Leave No Trace has a license to be a formidable player in the older filly and mare sprint ranks, and she gets her first shot at the division Saturday in the Grade 3, $175,000 Vagrancy at the Belmont meet at Aqueduct.

The race will be run over 6 1/2 furlongs. The field of six also includes Hot Fudge, who is seeking to start a new win streak after putting together five straight victories from June 2023 to March 2024, and Big Pond, a fresh face from Southern California.

BALTIMORE – It has been more than a year since Fluffy Socks saw the winner’s circle. It’s been even longer since she saw the Pimlico turf course, winning here in 2020. Perhaps a return will help her break back on through, as the well-traveled mare, who rarely misses a dance, returns to Baltimore for the Grade 3, $100,000 Gallorette Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf Saturday afternoon.

BALTIMORE – From hunter to hunter to hunted.

Despite his narrow victory at 18-1 in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, Mystik Dan was likely going to play the underdog role again in Saturday’s 149th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. That all changed Wednesday morning, when news broke that Muth, who had beaten Mystik Dan seven weeks ago in the Arkansas Derby but was not permitted to run in the Kentucky Derby, had to scratch from the Preakness due to illness.

BALTIMORE – His penchant for running second notwithstanding, Bourbon Bash could be well-spotted to finally break through and win his first stakes race in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Maryland Sprint Stakes at Pimlico.

Drawn on the outside in a field of seven, Bourbon Bash appears to have plenty of pace to close into as his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, seeks his fifth victory in this race, and first since 2012.

“I like the outside when you’re going six furlongs, especially if there’s a lot of speed,” Lukas said. “He’s pretty good right now.”

BALTIMORE – Mr Skylight won a first-level allowance race at Keeneland on the front end last month, but it may be the off-the-pace style he used to win his maiden two starts back that will serve him best in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Chick Lang Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Pimlico.

BALTIMORE – A class drop should suit Emmanuel, the 5-2 morning-line favorite in Pimlico’s Grade 3, $500,000 Dinner Party Stakes for 3-year-olds and up racing 1 1/8 miles on turf.

As of Wednesday evening, however, the National Weather Service was calling for a 90 percent chance of rain on Saturday, and that might damper enthusiasm from taking too short a price on Emmanuel, who finished fifth of sixth in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile, contested over yielding turf on April 12 at Keeneland.

Racegoers at Saturday’s Preakness Stakes in Baltimore will be the last to see the race conducted in front of the historic Pimlico grandstand and clubhouse.

For nearly all of those witnesses, that won’t be a bad thing.

Scheduled to be torn down as early as this winter, the Pimlico grandstand has as much character as an old shoebox, with fewer nooks and crannies. The open-air section was condemned by the city five years ago. The clubhouse section hasn’t received an upgrade other than a wet slap of new paint in decades.

BALTIMORE – Kenny McPeek acknowledged that in his younger days as a trainer, he would get enamored chasing the big-name jockeys such as Pat Day or Jerry Bailey to ride for him.

As time went on, McPeek’s philosophy changed. He wanted a rider that would put in the necessary time at the barn in the mornings, presumably to be better prepared for the afternoons.

BALTIMORE – The top two on the morning line in Saturday’s $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles are well bred, well connected, and receive blinkers for the first time.

Corporate Power, a $925,000 yearling by Curlin out of Grade 2 winner Road to Victory scored a second-out win at Gulfstream for trainer Shug McGaughey. In his first start out of the maiden ranks, Corporate Power finished second, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in a first-level Aqueduct allowance contested over a sealed, sloppy track.

ARCADIA, Calif. – None of the female turf sprinters entered in the Mizdirection Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita can compare yet to the horse-for-course the race is named for, but The Wild Grazer is on her way.

“She’s a down-the-hill specialist,” trainer Jeff Mullins noted, and at age 4 is “a bigger, more mature filly.” The Wild Grazer is also the most probable winner of the $100,000 Mizdirection, a 6 1/2-furlong turf race named after the two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner who went 6 for 6 on the Santa Anita hill.