Brittany Russell | Horse Racing Free Tips

Trio Of MATCH Series Stakes Carded For Saturday At Pimlico

Several horses are poised to make up substantial ground in the standings when Pimlico Race Course hosts three stakes that are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) Saturday, July 31.

The $100,000 Challedon Stakes and $100,000 Alma North Stakes, both at six furlongs, will be the third of six legs in the 3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division and Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division, respectively. The $100,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at 1 1/8 miles is the second of six legs in the 3-Year-Olds and Up Long—Dirt division.

The Alma North has attracted Hello Beautiful, the 4-year-old Maryland-bred filly by Golden Lad who is tied for second in the division standings with 7 MATCH Series points behind undefeated Chub Wagon, who leads with 20 points after two starts. The standout Pennsylvania-bred filly, however, will not compete in the Alma North and would miss the fourth leg of the division at Colonial Downs should she race in a $100,000 state-bred stakes Aug. 23 at Parx Racing, where she is stabled.

Hello Beautiful, trained by Brittany Russell for Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables, has won seven of 15 starts and finished only a neck behind Chub Wagon in the Shine Again Stakes at Pimlico June 13 in her most recent start. She will be ridden as usual by Sheldon Russell in her second MATCH Series start of the year.

“She has trained really well,” Russell said. “Sheldon worked her last week (in :49 for a half-mile at Pimlico) and all systems point to go. Hopefully the time she has had and as well as she has done in between and running at Pimlico, which she showed she can absolutely handle, will prove beneficial.”

Michael and Katherine Ball's Club Car and C & B Stables' Paisley Singing each have 5 MATCH points based on third-place finishes in the Skipat Stakes and Shine Again, respectively. Both are entered in the Alma North.

The MATCH Series points structure in each stakes is as follows: 10 for first, 7 for second, 5 for third, 3 for fourth, 2 for fifth and 1 for sixth through last. Bonus points based on number of starts are designed to encourage participation. With six races in each of four divisions this year, a fourth series start is worth 5 bonus points; a fifth start, 2 points; and a sixth start, 3 points, for a maximum of 10. Horses must compete in three races in their division to qualify for a share of $282,000 in bonus money.

Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki, an 8-year-old Maryland-bred gelding who was the 3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division champion in 2018-19, will make his third series start of the year in the Challedon. He is second in the division standings with 9 points behind Yaupon and Special Reserve—each with 10 points—who are not expected to follow the MATCH Series trail.

Laki, a winner of 11 of 35 starts—seven of them stakes—worked a half-mile in :49.60 at Pimlico July 22 in preparation for the Challedon. He will be ridden by Horacio Karamanos.

The Russell-trained Whereshetoldmetogo, owned by Madaket Stables, Ten Strike Racing, Michael Kisber and Black Cloud Racing Stable, will make his first MATCH Series start in the Challedon. The 6-year-old Maryland-bred gelding was an easy winner of the six-furlong Alapocas Run Stakes at Delaware Park in his last start July 3, one of four wins in his last five starts. Sheldon Russell is named to ride.

A pair of Maryland-bred geldings who competed in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special, the first stakes in the division, are entered in the Deputed Testamony.

Hillwood Stables' 6-year-old Cordmaker, fourth in the Pimlico Special, has been working at the Maryland State Fair at Timonium in preparation for the Deputed Testamony. The winner of nine of 29 starts will be ridden again by Victor Carrasco and has three series points.

GMP Stables, Arnold Bennewith and Cypress Creek Equine's Harpers First Ride finished 10th in the Pimlico Special but returned to the barn of Claudio Gonzalez after that race and easily won a 1 1/16-mile allowance event at Pimlico. Harpers First Ride, who worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 at Pimlico July 23, has won 11 of 22 starts including the Pimlico Special and Deputed Testamony in 2020. Regular rider Angel Cruz has the mount.

Following the action at Pimlico, the MATCH Series will return Aug. 23 at Colonial Downs in Virginia with four $100,000 stakes on tap.

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Trainer Brittany Russell’s Progression Takes Her To Saratoga

Though only in her fourth full season of training, Brittany Russell appreciates the history behind her. Based year-round in Maryland, she currently ranks sixth in the Preakness Meet standings with 10 wins at Pimlico Race Course, the second-oldest Thoroughbred racetrack in the country.

The oldest, by seven years, is Saratoga, which held its first meet in 1863 and where the 31-year-old Russell – the winningest female trainer in Maryland in 2020 – will have a string for the first time this summer.

It is another step in the rapid upward progression for Russell, who established career highs with 46 wins and more than $1.6 million in purse earnings last year. Already in 2021 she has 30 wins and a bankroll of nearly $1.3 million, with 5 ½ months of racing left.

