After starting 2026 with a smashing allowance optional claiming victory, Haileysfirstnotion will chase his first stakes win May 16 in the $150,000 Maryland Sprint Stakes (G3).
Part of the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard at Laurel Park, the 6-furlong stakes attracted a field of nine, all of whom are seeking an initial graded stakes win.
A Maryland-bred 5-year-old Great Notion gelding, Haileysfirstnotion returned from a 6 1/2-month layoff on May 1 and romped on the front end by 7 3/4 lengths in the time of 1:09.19 for the 6 furlongs.
Owned by Daniel Crowley and Non Stop Stable and trained by Gary Capuano, Haileysfirstnotion was coming off a third as the 3-2 favorite in the Oct. 11 Maryland Million Sprint Stakes at Laurel.
Lewis Family Racing Stable's Celtic Contender was third in last year's Maryland Sprint Stakes and posted a 3 1/4-length victory in a March 26 Laurel allowance race in his lone 2026 start.
A Maryland-bred son of Irish War Cry , Celtic Contender loves the Laurel surface as he has a mark of 6-3-3 in 14 starts at the track.
Lael Stables' Floodlites ships in from Kentucky for trainer Wesley Ward after taking a Keeneland allowance optional claimer by 4 lengths last month in his 4-year-old debut.
The Sprint Stakes kicks off the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen series, 12 North American graded dirt races in which horses finishing first, second, or third earn a bonus that can go toward pre-entry and entry fees at the World Championships. The Breeders' Cup will be held at Keeneland Oct. 30-31.
Brown seeks seventh Gallorette victory
Trainer Chad Brown, who had a streak of three straight Gallorette Stakes (G3T) wins snapped last year, will try to register a seventh victory in the May 16 $150,000 turf stakes for fillies and mares when he sends out the duo of Accent and Child of the Moon.
Accent, a Pinatubo filly owned by Jeffrey Drown, enters the 1 1/16-mile grass test off a rough trip when she was checked and finished fourth in the April 17 Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, her stakes debut.
Child of the Moon won the 2024 Athenia Stakes for Brown and the ownership group of Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and Louis Lazzinnaro, but was sidelined for more than a year until she returned Feb. 6 with a second in an allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream Park.
The Grey Gatsby mare was fifth April 15 in an allowance race at Keeneland in her most recent start.
Austere set the pace in that Keeneland race and finished fourth. The Mendelssohn mare was second in last year's Gallorette for trainer Brendan Walsh and owners Belmar Racing and Breeding, Bradley Thoroughbreds, Cambron Equine, Tucci Stables, and Gary Finder.
Laurel Park, Saturday, May 16, 2026, Race 8Entries: Maryland Sprint S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Bring the Smoke (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 120 D. Whitworth Beckman 10/1 2 2Faster Gator (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Anthony Farrior 9/2 3 3Faust (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 126 Steven M. Asmussen 8/1 4 4Haileysfirstnotion (MD) Jose E. Vargas 120 Gary Capuano 7/2 5 5Floodlites (KY) John R. Velazquez 124 Wesley A. Ward 4/1 6 6Celtic Contender (MD) Forest Boyce 120 Hamilton A. Smith 9/2 7 7Hymn (KY) Rafael Bejarano 124 Ron Moquett 12/1 8 8Slam Notion (MD) Jevian Toledo 120 W. Robert Bailes 5/1 9 9S S Sinatra (MD) Raul E. Mena 120 Kerry Hohlbein 30/1
Laurel Park, Saturday, May 16, 2026, Race 11Entries: Gallorette S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Mahra's Love (IRE) Luis Saez 120 Michelle Nihei 15/1 2 2Ribaltagaia (KY) Junior Alvarado 120 H. Graham Motion 6/1 3 3Accent (GB) Flavien Prat 120 Chad C. Brown 3/1 4 4Warming (KY) John R. Velazquez 120 H. Graham Motion 12/1 5 5Austere (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 120 Brendan P. Walsh 7/2 6 6Cheetah Lady (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 120 D. Whitworth Beckman 12/1 7 7Child of the Moon (FR) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Chad C. Brown 5/2 8 8Awesome Czech (NY) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 120 Horacio De Paz 5/1
