After a minor midseason slump, Crabcakes has won her last two starts impressively and looks like one of the more solid plays on Saturday’s Maryland Million card at Laurel Park.

Crabcakes was bred and raced by the Buckingham Farm of Elizabeth Houghton, who died in August at age 79. Crabcakes is trained by Houghton’s nephew, Bernie, who races out of Penn National.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Ian Wilkes said the Grade 3 Cardinal on Nov. 18 at Churchill Downs is next for both Res Ipsa and Linda, the first- and third-place finishers in a third-level turf allowance last Friday at Keeneland.

Res Ipsa, owned by Deborah Wilson, is unbeaten in two starts since undergoing minor throat surgery over the summer. Her 6-1 victory over Linda in their first head-to-head clash qualified as a mild upset, given that Linda already is a Grade 2 winner and was an odds-on favorite when finishing two lengths behind her stablemate.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Neolithic has joined the cast for the Oct. 28 Fayette, a Grade 2, $200,000 race that also is expected to attract Honorable Duty and McCraken. The Fayette is the fall meet closing-day feature.

Jack Wolf’s Starlight Racing owns Neolithic with Qatar Racing, and he confirmed this week that the 4-year-old colt was scheduled to ship from New York after having a final prerace breeze Thursday for trainer Todd Pletcher.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – No one could have blamed Michael Matz for sending Tequilita to the Breeders’ Cup after the 3-year-old filly won the Charles Town Oaks last month. But discretion is part of what has made Matz such a successful trainer, and it’s what led him to forgo the BC Filly and Mare Sprint in favor of the Grade 2, $250,000 Raven Run at Keeneland on Saturday.

“It’s just a better fit for us, staying with 3-year-olds and all,” said Matz, who trains Tequilita in the name of his wife, Dorothy Alexander Matz.

At this point, new frontiers have become hard to find for Mongolian Saturday.

Over his five years of racing, the 7-year-old Any Given Saturday gelding has run for a $25,000 tag and won a Breeders’ Cup race. He has competed at 16 different tracks in the United States, England, and Hong Kong; raced over dirt, turf and synthetic; and entered the gate for races from 4 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, from bullrings to the Santa Anita downhill course.

Despite the fact three of the five most recent renewals of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint have been won by 3-year-olds, it is quite possible as few as only two sophomores, Takaful and American Pastime, will contest this year’s edition Nov. 4 at Del Mar.

Trinniberg (2012), Runhappy (2015), and defending champion Drefong all showed that pure speed can trump experience when it comes to a race like the Sprint. Takaful, with seven starts, and American Pastime, with only six, are the two least-experienced horses pointing to the Sprint.

Last year, By the Moon was flown to California nearly a month ahead of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita. But with Del Mar providing only a short window of training time prior to the race this year, trainer Michelle Nevin opted to keep the two-time Grade 1 winner home with her in New York.

“She ships the 29th,” said Nevin, who trains By the Moon for her breeder, the Jay Em Ess Stable of Samantha Siegel.

October has been a big month for owner-breeder Stephen Sinatra, who sold the $300,000 topper at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale. On Saturday at Laurel Park, Sinatra will try to set a Maryland Million record when Admirals War Chest shoots for his third consecutive win in the Classic.

The only other horse to own three victories in the $150,000 Classic, which will be run for the 32nd time Saturday, is Eighttofasttocatch, who won the race in 2011, 2013, and 2014. He finished fifth in 2012.

BOBBY’S ESCAPE
Trainer: Denyse McClachrie
Last race: Oct. 14, 6th
Finish: 3rd by 2 1/2
Beyer: 69
The 2-year-old son of Shanghai Bobby was quite wound up in the paddock prior to his second race in a two-turn maiden special, but managed to finish third for the second straight time. He should improve with more racing experience.

Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming will race as a 4-year-old in 2018, it was announced in a press release late Monday afternoon.

The release further stated that Always Dreaming was diagnosed with stomach ulcers following his ninth-place finish in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 26.