Twenty-nine horses have won more than one Maryland Million event. Seven former winners are entered Saturday afternoon at Laurel Park, including three runners looking to repeat last year's wins: Eighttofasttocatch (Classic), Monster Sleeping (Ladies) and Roadhog (Turf).
Roadhog, last year's Turf winner, will battle Ben's Cat and 10 others in the $125,000 race. Roadhog has a win and three second-place finishes in six starts this year for trainer Lizzie Merryman and is the 3-1 second choice for the Turf on the morning line.
"He is coming into the race in good shape, but I am concerned about the weather," Merryman said. "He really prefers a firm turf course, even though he won it last year when it was rated good. He came out of the gate in great shape last year, which helped my confidence. He loved the course that day, and I am hoping for the same thing Saturday but am very nervous."
Ben's Cat owner-trainer King Leatherbury decided to run him in the Turf for the second straight year, instead of the $100,000 Sprint. One of five horses to win three times at the Maryland Million, the 8-year-old is 27-of-43 lifetime and favored 8-5 over Roadhog.
Eighttofasttocatch, who has won nine stakes races at Laurel, is the 3-5 favorite in the $150,000 Classic, a race he's won two of the past three years. The 8-year-old has won nine stakes races at Laurel Park for trainer Tim Keefe.
Monster Sleeping is looking to repeat in the $125,000 Ladies. She comes into the race off three straight second-place finishes for Dale Capuano and is the 5-2 second choice. Since Capuano claimed Monster Sleeping in March 2013, she has 14 in-the-money finishes in 19 starts.
Disqualification in Lassie
Looking For Lucky, a 2-year-old filly entered in the $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie, was ruled ineligible for the race by Maryland Million officials and will be scratched from the program.
"We have no record that the stallion, Fleet Foot, was nominated for the 2011 breeding season for his 2012 foals," Maryland Million executive director Cricket Goodall said.
Twelve runners remain in the 6-furlong test.