Stonehedge’s Grade 3-winning homebred Dean Delivers, whose last trip to Maryland resulted in a popular triumph in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, returns looking to restart his win streak in Saturday’s $100,000 Dave’s Friend at Laurel Park.

The 21^st running of the six-furlong Dave’s Friend is the second of three $100,000 stakes on a nine-race program along with the 1 1/8-mile Richard W. Small, also for 3-year-olds and up, and 6 ½-furlong Willa On the Move for fillies and mares 3 and older.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Dean Delivers won the Smile Sprint (G3) at Gulfstream Park and was second in Saratoga’s A.G. Vanderbilt (G1) last summer but began to tail off. After twice finishing off the board in Florida to start 2024, he was moved north to trainer Ned Allard at Delaware Park. After a short break, the 5-year-old gelding reeled off four consecutive wins, all in stakes, including a front-running three-quarter-length victory in the six-furlong De Francis.

A win in the five-furlong Rumson Sept. 1 at Monmouth Park followed and earned Dean Delivers another crack at graded company in the Sept. 28 Vosburgh (G3) sprinting seven furlongs over a sloppy track at Aqueduct. He tired to be third, beaten seven lengths, after setting the pace through a half-mile in 46.47 seconds.

“I think that seven-eighths of a mile is a bit of a stretch for him. He’s won going seven-eighths, but I like him best going three-quarters,” Allard said. “I thought the race at Aqueduct was pretty tough. He ran OK, but I thought I’d stay away from those kind and get back to reality, so to speak.”

The De Francis was Dean Delivers’ only previous trip to Laurel, but Allard won the Dave’s Friend in 2015 with Always Sunshine who would go on to win the 2016 Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico. He has had four breezes since the Vosburgh and will have regular rider Jaime Rodriguez aboard from Post 4 in a field of seven.

“Jaime really likes him and the horse responds really well for him. I think we look good in there,” Allard said. “I gave him a little break because he’s run hard all year, but he’s sharp as a tack and feeling good. He had a nice [final] breeze for the race. He’s had a little freshening up and he’s doing super. He’s a horse that’s very easy on himself. He’s not difficult to train, and he likes being a racehorse.”

The Dave’s Friend also drew another Grade 3 winner in Susan Moulton’s 8-year-old Manny Wah, looking to snap a winless streak that dates back to his victory in the 2022 Phoenix (G2) at Keeneland. Subsequently fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), Manny Wah began this year with back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Toboggan (G3) and Tom Fool (G3) at Aqueduct an exits a sixth in the six-furlong Phoenix Oct. 4.

Others include popular local runner Witty, multiple stakes winner No Cents, the stakes-placed Factually Correct and Five Dreams, and Mr. Antonelli.

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