Haileysfirstnotion Tops Maryland Sprint Stakes Field

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 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 28 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  won a Keeneland allowance optional claimer by 4 lengths last month in his 4-year-old debut. Trainer Wesley Ward has the son of City of Light   cross-entered in an allowance optional claiming race May 22 at Churchill Downs.

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 Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland.

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 Saturday's $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 daughter of The Grey Gatsby  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.