Virginia-breds have spotlight on undercard

The three graded events at Laurel Park on Saturday will be supported by five $60,000 stakes on turf for Virginiabred or -sired horses. The races are sponsored by the Virginia Equine Alliance and the Virginia HBPA.

The Bert Allen and the Brookmeade are 1 1/16-mile races for 3-year-olds and up. The Punch Line and Oakley are 5 1/2-furlong sprints for the same division. The Jamestown is a turf sprint for 2-year-olds.

Bertram and Diana Firestone have a good chance to sweep the Allen and Brookmeade with Special Envoy and Armoire, both of whom are trained by Arnaud Delacour. The Allen, race 1 on a 12-race card, has a post time of 12:30 p.m. Eastern.

Special Envoy, a 6-year-old gelding by Stroll, is 7 for 21 in his career. He won the statebred Hansel Stakes at the same distance over this course on Aug. 5. In his prior start, he won the restricted Edward Evans going a mile over the Laurel turf.

He looms a short-priced favorite under jockey Daniel Centeno.

The Brookmeade, for fillies and mares, is more competitive but Armoire is a major player. She opened a four-length lead in the stretch of the restricted William M. Backer Stakes at Laurel on Aug. 5, but was run down by Sweet Sandy and beaten a neck.

In June, Armoire finished second in the restricted Nellie Mae Cox at Laurel to Queen Caroline.

Both Sweet Sandy and Queen Caroline, who was beaten five lengths when third in the Backer, are entered in the Brookmeade.

Two Notch Road is a celebrity among Virginia-breds, and at age 10 will be favored in the 5 1/2-furlong Punch Line, a race he won in 2014 and 2015.

Two Notch Road, trained by Glenn Thompson, has won a Virginia-bred stakes each of the last four years. In addition to his Punch Line victories, he won the five-furlong White Oak Farm at Pimlico in 2016 and on Aug. 5 won the Meadow Stable going 5 1/2 furlongs over yielding ground at Laurel.

In his most recent start, Two Notch Road finished eighth, beaten only 4 1/4 lengths, in the Grade 3 Turf Monster on Labor Day at Parx.

In the 5 1/2-furlong Oakley, Exaggerated, Northern Eclipse, and Do What I Say are top contenders.

Exaggerated, owned by Lael Stables and trained by Delacour, will be making her first start since April 15 at Keeneland. That day, she tired to finish seventh in the Giant’s Causeway, a race she had won in 2016. Exaggerated won the Oakley in 2015.

Northern Eclipse went wire to wire to win the restricted Camptown Stakes at Laurel on Aug. 5 for trainer Hugh McMahon. She is well drawn inside in post 2 in the Oakley. Northern Eclipse is cross-entered in the Brookmeade, in which she drew the rail.

Do What I Say finished third in the Camptown, and before that won the restricted M. Tyson Gilpin Stakes at Laurel in June for trainer Mike Trombetta.

The Jamestown has drawn a field of eight 2-year-olds, six fillies and two colts.

Yes to the Dress, a fourlength maiden winner over fillies at Delaware Park for trainer Ron Moquett, is the horse to beat.