Trainer Lindsay Schultz has been waiting patiently for the real stakes season to begin at Monmouth Park, biding her time with her 32-horse stable.

Saturday, she will finally begin to flex some of her horsepower.

Schultz will send out horses in five races on Monmouth Park’s 10-race Haskell Preview Day card on Saturday, although she is on the fence about Pink Ruby going in the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes.

But Baby Vino is a go for the NYRA Bets Pegasus Stakes and Sand Pipes is set for the Monmouth Stakes, she said. She also will send out Tiger Moon in the first race (a $12,500 claimer on the grass) and Lucky Louisa in the eighth race (a $40,000 maiden claimer on the grass).

“We’re excited,” said the 37-year-old Schultz, who has been stabled at Monmouth Park for the summer since 2022. “I’m hopeful these horses all run well.

“We’re just kind of getting rolling at the meet and getting the horses in the spots we want to get them in. There are a couple of horses we have been pointing for stakes at Monmouth Park and now we’re at that point where those races are coming up.”

Baby Vino, a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Vino Rosso, is part of a field of six for the $125,000 NYRA Bets Pegasus Stakes, the final local prep for the July 18 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes. The top two finishers in the Pegasus Stakes receive free entry and start fees to the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes.

It took Baby Vino five starts to break his maiden, which he did May 1 at Oaklawn Park, but he has been competitive in all but one of the Maiden Special Weight races he has been in.

“He’s a horse we always liked,” said Schultz, who split her time in the winter between Oaklawn and the Fair Grounds. “He always works like a real horse. He’s had some tough trips and he was running against some good company at Oaklawn.

“I think he has gotten plenty of experience, so I feel he is ready for this step. It’s a big step, I know, but I think he is ready for it.”

All six horses in the Pegasus Stakes will be seeking their first stakes win.

San Pipes, a 5-year-old son of War Front, heads into the $125,000 Monmouth Stakes at a mile and an eighth off the turf after a third-place finish in the Cliff Hanger Stakes at Monmouth Park on May 30. Owned and bred by Brownwood Farm, he was beaten just 1¾ lengths in the Cliff Hanger.

“It’s quick coming back for him but he is doing well,” Schultz said. “He had a little bit of a break in the spring so he’s ready again. I’m happy where he is at. He is a consistent horse.”

Two of San Pipes’ three career wins have come on the grass at Monmouth Park.

The Monmouth Stakes drew a field of eight 3-year-olds-and-up, including a pair from the barn of Chad Brown (Program Trading and Nebras).

The top two finishers in the Monmouth Stakes receive free entry and start fees to the Grade 2 United Nations on the Haskell Stakes undercard.

“I think a mile and a sixteenth is probably his best distance but I’m okay with a mile and an eighth for him,” Schultz said.

Pink Ruby, having won in her last start 17 days ago, is entered in the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes but the turnaround is probably too quick for her to try the mile and a sixteenth grass races for fillies and mares, 3 and up.

Tiger Moon, claimed by Ten Strike Racing for Schultz for $5,000 in her last start, will be trying tougher company in the first race. Lucky Louisa will be making her second career start in the eighth race.

To this point, Schultz has had just 10 starters during the Monmouth Park meet, with a win, three seconds and three thirds.

Saturday, she hopes, will jumpstart the meet for her.

“I’m looking forward to seeing all of them run,” said Schultz, who won her first career graded stakes with Whelan Springs in the 2023 edition of the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park.

In addition to the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes, the Grade 3 Salvator Mile shares the marquee for the day, with the top two finishers receiving free entry and start fees to the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup on the Haskell undercard.

Five of the nine horses in the Salvator Mile field are graded stakes winners, including the Brad Cox-trained Bishops Bay and the Brendan Walsh-trained East Avenue.