ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Grade 1 Natalma winner Last Call makes her first start on Tapeta in the $100,000 Ruling Angel Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine, and she should have clear sailing from post 7 in an eight-horse field of 3-year-old fillies.

Trained by Kevin Attard, Last Call has made all four of her starts on turf. She graduated in style in September in the $508,000 Natalma, a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re in qualifier. She finished a belated sixth in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 4 at Keeneland, beaten 5 1/2 lengths by victorious Meditate.

BALTIMORE – For a brief instant heading into the short stretch of Keeneland’s Grade 3 Lexington on April 15, Arabian Lion seemingly had First Mission on the ropes.

He ultimately fell a half-length short in second, and while First Mission is a popular wise-guy horse in Saturday’s Preakness, Arabian Lion has more modest goals at Pimlico as the headliner in the $100,000 Sir Barton at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds who have not won an open stakes.

The Grade 3, $100,000 Maryland Sprint on Saturday at Pimlico is about local pride. Exactly half the 10-horse field for the six-furlong race, led by graded stakes winner Wondrwherecraigis, is based in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Wondrwherecraigis, stabled at Laurel Park with Brittany Russell, is the 4-1 third choice on the morning line behind Kentucky-based Nakatomi at 5-2 and California shipper Straight No Chaser at 3-1.

BALTIMORE – Graham Motion trains three of the seven entrants in Saturday’s Dinner Party Stakes. Even that might not be enough if Atone atones for a New Orleans stinker and flashes his better Florida form.

Maryland-based Motion, who last won this race in 2006 with the excellent Better Talk Now, starts Hurricane Dream, Speaking Scout, and Easter in the Grade 3, $200,000 Dinner Party over 1 1/8 miles on turf.

BALTIMORE – There are plenty of fast horses in the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint on Saturday at Pimlico, but is anyone faster through a quarter-mile on turf than That’s Right?

A revelation last year at age 3, after being moved from dirt to grass, That’s Right makes a belated 4-year-old debut on Saturday in the five-furlong Turf Sprint, which drew a full field and could twist your brain into a pretzel if you ponder the past performances too long. Thirteen were entered, but Smokin’ Jay is expected to be scratched.

Fatima’s Blessing returned to the New York-bred ranks for the first time since 2021 last month and proved a strong fit in a performance that will make him a top choice when he faces similar in Friday’s eighth race at Belmont Park.

Fatima’s Blessing is one of 11 horses entered in the first-level allowance at a mile on turf. It’s for 3-year-olds and up bred in New York, with two runners entered main-track only. Overall, there are four allowances on the nine-race card that starts at 1 p.m. Eastern.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After winning her first-level allowance condition again statebreds in convincing fashion three weeks ago, Khozeiress will attempt to do likewise against open company as the likely favorite when facing six other 3-year-old fillies in Friday’s co-featured seventh race at Gulfstream Park.

The 6 1/2-furlong main-track dash is the first of two $51,000 allowance events on the program along with a 5 1/2-furlong test over the Tapeta for fillies and mares that goes as the finale on the nine-race card.

BALTIMORE – Prior to the Kentucky Derby, John Velazquez walked from the Churchill Downs jockeys’ room to the paddock alongside Javier Castellano. The two veteran riders and longtime friends had just watched part of the NBC broadcast where a graphic detailing Castellano’s 0-for-15 record in the Derby was shown.

“They were rubbing it in that he had not won it,” Velazquez, himself a three-time Derby winner said. “I said, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s going to come, it’s going to come.’ ”

BALTIMORE – Breath Away’s late burst of speed in Gulfstream Park’s Sanibel Island on April 1 was, shall we say, breathtaking.

At Pimlico on Friday, Breath Away looks to add another stakes victory to her record when she starts as the likely favorite in the $100,000 Hilltop for 3-year-old fillies at one mile on turf.

Bred in England by Highgate Stud, Breath Away sold for approximately $328,000 as a yearling and was shipped to the United States to learn her lessons under trainer Christophe Clement.

BALTIMORE – If the pattern holds, Interstatedaydream will win the $100,000 Allaire duPont Distaff on Friday at Pimlico.

Spring of 2022: Interstatedaydream lands an Oaklawn Park allowance race by more than eight lengths, clunks home a distant third as the favorite in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland, then comes to Baltimore and captures the Black-Eyed Susan.