Mens Grille Racing’s Roanan Goddess will be back on dirt, facing her own age group and stretching out to the distance of her last victory when she lines up against a dozen rivals, including three other multiple stakes winners, in Sunday’s $100,000 Weather Vane at Laurel Park.

The fifth running of the six-furlong Weather Vane for 3-year-old fillies serves as the co-headliner on a 10-race program with the 42^nd renewal of the one-mile Twixt for fillies and mares 3 and up. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Roanan Goddess, a New York-bred daughter of Leofric based at Laurel with trainer Hamilton Smith, faced older horses for the first time when she ran ninth after breaking slowly in a $150,000 Camptown sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the grass Aug. 31 at Colonial Downs. It was her third turf stakes attempt since mid-May having finished no better than sixth.

“Those two things help us, being with her own age group for what will probably be the last time, and back on the dirt,” Smith said. “She’s better on the dirt than she is on the turf. I feel a little better about it in this spot than I did about the last one, put it that way.

“She’s training well, but she always does. She’s kind of a feisty thing,” he added. “She’s training good and coming into the race fine. It came up a little tougher and with a few more horses than I expected.”

Roanan Goddess is a two-time stakes winner over Laurel’s main track, taking the six-furlong Xtra Heat Jan. 27 to launch her sophomore campaign and an off-the-turf edition of the Searching by 6 ¼ lengths Aug. 4, contested at one mile. J.G. Torrealba, aboard in that race, returns to ride from Post 2.

“That was one race she was able to win pretty impressively. If she can duplicate that, we might be on the board,” Smith said. “We’re looking forward to it. I hope she runs big. She’s a tough little nut. We’ll give it a swing and see what happens.”

Resolute Racing’s Youalmosthadme will seek a fifth career stakes win in the Weather Vane and second straight following the six-furlong Lake Erie Aug. 5 over Presque Isle Downs’ all-weather surface. The bay daughter of 2013 Preakness (G1) winner Oxbow, trained by Brad Cox, earned her other black-type wins on dirt and has run second in the 2023 Pocahontas (G3) and Pimlico’s May 17 Miss Preakness (G3) and third in the April 7 Beaumont (G2) at Keeneland.

Another four-time stakes winner in the Weather Vane is Cash is King and LC Racing’s Carmelina, whose first open stakes triumph came in the seven-furlong Gin Talking last December at Laurel to cap her 2-year-old season. Front-running winner of the Penny Chenery Aug. 11 at Colonial, also at seven-eighths, she was most recently a troubled fifth in the six-furlong Prioress (G3) Aug. 31 at Saratoga.

“She didn’t get away real clean that day. There were some real fast ones in there so she was a little bit up against it, but she held her own against a group that was pretty tough,” Parx-based trainer Robert E. ‘Butch’ Reid Jr. said.

“She really seems to handle Laurel well. She’s a really good shipper,” he added. “She’s won races at four different racetracks, so she’s not afraid to get on the van and she usually gives a good account of herself.”

Mychel Sanchez gets the riding assignment from Post 4.

The other multiple stakes winner in the Weather Vane is Narrow Leaf Farm’s homebred Miss Harriett, who launched her career last fall with a 62-1 upset of the Maryland Million Lassie. All four of her wins have come at Laurel, including the Feb. 24 Wide Country and July 21 Miss Disco, both at seven furlongs, the latter against fellow Maryland-bred/sired horses in her most recent start.

DARRS Inc.’s Cap Classique won the 2023 Smart Halo at Laurel and was second to Carmelina in both the Gin Talking and Penny Chenery. Trained by Brittany Russell, she is cross-entered in Saturday’s Dogwood (G3) at Churchill Downs.

Grade 3-placed Discreet Ops, third in the Miss Preakness; Brookmesa, riding a two-race win streak; Runaway Diva, Popover Gal, Irish Maxima, Vincey Girl, Dewey Doit and Yellow Feathers complete the field.

The Weather Vane pays homage to the Maryland-bred mare trained by Richard W. Delp that won 17 races and $724,532 in purses from 1996 to 1998. A former claimer bred by William B. Delp, Weather Vane went on to register 14 stakes victories including the Safely Kept (G3) and Miss Preakness in 1997, the latter before it was graded, and capped her career by being named Maryland-bred champion older female of 1998.

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