A few hours before trainer Brittany Russell; her husband, jockey Sheldon Russell; and the ownership partnership headed by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables send out local hopeful Taj Mahal in the Preakness Stakes, they get Saturday at Laurel Park going with another 3-year-old who seems to be blossoming in Maryland. Falcon Jet makes his stakes debut in the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes, for 3-year-olds who have not yet won an open stakes.

At some point this year, Tom Wenzel is likely to break his 67-win tie with Doris Harwood for most all-time stakes victories by a trainer at Emerald Downs. How Candy Caballo fares in Saturday’s featured sixth race will likely determine whether he’ll be among the Wenzel trainees who have a chance to make history on June 21, when the first four stakes of the meet will be run.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With five seconds in his last six starts, Horsepower has been a source of both pride and frustration for trainer Joe Orseno since he decided to stretch out his hard-knocking turf specialist around two turns last fall.

Horsepower will attempt to finally get over the hump and back into the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly 11 months when he goes postward among the favorites in Saturday’s $100,000 Mr. Steele at Gulfstream Park. The 1 1/16-mile turf stakes shares top billing on the 11-race program with its filly counterpart, the $100,000 Monroe.

The list of horses who won the Louisville Stakes after the race’s days as a handicap ended in 2019: Tiz a Slam, Admission Office, Arklow, Cellist, Foreign Relations, Sugoi, and Utah Beach.

Arklow stands out – a two-time winner of the Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs, hero of the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Cup in 2019, career earnings over $3 million. The others were solid, far from spectacular. In this Saturday’s Grade 3 Louisville at Churchill Downs, there is a horse who might prove even better than Arklow.

LAUREL, Md. – Two years ago, trainer Todd Fincher won the world’s richest horse race when Senor Buscador got up in the final strides to take the $20 million Saudi Cup. It didn’t bring a lot of new business Fincher’s way.

“Not really, because I train out of New Mexico. I’m not going to get that clientele unless I moved back East,” Fincher said by phone recently from New Mexico. “They’re not real excited to pay a lot of money for Kentucky-breds to run in New Mexico.”

The connections of 4-year-old filly Ourdaydreaminggirl considered running in the Serena’s Song on Saturday at Monmouth Park, and they considered running in the Allaire duPont Distaff on Friday at Laurel Park. They considered, as well, not running in either race.

The considering ended midweek, and Ourdaydreaminggirl will ship from trainer Louis Linder’s base at Parx Racing for the $100,000 Serena’s Song.

Bring the Smoke will see if he can bring the heat in the Grade 3, $150,000 Maryland Sprint, which should already be sizzling.

A flashy winner when last seen at Laurel Park, Bring the Smoke returns for this six-furlong race, which should have plenty of speed. He faces a well-matched lineup of older males that includes stakes winners Celtic Contender, Faster Gator, and Slam Notion, as well as streaking Faust.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine Oaks contender Dixie Law makes her much-anticipated season debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Ruling Angel Stakes, an open seven-furlong event for 3-year-old fillies.

Trained by Dale Desruisseaux for Hillsbrook Farms, Dixie Law was among the leading 2-year-old fillies at Woodbine last year, during which she won 3 of 5 starts and was a Sovereign Award finalist for divisional honors.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Queen Maxima’s tenuous position as California’s top female turf sprinter gets tested Saturday in the $100,000 Mizdirection Stakes on the hillside course at Santa Anita.

Is she an odds-on cinch, or a vulnerable favorite?

Queen Maxima, whose affinity for the hill includes two Grade 3 wins, is the most accomplished Mizdirection entrant and the 4-5 program favorite. But spring has not gone to plan, and the mare’s enterprising campaign renders her vulnerable in her final start before a midseason break.

LAUREL, Md.– Trainer Graham Motion has only been able to run Ribaltagaia twice in the nearly 17 months the mare’s been in his barn. Those races, both half-length defeats in listed stakes, came eight months apart.

Saturday, when Motion sends out Ribaltagaia in the Grade 3, $150,000 Gallorette Stakes at Laurel Park he will be doing so four weeks after her most recent start. Motion is hopeful that will help get the 5-year-old daughter of Blame back into the winner’s circle for the first time in two years.