Gaudet entered both In My Opinion and Beneath the Stars, but was unsure if both would run; both were cross-entered in an optional claiming allowance going the same distance on Friday’s canceled Laurel card. Gaudet shares ownership of Beneath the Stars with David Bernsen and Susanna Wilson, while In My Opinion is owned by A P Stable and Fox Tale Racing Stable.

“They’re pretty identical horses. Beneath the Stars has a little bit more weight behind her. She’s been super on-form lately, so she kind of fits a little bit better with the stakes company,” Gaudet said. “That being said, the other filly ran a huge improvement last time. It’s a different scenario for her. She won going the one-turn mile, which I think is really conducive to her. Instead of going two turns we decided to cut her back and see if she could get lucky.”

Beneath the Stars has seven wins, six coming at Laurel, from 22 career starts and was stakes-placed in successive races at 2 and 3, running second in the 2021 Gin Talking and third in the 2022 Xtra Heat, the latter to subsequent Maryland champion Luna Belle. Gaudet claimed the 5-year-old Connect mare for $55,000 last March and she registered back-to-back wins at Laurel in the fall before finishing fifth as the favorite in a six-furlong allowance Dec. 17, her most recent start off a 16-day turnaround.

“Last race we just tried to get a little crafty and run her back kind of quick. I don’t think that it did her any favors, especially off two big races. I think it was a lot to ask of her. She came out of the race fine, and we gave her a bit to recover from that,” Gaudet said. “She’s doing great. She’s just really turned around since we came back from having a string at Delaware in the summertime. She’s been really good going into the winter here.”

In My Opinion ran on the same Dec. 17 card, making a dramatic rally from far back to register a two-length upset at odds of 25-1 in a second-level optional claimer. It was her third career win in  her 34^th race and first since being privately purchased and moved to Gaudet.

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“The owners bought her with the hopes of making her a decent broodmare prospect. She, too, has some back class. She’s been a little off form, but she does have some big races in there She came to us and we just made a few adjustments and she really turned around. She was a different horse after training with us for a month. There weren’t too many places for her, so it was great that she was eligible for the two-other-than. I do think that she’s a stakes-caliber filly,” Gaudet said. “We just decided to use this [weekend] and hope for a good effort to set her up for something better later in the winter and coming into the spring.”

Jevian Toledo has the call on Beneath the Stars from Post 5 and Tais Lyapustina is named aboard In My Opinion from Post 4 in a field of 9. The former is 8-1 on the morning line, while the latter is 15-1.

Gaudet has won with four of eight starters so far in 2024, continuing a stretch where she has won with 14 of her last 23 starters (61 percent) dating back to Dec. 15. Gaudet went 13-for-25 (52 percent) in the month of December, registering a hat trick on New Year’s Eve. During her 14-for-25 run, she has won nearly nine more races than her odds would have predicted, most of any local trainer.

“I think a big component is that we have dirt horses. We were really slow over the summer and into the fall when everybody tries to get their last turf horses in, and a lot of the races just didn’t fall into place,” Gaudet said. “Then when we got into November and December and there was no more turf, the distances came up right [and] the spacing came up right with a lot of them.

“They were just horses that were overly fit from training and waiting for the right races. I think that we got lucky,” she added. “We have a great crew right now. We’ve got some good riders. The track at Laurel is fantastic. I think that’s made a big difference with a lot of these horses, just staying fit and being able to get into a really good routine. We’re really lucky to have a great team. It’s just all been good timing.”

A pair of New York shippers are atop the morning line for the What a Summer. Kant Hurry Love, first or second in three of four stakes at Belmont and Aqueduct during the second half of 2023, is 9-5 on the morning line for trainer David Duggan and will have Trevor McCarthy in the irons. Headland (2-1) won the Willa On the Move at Laurel just before Christmas for trainer George Weaver and will have Angel Cruz aboard.

The What a Summer honors the Maryland-bred mare that was named the Eclipse Award-winning sprinter and Maryland’s Horse of the Year in 1977. The Maryland-bred Hall of Famer won 18 of 31 career starts including the Fall Highweight Handicap (G2) and Silver Spoon Handicap twice, Maskette Handicap (G2) and Black-Eyed Susan (G2).

One race later, an evenly matched field of 10 is set to contest the 6 ½-furlong Fire Plug Stakes for older runners. Ten-year-old Greeley and Ben, a 25-time winner in his career, has been installed as the 4-1 morning line favorite, two races removed from his last win, in the December 23 Dave’s Friend over the strip. Jevian Toledo will ride for trainer Horacio De Paz.