Favorites dominated both legs of the Saturday’s Tri-State Futurity for horses bred in West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland.

In the distaff version, for two-year-old fillies, Maryland-bred Sara Rocks, recently sixth in the Maryland Million Lassie, sat off the early pace before taking over with nearly a half-mile to go and rolling to a four-length victory.  The daughter of Rock Slide, bred by Bob Manfuso, is trained by Robbie Bailes.  Sent off at 3-5, Sara Rocks paid $3.20 to win.

In the boys’ version of the race, trainer John Casey and owner Kristy Petty teamed up to run one-two, with multiple stake winner Hear the Chatter romping home by six at 1-2 odds.  One More Time, the second favorite, finished second.   Petty bred the Mass Media gelding n West Virginia.  Running time for the 7 furlongs was 1:25.85 — a full 3.5 seconds faster than the distaff division…

On Saturday at Laurel Park, three-year-old filly Wherethere’sfire bested the boys in a maiden special weight event on the main track, romping to a front-running score going 5 1/2 furlongs.  Trained by Mike Trombetta for his RDM Racing and Larry Johnson, the Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Forestry paid $3.80 as the favorite…

In the next race, an optional claimer for turf sprinters, longshot High Bar rallied for a neck victory over Snow Leopard.  Favored Escapist struggled home in ninth, of 14 runners.  Trained by Hassan Elamri for himself and James Smith, High Bar covered 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.55 and paid $38.40 to win while topping a $717 exacta…

Saturday evening in Laurel Park’s Carriage Room, the Maryland Racing Media Association held its annual Crab Feast to benefit its backstretch scholarship fund.  More than 300 came out to support the cause and raised over $8,000…