Tag: Brittany Russell

Russell Seeking First Graded Win With Hello Beautiful

With few remaining gaps on Hello Beautiful's resume, trainer Brittany Russell will seek to achieve a significant milestone for both herself and her stable star when they go up against seven rivals in Saturday's $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park.

 The 69th running of the Fritchie for fillies and mares 4 and older and the 45th edition of the $250,000 General's Stake (G3), formerly the General George, for 4-year-olds and up highlight a Winter Sprintfest program of six stakes worth $900,000 in purses. Both graded races are contested at seven furlongs.

 Also on tap are the $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds going one mile and $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs, and the $100,000 John B. Campbell for 4-year-olds and up and $100,000 Nellie Morse for females 4 and older, each going about 1 1/16 miles.

Post time for the first of nine races is 12:25 p.m. The Fritchie will go off as Race 7 with a post time of 3:23 p.m.

 

A graded win would fill an important blank on an otherwise stellar ledger for Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful, a Maryland-bred daughter of Golden Lad that has won five career stakes and takes a three-race win streak into the richest and most prestigious event of the winter meet.

“For my first graded win to be Hello Beautiful would just be perfect. She's just done so much for us and we've had so much fun with her,” Russell said. “She deserves it. She's good at Laurel. We don't know how good she is outside of Laurel, but it would just mean so much for all of us.

“The idea of being based in Maryland and making this our home and the Fritchie being such a big race, it'd just be a really big thing if our big mare that's done so much for us could keep doing that,” she added.

\Sporting a perfect 7-0 record over Laurel's main track, Hello Beautiful is three-for-four at seven furlongs including wins in the Maryland Million Nursery and Safely Kept last fall to cap her sophomore campaign. In her only previous graded attempt, she ran sixth in the Prioress (G2) at Saratoga behind Frank's Rockette, an Eclipse Award finalist for 2020's champion female sprinter.

\Hello Beautiful opened 2021 with a front-running triumph in the six-furlong What a Summer Jan. 16 at Laurel, her first start in seven weeks, opening up by four lengths in the stretch and repelling a late challenge from Club Car to win by a length. She tuned up for the Fritchie with a half-mile work in 47.60 seconds Feb. 6, second-fastest of 89 horses.

“She's fantastic,” Russell said. “She's great right now so hopefully she has a good rest of the week and runs her race on Saturday.”

Hello Beautiful will go after her eighth career win from outside Post 8 under her regular rider, Russell's husband, Sheldon Russell. Purchased by the trainer for just $6,500 out of Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic December 2018 mixed sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Hello Beautiful owns a 7-2-1 record from 13 starts with $377,110 in purse earnings.

“It appears to be a great spot, post-position wise. Hopefully it's the lucky number eight and it works out where she can just have the catbird's seat,” Brittany Russell said. “As always we'll leave it up to Sheldon. From there he can dictate where he wants to put her.”

A highly competitive Fritchie field will feature a matchup of Hello Beautiful and Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya, also based at Laurel with trainer Lacey Gaudet. By Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, Dontletsweetfoolya enters her season and graded debut on a five-race win streak including back-to-back stakes at Laurel.

“She has done very well. These owners are fantastic. They want to find the easiest spot at all costs,” Gaudet said. “The filly has been a little difficult as far as staying unsettled so we have opted to not ship. The only place she has ever shipped to run is Pimlico and it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it wasn't the prettiest day.

“A lot has been about settling her and also kind of staying away from Hello Beautiful,” she added. “We've tried to map out a plan to keep her in winning form. We've said that as long as she dots all those I's and crosses all those t's this was going to be the goal and we figured this is where we were going to meet Hello Beautiful.”

Dontletsweetfoolya went winless at two, breaking her maiden on her fourth try last summer at Laurel and dominating her foes since, all in front-running fashion, by 28 ¼ combined lengths. She became a stakes winner on her first try in the Nov. 28 Primonetta, and followed with a score in the Dec. 26 Willa On the Move, both going six furlongs.

“We knew that she could run back a little bit quick on the turnback and run back to back in those stakes. It worked out really, really well,” Gaudet said. “She was a little tired after the last stake and we were perfectly fine with that because we said that's exactly what we wanted – to get this one out of the way and then rest her into the Barbara Fritchie.”

Dontletsweetfoolya won her only previous attempt at seven furlongs, an open, entry-level allowance last September by 8 ¾ lengths. Jevian Toledo will be aboard for the sixth straight race, breaking from Post 3. All horses will carry 120 pounds.

“I did say a couple starts ago that we were ready for her, and our filly has turned back everybody except for her so it's time to let these two face each other,” Gaudet said. “It's going to be tough because they're both speedballs. I think the draw is going to be the biggest tell tale of what's going to happen. Hopefully one of these two is the best. I hope we don't kind of run each other out and set it up for somebody else because it would be really thrilling to see our two take it to the end.”

Barry Schwartz's homebred filly Sharp Starr brings graded credentials to the Fritchie, having captured the one-mile Go for Wand (G3) by a neck Dec. 5 in the Aqueduct mud to end her 3-year-old season. She comes in from the Belmont Park barn of Horacio DePaz, the former private trainer for Maryland's Sagamore Farm.

“It would be special to be able to come back and win a race like this, especially with a filly like her,” DePaz said. “We developed her as a 2-year-old and she's kind of taken us to Saratoga and stuff and competed very well in New York. It's nice when you can develop one like this.”

Sharp Starr, a New York-bred daughter of graded-stakes winning sprinter Munnings, began her 4-year-old campaign in the seven-furlong La Verdad Jan. 3 at Aqueduct, also over an off track, where she ran second throughout and finished a length behind winner Mrs. Orb. She was also second in her only other try at the Fritchie distance, a maiden special weight for state-breds last February at Aqueduct.