Her success led Russell, married to champion Maryland jockey Sheldon Russell, to establish strings during Gulfstream Park's prestigious winter Championship Meet in 2020-2021 as well as Belmont Park this spring. Both were overseen by assistant Amanda Olds, who will also handle day-to-day duties at Saratoga.

“It's really exciting. I hope I can go up and enjoy it for a little bit,” Russell, who is expecting the couple's second child in November, said. “You just hope that it works out. We were going to run up there anyway so it seemed like the right move to have a small string there. That way, they can ship up and get acquainted with the place.

“It's a little nerve-wracking because you want it to work out,” she added. “You don't want to go somewhere just to be there. You want to go to win races.”

Russell ran six horses last summer at Saratoga with two wins – King's Honor ($23) in an Aug. 6 claimer going one mile on the grass, and So Gracious ($73.50) in a 5 ½-furlong turf allowance Sept. 6. Among her other starters were Wondrwherecraigis, fourth in the Amsterdam (G2), and multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful, sixth in the Prioress (G2).

King's Honor gave Russell her 100th career victory June 19 at Pimlico.

“King's Honor and So Gracious both won there. It was huge, absolutely huge. Especially because, it's not like they were favorites,” Russell said. “We've won shipping in and hopefully we can win a few stabled there.”

Russell said she plans to keep around 10 horses at Saratoga, which will take up residence under the same barn roof as Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. Among them is stakes-placed Yodel E. A. Who, fourth in a July 11 optional claiming allowance at Belmont.

“We have a few up there. I sent a couple up to Amanda actually like two days ago. Hopefully we have a couple decent horses to run in the right spots,” Russell said. “I don't think any of the ones that I've sent up have started here yet. I have a couple maidens. Yodel will run back there. We're sort of at a crossroads with a couple of them, trying to decide whether to go up there or run here. A couple of them are undecided and are still here in Maryland.”

On July 3 at Delaware Park, Russell won the Alapocas Run Stakes for six-furlong sprinters with 6-year-old Whereshetoldmetogo and 1 1/16-mile Christiana Stakes on turf with sophomore filly Out of Sorts.

It was the first career stakes win for twice previously placed Out of Sorts and fourth in five starts for Whereshetoldmetogo, the previous three coming in the 2020 Frank Y. Whiteley and Dave's Friend and 2021 Not For Love at Laurel Park.

“That was awesome. We love Whereshetoldmetogo. When he's right, he's awesome. He's so much fun to have in the barn,” Russell said. “But for Out of Sorts to step up and win a stake, that was the cherry on top. The thing with Out of Sorts being a 3-year-old, you kind of want to find out now. Do you give her a bigger test and if she doesn't respond, no problem, you just kind of keep her local? We're still trying to decide.

“She came out of the race really well. Do you take her to Saratoga? We're kind of on the fence but it seems like, why not? They paid $1,000 for her. She's a stakes winner. We might as well find out if we can really have a lot of fun now,” she added. “And you don't know until you try, really. She's answered every test so far. [Once] we put her on the turf, it's like, [she's a] racehorse. And she's done really nothing wrong on the dirt. She's really cool.”

Multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful, second to undefeated Chub Wagon in the June 13 Shine Again, is being pointed to the $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting 6 ½ furlongs July 31, also at Pimlico. The Alma North is part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.

Hello Beautiful set a spirited pace in the six-furlong Shine Again and dug in when confronted by Chub Wagon in deep stretch, coming up a neck short in her first race in four months. She has been entered twice since – as main track only in Pimlico's July 4 Jameela, which stayed on the grass, and Delaware's July 10 Dashing Beauty, won in a romp by Chub Wagon.

“She's going to run here at the end of the month. That was the ultimate goal all along,” Russell said. “It's not that we're afraid to run against [Chub Wagon] again; we're not trying to duck her. Hello Beautiful ran a big number off the shelf. A big race. So to run her back in four weeks up there … that's a tough track, I've noticed, for speed horses so it was going to make us feel a little bit better just to give her a little more time out of that effort. The Pimlico race? If Chub Wagon comes, great. But I know that we're going to have a good filly on the 31st.”

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Littlestitious Back For More In Weber City Miss, ‘Win And In’ Qualifier For Black-Eyed Susan

Her stop in Maryland already beyond the original plan, Joel Politi's multiple stakes winner Littlestitious may wind up extending her stay a bit longer depending on how she runs in Saturday's $125,000 Weber City Miss at Pimlico Race Course.

The 1 1/16-mile Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies serves as a co-headliner on an 11-race Spring Stakes Spectacular program featuring seven stakes worth $750,000 in purses including the $125,000 Federico Tesio, a 'Win and In' qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated 3-year-olds to the 146th Preakness Stakes (G1) May 15.

In its sixth year, the Weber City Miss is being contested for the first time at Pimlico after having its first five runnings at Laurel Park. It remains a 'Win and In' event for the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on Preakness Eve, May 14.

