Trainer Michael Gorham will send out a pair of 3-year-olds in Saturday’s high-profile stakes at Laurel Park, which could lead to a potential start on one of racing’s biggest stages in May. With $150,000 purses and automatic berths to major graded stakes on the line, Moon Cache and Pay Billy will look to turn heads—and earn tickets to Pimlico—in the Weber City Miss and Federico Tesio Stakes, respectively.

Gorham will saddle Pay Billy in the featured Federico Tesio Stakes, a race that grants the winner an automatic berth in the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes on May 17. Pay Billy is one of five horses in the Tesio nominated to the Triple Crown.

The Kentucky-bred colt, owned by RKTN Racing LLC, turned heads in the March 22 Private Terms Stakes. Racing wide throughout, he surged late and pulled away to win impressively—his third win in his last four starts.

“He’s going as good into this race as he did his last race,” Gorham said Tuesday. “I’m expecting a big [effort].”

Pay Billy, a son of Improbable, has compiled three wins, one second, and one third in seven starts and has already earned $144,475. He is just a nose away from riding a four-race win streak and appears to be getting better with every race.

He will be ridden by Raul Mena, Gorham’s go-to rider, and they will leave from the nine-hole.

“He’s got an outside post, so [jockey Raul Mena] will have to use him a bit and try to tuck in,” Gorham mentioned. “It should separate enough where he can get in and save some ground, and he definitely doesn’t need to be on the lead.”

Pay Billy may go favored here off his stellar outing in the Private Terms, but it’s a competitive group that includes Withers runner-up Surfside Moon, undefeated Kentucky Outlaw, Grade 3-placed Studlydoright, and last-out allowance winner Just a Fair Shake.

Two races earlier, Moon Cache, a Maryland-bred filly who is owned by Original 6 Stable, will compete in the Weber City Miss Stakes, which offers the winner a free spot in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on May 16.

She last raced on March 22 in the Beyond the Wire Stakes, where she crossed the finish line first but was disqualified to second after bumping a rival in the late stages. Despite the setback, it was a strong effort that showed her competitiveness at the stakes level.

Claimed for $40,000 in February, Moon Cache ran a career-best Beyer Speed Figure in the Beyond the Wire and nearly stole the show at odds of 17-1. Overall, she has two wins, one second, and two third-place finishes from seven starts, with earnings of $89,810. The daughter of Mosler will once again be ridden by jockey Raul Mena.

“She’s got some speed, and I think she’ll be forwardly placed,” said Gorham.

The Weber City Miss is a pretty wide-open race, which includes Beyond the Wire winner Safe Trust and Parx Future Stars Fillies winner Hollywood Beauty. The likely favorite from the Brittany Russell barn is Reply, a $450,000 auction purchase as a yearling who won easily in her debut.