finishing a tired seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Even though she was coming off a 19 ½-length victory in the Pocahontas Stakes at the distance over the track, she was a significant underlay at under 4-1 in the Breeders’ Cup because she earned only a modest Beyer of 78 for that score. And while this is obviously a much softer spot than the Juvenile Fillies, I still question how good Serengeti Empress really is. Molto Bella is the filly I want here. Molto Bella also ran in the Demoiselle, going off at 3-1 to Positive Spirit’s 11-1, and finished a distant fourth. However, Molto Bella raced near the dead inside the entire length of the backstretch and was on the dead rail throughout the stretch. It is a good sign that Molto Bella immediately rebounded with a runaway score most recently in the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa, earning a career-best Beyer of 83. She also should appreciate the stretch back out to two turns as all three of her siblings were North American dirt route winners. Risen Star Stakes War of Will didn’t beat a lot when he won the Lecomte last time out, but still delivered a solid effort, and has now aired in both of his starts on dirt. And his wide draw in this race should not be a serious obstacle considering he won off in the Lecomte despite being wide every step of the way. Simply put, War of Will will take a lot of beating Saturday as the favorite. However, Owendale has a shot at a better price. Owendale began his career in inglorious fashion last summer, but in terms of Beyer Figures, every start has been better than the one before. Notably, Owendale has improved his Beyers dramatically of late in concert with routing over the Fair Grounds main track, and won decisively last time with a career-best Beyer of 91, only three points shy of what War of Will got in the Lecomte. General George Stakes If he is sent early like he was in a strong front-running score last time in his return from a 9 ½-month absence, and first start for trainer Jennifer Patterson, then Uncontested should be the main speed in this field of 14. I hope he is put right on the early lead because I like him, and that’s how he can win right back. Uncontested’s big score most recently over the track was no fluke as he has back class. He was a blowout winner of the 2017 Smarty Jones Stakes early in his 3-year-old season, and that came over a sloppy track, which is noteworthy in light of Laurel’s inclement weather forecast.