Though born in Kentucky and trained by Midwest-based Tom Amoss, who winters in Louisiana, Littlestitious has called Laurel Park home since mid-March, when horses were restricted to the grounds amid an equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) quarantine that was lifted April 18.

She remained in the barn of trainer Brittany Russell.

“She was there longer than we anticipated,” Politi said. “She's been great. Really, she just settled in there and hasn't turned a hair. She's been under Brittany's care and she's worked a bunch of times. She breezed the other day at Pimlico and did it well. All systems are go.”

Littlestitious arrived at Laurel for the March 13 Beyond the Wire, after having run fourth behind Clairiere and Travel Column in the Feb. 13 Rachel Alexandra (G2) at Fair Grounds. Those horses respectively rank second and sixth in points for the April 30 Kentucky Oaks (G1), a race Politi – an orthopedic surgeon in Ohio – won in 2019 with Serengeti Empress.

“In this category I would say she fits. We ran her against the big girls over the winter and that was probably just a little too much for her,” Politi said. “She's got a good opportunity here. It's the right distance and I think it's the right level for her. I think she'll get better as she gets older, hopefully. She's been a dream so far for us, so it's been great.”

A 10 ¼-length winner of the My Trusty Cat at Delta Downs in December to cap her juvenile season, Littlestitious ran fifth after setting the pace in her 3-year-old opener, the one-mile, 70-yard Silverbulletday Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds. A decided long shot in the Rachel Alexandra, she was third choice in the Beyond the Wire behind Street Lute – a winner of five straight stakes – and Fraudulent Charge, second to Street Lute in two of those races.

Fraudulent Charge put Street Lute away and appeared on the way to her first stakes victory before Littlestitious, always within striking distance just off the pace, swept past in mid-stretch to win by a half-length. Street Lute was third.

“The second and third fillies in there were beating their heads together all winter there,” Politi said. “It's hard to tell what anybody has. It's kind of like the Derby trail or the Oaks trail when they come together. They've all been running in their little silos, and I think we were running in the silo of Clairiere and Travel Column, and you'd like to get out of that silo.”

In the Beyond the Wire, Littlestitious displayed a similar stalk-and-pounce tactic under jockey Sheldon Russell that she used to break her maiden going six furlongs at Keeneland last fall prior to her romp in the My Trusty Cat.

“She's shown that in a couple of her races. The day she won at Keeneland was a very gritty, fast-closing performance,” Politi said. “The other thing I was really impressed with, which you guys get to see all the time, was the ride that Sheldon gave her. I thought that she broke really sharp and it would have been really easy just to send her because she was on the lead three steps into the race. He let her settle, let her relax and he fit her perfectly. He couldn't have ridden her any better.”

Russell rides Littlestitious back from far outside Post 7 at 120 pounds, two fewer than stakes-winning topweight Miss Leslie.

“She's going to run her race and I think she runs her best if she can just relax and make a run, so I don't think we'll change the strategy. We'll see how it sets up,” Politi said. “She can show some speed, but I don't think she's one-dimensional. The day she won at Delta she was sitting right on the pace and then kind of ran away from them, but I think she'll be happy to settle a little bit.”

Politi channeled Michael Scott of 'The Office' when asked what a strong showing in the Weber City Miss would mean for Littlestitious.

“I'm not superstitious. I'm a littlestitious, so I won't talk about the next race yet,” Politi said. “I guess that will just depend on how she does.”

While Street Lute is sitting this weekend out to await the six-furlong Miss Preakness (G3) May 14 at Pimlico, Team Gaudet and Five Hellions Farm's Fraudulent Charge will be back for another try. A 6 ¼-length waiver maiden claiming winner on debut Nov. 12 at Laurel, she has been beaten a total of 1 ½ lengths in her three stakes seconds.

All four of her races at come at Laurel with jockey Johan Rosado in the irons. Rosado, engaged to trainer and co-owner Lacey Gaudet, was up for a bullet five-furlong breeze in 1:01.20 April 19 at Pimlico.

“When you just get beat, you can't take anything away from a horse like that. Street Lute was the only one that had beat her, and she's an awesome filly, and then she got lucky and beat her last time,” Gaudet said. “I think everything would have to go really right for [Littlestitious] to beat her going two turns.

“[Rosado] likes to be very honest with me and he's under the impression that this filly will absolutely relish two turns, and she's shown every bit of that. This is what we were pointing for. It was a little tough getting to this point but I think we're feeling a little better after her work,” she added. “She had an amazing breeze which lifted a little bit of weight off our shoulders. I worked her in company with a pretty handy horse that we have and she was impressive. Her last work before her last race was impressive, and this was maybe even a little more impressive.”

Fraudulent Charge will carry 118 pounds including Rosado from Post 2.

