Haileysfirstnotion leads wide-open Maryland Sprint Stakes field on Preakness weekend

Haileysfirstnotion brings the most convincing current form into Laurel Park’s Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Stakes, and the question on Preakness weekend is whether that May 1 blowout was the start of a graded breakthrough or just a well-timed allowance burst. The Maryland-bred 5-year-old will leave from post 4 at 7/2 in the six-furlong, $150,000 sprint on Saturday, carrying the colors of Daniel Crowley and Non Stop Stable for trainer Gary Capuano with Jose E. Vargas up.

His recent effort was hard to ignore. Returning from a 6 1/2-month layoff, Haileysfirstnotion rolled to a 7 3/4-length victory in 1:09.19 at Laurel Park, a margin that matched the largest winning spread in Maryland Sprint history. He already had shown stakes-caliber ability when he finished third as the favorite in last year’s Maryland Million Sprint Stakes, and his career line now stands at 12 starts, 6 wins, 3 seconds and 2 thirds with $263,860 in earnings.

That resume makes him the standard-setter in a field of nine, but the race is built to expose even the sharpest horse. The Maryland Sprint has a modern benchmark of 1:08.27, set by Straight No Chaser in 2023, and this year’s lineup has enough pace and pedigree to make the opening quarter matter. Haileysfirstnotion will have to handle pressure from several horses with their own claims to a first graded score, a scenario that can turn a sprint into a survival test as quickly as a speed duel.

Celtic Contender looks like the main threat from the local ranks. He drew post 6 at 9/2 with Forest Boyce and Hamilton Smith after winning a March 28 allowance at Laurel by 3 1/4 lengths in 1:10.29 off an eight-month layoff. Smith said, “We expected to see a good effort out of him, but he exceeded that a little bit.” Celtic Contender was third in the 2025 Maryland Sprint Stakes, beaten by 1 3/4 lengths, and also was third in last year’s General George Stakes and Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash.

Floodlites adds another layer of danger from post 5 at 4/1 for Wesley Ward and John R. Velazquez after a convincing Keeneland allowance win. Slam Notion, listed at 5/1 from post 8, rounds out the horses near the top of the market, while Bring the Smoke, Faster Gator, Faust, Hymn and S S Sinatra complete a field that feels more like a graded launching pad than a simple local sprint.

Booth won last year’s Maryland Sprint for Steven M. Asmussen and Erik Asmussen, and this renewal could produce a new name headed toward bigger summer sprint spots. If Haileysfirstnotion repeats his May 1 speed against this group, he may finally turn a promising local profile into a graded-race identity.