After two pacesetting victories, Speedyness is living up to his name.

“When he was turned out as a baby, he was flying around the field passing horses, so we nicknamed him ‘Speedy,’ ” said trainer Jamie Ness, who campaigns under the Jagger Inc. name.

Speedyness steps back into stakes competition on Saturday at Laurel Park in the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile, a seven-furlong race for Maryland-bred or -sired performers.

A debut winner against open maidens traveling 4 1/2 furlongs at Laurel, Speedyness missed time over the summer due to shin issues.

If Patriot Spirit takes to the Tampa Bay Downs surface as well in the afternoon as he appears to have in the morning, he’ll be awful tough to beat in Saturday’s Inaugural Stakes for 2-year-olds going six furlongs.

The Inaugural, for males, and the Sandpiper, for juvenile fillies, are the first two stakes of the 92-day Tampa Bay meet. Both races are listed as having $100,000 purses, but $50,000 of that is dedicated to Florida-breds.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fresh off winning last week’s $251,000 Coronation Futurity with Babbo, trainer Sid Attard runs another speedy 2-year-old, Competitive Touch, in Saturday’s $150,000 Clarendon Stakes at Woodbine.

After ending up fourth in his Sept. 10 opener, Competitive Touch dropped a head decision Oct. 15. He subsequently won a six-furlong maiden special in dominant fashion by 3 1/4 lengths under Luis Contreras.

Competitive Touch took some time to come around and Attard thinks the gelded son of Competitive Edge might be as good as Babbo.

Turf sprints at fitting distances are out there for late-runners Lane Way and Daniel’s Magic. The $100,000 Stormy Liberal Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar is not on the list.

“I wish it was six and a half,” Lane Way’s trainer, Richard Mandella, lamented. The Stormy Liberal is five furlongs.

Same with Daniel’s Magic, trained by Eoin Harty. Distance “is going to be his Achilles’ heel,” Harty acknowledged. “Six and a half, especially down the [Santa Anita] hill, is where he really wants to play.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Add a pristine, completely renovated turf course and an influx of notable new barns to an already loaded trainer colony and a traditionally prestigious and rich stakes schedule and it stands to reason why expectations are running sky high for the 2023-24 Gulfstream Park Championship meet, which opens Friday and continues through March 31.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Movie Moxy and Hot Fudge are both coming off significant layoffs since each won their last starts in June, but both seem quite formidable for trainer Linda Rice in Friday’s multi-conditioned allowance feature for females at Aqueduct.

With the $95,000 race being run at a mile, the 6-year-old Movie Moxy would seem to have the edge over her younger stablemate Hot Fudge. Movie Moxy is 4 for 8 at a mile while the 4-year-old Hot Fudge is winless in her lone start at the distance.

Jockey Luis Quinonez is on the countdown to a major milestone of 4,000 career Thoroughbred wins. He entered the race week with 3,993 wins and is named on a number of horses at his longtime base of Remington Park in Oklahoma City.

“I can’t believe I’ve come this far,” said Quinonez, a 56-year-old native of Mexico.

Quinonez is Remington’s second all-time leading rider behind the retired Cliff Berry and has been a local fixture in some form or fashion since the track’s inaugural season.

Trainer Richard Mandella’s autumn starters are matching Del Mar’s late-season schedule – graded stakes, followed by maiden races, followed by graded stakes again.

Last week, Mandella won two of the four graded stakes and a fast maiden race for 2-year-old fillies. Friday, he starts two promising maidens, and closing weekend runs multiple contenders on a five-stakes weekend.

Saturday, Mandella starts Seal Team in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby and Lane Way in the $100,000 Stormy Liberal. Ruby Nell runs Sunday in the Grade 1 Matriarch.

Prominent trainer Richard Baltas is preparing to reopen a stable in California in coming weeks after completing a one-year suspension on Dec. 8 for widespread violations related to the administration of race-day supplements at Santa Anita in the spring of 2022.

Baltas said recently that he will have stalls at Santa Anita and San Luis Rey Downs with the intent of having starters at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that begins Dec. 26.

“Before the year’s up, I could have a few runners,” Baltas said. “I have old clients that want me back.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – On a ho-hum Friday card at Woodbine with predominantly low-level claimers, the pick four is arguably the most appealing sequence among the eight races.