Magic Oaks' Hybrid Eclipse will look to stretch her win streak to three races while making her stakes debut Saturday. New York-based trainer Linda Rice said the bay filly had been considered for the April 3 Gazelle (G2) at Aqueduct, won by Kentucky Oaks points leader Search Result.

Originally part of Laurel Park's spring meet, the entire Spring Stakes Spectacular program was shifted to Pimlico due to ongoing evaluation and renovation of Laurel's main track.

“Frankly we had looked at the Gazelle in New York and we opted to wait for the Weber City Miss,” Rice said. “I was excited about running her back there. She really seems to relish that track. But, we will move over to Pimlico and hopefully she will run well over that course, also.”

Winless in three starts at 2, Hybrid Eclipse broke her maiden in her sophomore debut Jan. 23 at Aqueduct. She stepped up and stretched out to about 1 1/16 miles in an entry-level optional claiming allowance Feb. 25 at Laurel, romping to a six-length victory under Horacio Karamanos, who rides back from Post 4.

“This is the next logical step for her,” Rice said. “We hope that she puts in a good showing and if things go well, maybe we'll find ourselves in the Black-Eyed Susan.”

BB Horses' Miss Leslie was a head winner of the about 1 1/16-mile Anne Arundel County Dec. 26 at Laurel, her second straight win after being claimed for $25,000 by leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez. This year, the Paynter filly ran second to Street Lute in the six-furlong Xtra Heat Jan. 16 and most recently sixth in the seven-furlong Wide Country March 13, both at Laurel.

Also entered are Exogen, beaten a head when second in the six-furlong Cicada March 20 at Aqueduct; Moonsafe, a 15 ¼-length waiver maiden claiming winner Feb. 27 at Laurel; and Oliviaofthedesert, the 2020 Trapeze Stakes winner trained by Ken McPeek racing at her eighth track in 10 career starts.

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Laurel Park: Claudio Gonzalez Making Up For Lost Time With Perfect 5-For-5 Start

After going 33 days between starters at Laurel Park, trainer Claudio Gonzalez is more than making up for lost time.

A 16-time meet champion in Maryland who has led the state in overall wins each of the past four years, Gonzalez has won with each of his first five starters at Laurel's spring meet, delayed to an April 8 opening by an equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) quarantine.

Gonzalez's barn was among those unable to enter races, and restricted to training hours separate from the rest of the horse population.

“It's not a good feeling when we can't train them the way we want. We only had 30 minutes to train all the horses, but it was the same way for everybody in quarantine,” Gonzalez said. “I believe the horses are saying thank you now. They got a little rest and they're feeling really good.”

Leading trainer with 28 wins despite missing the final two weekends of Laurel's 2021 winter meet, which had its last three programs canceled due to the quarantine, Gonzalez won with both his starters Friday – Robert D. Bone's Bear Force Won ($4.60) in Race 1 and Magic Stable's Baptize the Boy ($4.80) in Race 4.

Gonzalez won with all three of his starters on Thursday's opening day program – Marden ($5.20) and Queen of Tomorrow ($5.60), both owned by Bone, and Chetram Bhigroog's Cause to Dream ($6.60). Prior to that, Gonzalez hadn't run a horse at Laurel since winning with two of three starters March 7.

“I feel good, especially for the owners because the owners have bills to pay no matter what, and they lose money when they don't run,” he said. “Now they're happy.”

Gonzalez went 1-for-28 running at Parx in the interim. He has won 10 of the last 11 meets at Laurel dating back to the 2018, sweeping all four Maryland meets in 2020 including the Preakness Meet at Pimlico Race Course.

Gonzalez nominated 10 horses to Laurel's April 24 Spring Stakes Spectacular program, including stakes winners Miss Leslie for the $125,000 Weber City Miss), Eastern Bay and Lebda for the $100,000 Frank Y. Whiteley, Landing Zone for the $100,000 Dahlia and Completed Pass for the $100,000 King T. Leatherbury, the latter two on turf.

“The horses are ready to go and we were lucky to have the right races go, too. If we get the right races and the horses are ready, it's good. Everything happens for the better,” Gonzalez said. “If we continue like this, we're going to have some good weekends.”

Notes: Jockey Sheldon Russell and his wife, trainer Brittany Russell, teamed up for a pair of popular maiden wins Friday with 4-year-old filly Memphis Mafia ($2.80) in Race 3 and 4-year-old gelding Ratify ($3) in Race 7 … Russell completed a riding triple aboard Shane's Jewel ($4) for trainer Jamie Ness in Race 8 … Jockey Kevin Gomez notched back-to-back wins with Baptize the Boy ($4.80) in Race 4 and John the Bear ($24) in Race 5 … There will be carryovers of $5,396.14 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $922.76 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Saturday's nine-race card (12:40 p.m. post). Multiple tickets with all six winners Friday returned $1,002.92.

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