One of the most intriguing runners in Saturday’s upcoming renewal of the $100,000 Xtra Heat Stakes at Laurel Park is one who may not post.

Trawitzki Thoroughbreds LLC’s Wisconsin Gal was a busy enough two-year-old, making seven starts. If she does show up in the six-furlong Xtra Heat, it will already be her third start of 2025 and second in seven days.

“She’s tough,” trainer Paul McEntee told Laurel’s public relations office. “She ran three times in 22 days [last year] and [hit the board in all]. She thrives [on racing]. She’s not your normal filly.”

She has a win, two seconds, and a third along with purse earnings of a bit over $100,000.

She took six starts to break her maiden, finally breaking through Nov. 2 in a $93,000 maiden special weight restricted to horses that had sold (or RNAed) at auction for $50,000 or less – her precise sale price.

It’s what came next that’s perhaps most interesting – and unusual. Wisconsin Gal, a daughter of Army Mule, has made three starts since the maiden score, all in stakes company. Two of those, including her most recent, came versus boys, and the third, against fillies, came on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park.

“She ran in a stake at Turfway on Jan. 1. That was her first start on Tapeta, and she got bumped and squeezed a little bit,” McEntee said. “She can run on the surface but is definitely a better dirt filly.”

Last time out, on Jan. 18 against a rugged field of sophomore males in the Renaissance at Oaklawn Park, she was off at 35-1 but ran a willing fifth, beaten less than three lengths by multiple stakes winner Kale’s Angle.

“I took a chance [in the Renaissance]. It was a very tough race,” McEntee said. She got squeezed a few times, but she ran solid. She got beat 2 ¾ lengths by a very good group of boys.”      

On Friday afternoon, McEntee will make a final decision regarding Wisconsin Gal’s participation in the Xtra Heat.

“The race she had on Saturday, her legs were cold and tight [the next morning],” McEntee said. “She was bucking and kicking in the stall. I think she looks very tough in that spot.”

Charles Town rider Marshall Mendez is named.

It is, in fact, a somewhat tepid group. Caprice, the winner of last month’s seven-furlong Gin Talking, is sitting this one out. She would have been odds-on here, so her absence opens the door pretty wide.

Gin Talking runner-up My Charm, never worse than second in five career starts, will seek her first stakes win for trainer Brittany Russell and Glassman Racing LLC.

“She’s not a real big filly, and she tries,” Russell said. “Her running style indicates that she wants to go a little farther, but she isn’t real big so I don’t know how far she actually will be able to go. This is a bit of a cutback off of what she’s been doing, so I know she’ll be outrun early. Maybe she makes a run at them, and I think she can get a piece of it.”

Brittany Russell’s husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, has the mount.

The only stakes winner in the field is Shkhara Fire, trained by Jose Corrales for Barak Farm and Dino’s Thoroughbreds. The late-running Maryland-bred daughter of Friesan Fire rallied to win the Maryland Million Lassie Oct. 12 for her signature victory.

Last out, versus allowance foes, her late rally got her into second, 2 ½ lengths behind winner In My Memories. That race was at 5 ½ furlongs; the added half-furlong in this contest should be a plus. Regular pilot Angel Cruz will ride.

Assuming she posts, Shkhara Fire will, like Wisconsin Gal, be running on short rest. Her most recent start came Jan. 17.

Others in the field include a pair for trainer Gary Capuano in the stakes-placed Onyx Ten and Gin Talking fourth-place finisher Atlantis Queen; Gin Talking show horse Not Too Late; and recent maiden winners Luminous Secret and Chickin Lickin.

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