Digger sped to the lead, turned back the 4-5 favorite and drew off to a driving victory in the $70,000 Fire Plug Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park. Never menaced at any point, Digger and jockey Mike Luzzi completed the six-furlong distance in a stakes-record 1 minute, 9.13 seconds and finished 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Celtic Innis, who nipped Malibu Kid for second. Ravalo, the post-time favorite, faded to fourth. "I had to use him a little bit to get there, but he was ready today," Luzzi said. "He warmed up like a champ. Bruce is on fire in New York, and he brought some fire down here. I know Ravalo. I rode him and won on him a few times. I thought we were on the faster horse. It felt like I still had more. I hadn't asked him, and I think Richie [Migliore on Ravalo] was riding his horse. I thought as soon as I set him down he'd kick on, and he did." Claimed for $50,000 last summer by Scott Lake for Repole Stable and transferred to Bruce Brown in October, the son of Yonaguska entered the Fire Plug off a determined victory in Aqueduct's Gravesend Handicap the day after Christmas. Digger is now 6-for-11 with 10 1-2-3 finishes at Laurel. During the 2007 fall meeting, he won three Maryland-bred stakes races while in Richard Dutrow's barn. "He's really coming into his own right now," Brown said.

Monday: Laurel Park will offer a nine-race program Monday afternoon for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. There will not be a live program Wednesday.