Plenty of racing action took place throughout the Mid-Atlantic this past week.

Here’s a look at the “three stars” of each track:

REGION’S BEST

FIRST STAR- MARKSMAN QUEEN. Delaware Park played host to the Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes for older fillies and mares at 1 ⅜ miles on the grass on Saturday. Graham Motion, a dominant force in the Mid-Atlantic grass scene, earned his 10th victory in this race, sending out Marksman Queen to victory. She went off as the slight 13-10 favorite in the five-horse field, with her and Brendan Walsh trainee Spanish Eyes taking all the money. Jorge Ruiz sent Marksman Queen to the lead and nursed her to a largely uncontested lead. Although Spanish Eyes took a game run at her from last, she couldn’t get by. Marksman Queen covered the distance in 2:15.85, improving her career record to 5-for-17 lifetime with earnings of $382,424. It’s her second stakes win of the year, following a victory in the Keertana Stakes at Churchill Downs in her previous outing. She was bred in Great Britain by her owners, Cayton Park Stud.

SECOND STAR- HE’SPUREGOLD. Monmouth Park’s Sunday feature was the Irish War Cry Handicap, a race that has become an annual showcase for He’spuregold. The 7-year-old Jersey-bred won his fifth consecutive edition of the one-mile grass contest on Saturday, rallying from off the pace and getting up in the final yards to win by three-quarters of a length. He got himself into a good stalking position heading up the backstretch after he was one of a few runners involved in first-turn traffic trouble, and had plenty left for the stretch run under Paco Lopez. Of his 10 career wins, five of them have come in the Irish War Cry. He’s a homebred for John Bowers’ Roseland Farm Stable, trained by Kelly Breen.

THIRD STAR- JORGE VARGAS JR. Vargas, a Mid-Atlantic mainstay for years, set off fireworks of his own at Monmouth on Friday when he won his 1,000th career race. He guided 13-1 Gran Yaco to victory in the last race, rallying wide in the stretch to win by a neck. Vargas, a native of Puerto Rico, began riding in the mainland United States in 2013, and currently splits his time between Parx and Monmouth. So far this year, he’s won 23 races in 116 mounts with purse earnings of $664,535.

CHARLES TOWN RACES

• FIRST STAR- OVERNIGHT POW WOW. Made her delayed 2025 debut a winning one on Saturday, as she handily won an allowance dash to improve to 9-for-12 lifetime. 
• SECOND STAR- HONEYQUIST. Bounced back from a third-place effort in the It’s Only Money Stakes to wire a field of West Virginia-bred allowance dashers on Saturday.
• THIRD STAR- IM THE DIRECTOR. Sat the trip and converted to win an allowance sprint on Thursday, for his third win of the year in five starts. 

DELAWARE PARK

• FIRST STAR- MARKSMAN QUEEN. Motion continues his dominance in the Robert Dick.
• SECOND STAR- CINDER BLOCK. Another Motion-trained winner; he came from off the pace to win a second-level grass route on Friday in his 2025 debut. 
• THIRD STAR- SANDPIPER MEMORIES. Continued a busy season with a gate-to-wire win in a first-level route on Thursday; she’s now hit the exacta seven times in 12 starts this year. 

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MONMOUTH PARK

• FIRST STAR- HE’SPUREGOLD. Jersey-bred veteran keeps on trucking along and collecting Irish War Cry hardware.
• SECOND STAR- JORGE VARGAS JR. One of the top local riders joined the four-digit club with an exciting victory. 
• THIRD STAR- RIDING PRETTY. Came up the rail to win Saturday’s Jersey Girl Handicap for her third career stakes win.

PARX RACING

• FIRST STAR- PACHELBEL. Crushed a Pennsylvania-bred allowance bunch on Wednesday for her third victory of the season.
• SECOND STAR- OURDAYDREAMINGGIRL. This stakes-placed Louis Linder-trained filly ran up the score later on the Wednesday program, handily beating a first-level field in her first start since February.
• THIRD STAR- ANALOG JONES. Rallied from last to win a first-level route for 3-year-olds on Wednesday in a 17-1 upset.