Onyx Ten seeks third straight win in Safely Kept Stakes
LAUREL, MD— Pay Billy, the winner of the Private Terms Stakes and Federico Tesio Stakes earlier this year, returns to action on Saturday in the City of Laurel Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs.
The City of Laurel is one of two $100,000 stakes on the nine-race program. The co-featured event is the $100,000 Safely Kept Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs. The first post time is 12 p.m. ET, and there are two “Value Pick 5” wagers, each with a low 12% takeout rate.
The City of Laurel Stakes will be Pay Billy’s first start since he finished seventh of nine in the second jewel of racing’s Triple Crown, the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 17. Pay Billy earned an automatic berth into that race by virtue of his victory in the Federico Tesio.
“He was turned out,” trainer Michael Gorham told reporters on Nov. 15. “He grew up a little, and he’s doing pretty good.”
Owned by RKTN Racing, Pay Billy earned a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure in the nine-furlong Tesio.
“He broke his maiden going three-quarters,” Gorham said about cutting back to a sprint. “I think we’ll have to use him a little early and get position, but I think he’ll be able to handle it. I do have another horse in there that I plan on running, too. Chipotle has speed, so he should guarantee a pretty good pace. Maybe it sets up for Billy.”
The Preakness was Gorham’s first starter in a Grade 1 race.
“It was a good experience,” he said. “We were taking a big shot to run in a tough race. I think everyone, all the owners and everyone in the barn, were excited to run in it. I think it was good. The result didn’t turn out like we wanted, but he came out of the race fine.”
Eric Rizer’s homebred, Slam Notion, is the 5-2 favorite on the morning line set by Horse Racing Nation’s Ed DeRosa.
Trained by Robbie Bailes, Slam Notion has won his last three dirt races, including the restricted Star De Naskra Stakes at Colonial on July 12 and Laurel’s Fair Hill Training Center Maryland Million Sprint on Oct. 11.
“The last three [dirt] races have been unbelievable,” Bailes said after the Maryland Million. “He’s just been finding another gear. He’s doing something that he didn’t use to do. Before, if he wasn’t right on the front end or laying right off of it, he’d still try, but he wasn’t this type of horse. Now, it looks like you can put him anywhere you want to put him.”
Pascaline, the winner of the off-turf Laurel Futurity in 2024, has an interesting backstory. Bred in West Virginia, the Upstart gelding was offered for sale twice at public auction in Kentucky. After being purchased for $40,000 as a yearling, he was exported to Europe, where he went through the Tattersalls sales ring in England.
Bought by prominent North American-based owner West Point Thoroughbreds for approximately $85,000, Pascaline returned to the United States and was transferred to trainer Arnaud Delacour. Pascaline campaigns for West Point, Jimmy Kahig LLC, CJ Stables, and Edwin Barker.
Pascaline finished second in his most recent start, the West Virginia Russell Road Breeders’ Classic Stakes at Charles Town on Oct. 11, and completed his City of Laurel preparations with a swift solo half-mile breeze over the Fair Hill Training Track on Nov. 23. He’ll compete as a gelding for the first time on Saturday.
In the Russell Road at Charles Town, Pascaline finished behind Spotafreeone, who has reeled off five consecutive victories in two-turn sprints there for owner John Link and trainer Jeff Runco. A son of Warrior’s Reward, Spotafreeone’s Beyers have increased in every start.
Parx-based trainer Guadalupe Preciado entered three horses in the City of Laurel for Silver Trail Stables. Otter Mischief steps up into stakes company for the first time after routing a first-level allowance field by ten lengths on Nov. 1. Light Forever and Dreambuilder finished third and fifth, respectively, in Aqueduct’s restricted Discovery Stakes on Oct. 4 behind unbeaten Rated by Merit, who received a 105 Beyer in that heat.
Stakes-placed Saxton, Top Blood, Bold Diversion, and Zero Blitz also entered.
*Onyx Ten seeks third straight win in Safely Kept Stakes
Frank Sample’s homebred, Onyx Ten, seeks her third consecutive victory when she starts in the Safely Kept Stakes.
Trained by Gary Capuano, the Maryland-bred daughter of Street Magician has won all four sprint attempts in 2025. Her only loss this season came when racing one mile in the Beyond the Wire Stakes on March 22. After that defeat, Capuano decided to give Onyx Ten a break, and that decision proved very wise.
Returning from a 176-day break, Onyx Ten pressed the pace en route to a restricted allowance score at Delaware on Sept. 14. The following month, she rallied stoutly to beat older horses in the Shamrock Farm Maryland Million Distaff.
“She’s come back great,” Capuano said last week.
He entered Onyx Ten in last Saturday’s Willa On the Move Stakes, but opted to wait for the Safely Kept after drawing the rail post position against a field of older horses.
John Middleton’s Grayson’s Girl enters the Safely Kept following a closing victory in a state-sired allowance at Laurel on Sept. 19 for leading trainer Brittany Russell.
Grayson’s Girl hit the board in both starts last year, then graduated by eight lengths in a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies on April 11. She cracked the top three in her four subsequent starts, including a runner-up effort in the restricted Miss Disco Stakes at Colonial Downs on July 12.
“She’s been knocking on the door for a while,” Russell said after the recent allowance victory. “She’s had some tough luck, tough trips, all that, but she’s just a tough, tough girl who loves her job and always shows up.”
Russell believes that the six-furlong distance might be Grayson Girl’s optimal trip.
“It’s funny because with her running style, you’d think she wants to go a route,” she explained. “But, I think she’s a bit distance-limited. I think she’s a closing sprinter. She wants to settle and make a run.”
JR Ranch and My Racehorse’s Reputation is the 3-1 favorite on DeRosa’s morning line. Conditioned by Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Gustavo Delgado, Reputation ships up from her South Florida base after finishing third in Gulfstream’s Grade 3 Princess Rooney Stakes on Sept. 20. The $450,000 yearling purchase won her stakes debut two races back in Colonial’s Tyson Gilpin Stakes on Aug. 9
Runco trains Coleswood Farm and David Ralm’s Zip Start, who took Charles Town’s West Virginia Lottery Breeders’ Classic Stakes as the overwhelming favorite on Oct. 11. The Upstart filly has captured five of nine races, and ventures out of West Virginia for the first time in her career.
Steve and Debbie Jackson’s Tap Dancin Cowgirl steps up in class after winning the first two starts of her career in Pennsylvania. Conditioned by Flint Stites, Tap Dancin Cowgirl is out of Dallas Cowgirl, who placed in Pimlico’s Skipat Stakes in 2016.
Richard Harris’ Late Nite Call makes her first start since finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks on June 14. Trainer Niall Saville mentioned after Late Nite Call’s allowance win at Pimlico on May 9 that he would consider giving the filly a break after the Delaware Oaks and concentrate on winter racing here.
“She loves that heavy dirt track [at Laurel],” Saville said at the time.
In My Memories won a first-level allowance by 10 ¾ lengths last month at Charles Town for owner James Wolf and trainer Anthony Farrior, who teamed to take the $100,000 Dave’s Friend Stakes last week with Petingas Twin.
Clay Stables’ Think Fast won her last two starts in Illinois by a combined 32 lengths. She’ll make her first start for trainer Hugh McMahon, who also nominated Passage East to the Safely Kept.
Passage East is cross-entered in a Sunday allowance at Laurel along with Conquerthosewecan.
Mega Mil was entered at Parx on Wednesday.