Overall, Sharp Starr has been worse than third just twice in 10 career starts, with three wins. She was eighth in a mid-June maiden race, her first start in nearly four months due to coronavirus shutdowns across the country, and she ran seventh in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) in October at Pimlico after being bumped at the start.

“The [maiden race] was going three-quarters and we basically gave her the race because I thought it was better to give her the race and give her experience versus just keep training to try and go into a longer race,” DePaz said. “The Black-Eyed Susan, obviously, was deeper waters, open company. At least this time … it'll be around one turn which it seems like she does very well. We'll see how she stacks up against those types of horses.”

Alex Cintron gets the riding assignment from Post 1 on Sharp Starr, making her Laurel debut.

Another multiple stakes winner entered in the Fritchie is Howling Pigeon Farms, Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Madaket Stables' Needs Supervision. Based at Laurel with trainer Jerry O'Dwyer, the 5-year-old Paynter mare has gone winless in seven starts, all in stakes, since the November 2019 Safely Kept over her home track.

Needs Supervision is the only returnee from last year's Fritchie, when she ran fourth, beaten four lengths by Majestic Reason. Most recently second in the seven-furlong Interborough Jan. 18 at Aqueduct, she drew Post 7.

Completing the field are Estilio Talentoso, gate-to-wire winner of the one-mile Escena last August at Gulfstream Park; Willa On the Move runner-up Hibiscus Punch, a three-length open allowance winner Jan. 17 at Laurel sprinting six furlongs; Club Car, second in the What a Summer and fourth in the Willa On the Move in her most recent starts; and Suggestive Honor, Group 2-placed in her native Argentina last winter but off the board in the Primonetta and Willa On the Move.

The post Russell Seeking First Graded Win With Hello Beautiful appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Hello Beautiful, Dontletsweetfoolya Prep For Barbara Fritchie Matchup

Multiple stakes winners Hello Beautiful and Dontletsweetfoolya set the stage for their first head-to-head matchup in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) Feb. 13 with sharp half-mile works over Laurel Park's main track Saturday.

The 69th running of the Fritchie for fillies and mares 4 and older and the 45th renewal of the $250,000 General's Stake (G3) for 4-year-olds and up, formerly the General George, highlight a Winter Sprintfest program offering six stakes worth $900,000 in purses.

Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful was timed in 47.60 seconds, second-fastest of 68 horses at the distance. Jockey Sheldon Russell was aboard for his wife, trainer Brittany Russell.

Hello Beautiful owns five career stakes wins including three straight entering the Fritchie, the most recent coming in the six-furlong What a Summer Jan. 16 in her 4-year-old debut.

“She worked fantastic. We were absolutely pleased with her. Sheldon loved her, and she seems like she's ready to go,” Brittany Russell said. “You walk them over hoping they're doing as well as she is right now and you have to leave it up to them from there. We're giving her every opportunity to run a big one.”

Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya takes a five-race win streak into the Fritchie, which open her 4-year-old campaign. The Stay Thirsty filly ended 2020 with victories in the Nov. 28 Primonetta and Dec. 26 Willa On the Move, both going six furlongs at Laurel.

With regular rider Jevian Toledo up, Dontletsweetfoolya worked four furlongs in 48 seconds, ranking fifth. She went in company with newly turned 3-year-old filly Fraudulent Charge (48.20), who is being pointed to the $100,000 Wide Country on the Fritchie undercard.

“The work went very well. They got them in 48 and galloped out in a minute, so it was perfect, exactly what we wanted,” trainer Lacey Gaudet said. “I don't tell [Toledo] anything. Even the work this morning, they were all laughing at me because I was like, 'Don't go too fast, don't go too slow,' but when I walked up with him I said, 'You know how to work her,' and that's what he did. They did their thing.”

Also working Saturday for the Fritchie were Willa On the Move runner-up Hibiscus Punch, five furlongs in 1:01.40 at Laurel; and 2020 Go for Wand (G3) winner Sharp Starr, a half-mile in a bullet 47 seconds over Belmont Park's training track, the fastest of 140 horses.

Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki, whose six career stakes include the 2020 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) last fall at Pimlico Race Course, blazed four furlongs in a bullet 47.60 seconds Saturday at Laurel with jockey Horacio Karamanos in preparation for the General. Trained by Damon Dilodovico, Laki has won at least one stake every year since 2017.

“He worked well. We usually don't ask him for much in the morning. He was just ready to roll,” Dilodovico said. “He's training well. We got a really nice breeze out of him today and he cooled out well, so we'll see how he is the next couple days.”

Other horses nominated to the General breezing at Laurel Saturday were multiple stakes winner Lebda, four furlongs in 47.60 seconds, ranking second, and 2019 Remsen (G3) winner Shotski, a half-mile in 48 seconds.

Also prominent on Saturday's Laurel work tab were multiple stakes winners Kenny Had a Notion (six furlongs, 1:14.40) for the $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds; Street Lute (five furlongs, 59.60 seconds) for the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies, the latter the fastest of 32 horses; and Cordmaker (five furlongs, 1:01) for the $100,000 John B. Campbell at about 1 1/16 miles for 4-year-olds and up.

Notes: Alexander Crispin, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice of 2020, registered a hat trick Saturday aboard Bring Me Answers ($4) in Race 2, Keepyourstakeson ($3.20) in Race 6 and Bananas On Fire ($6.60) in Race 9. Jockey Xavier Perez also doubled with Indian Lake ($5.40) in Race 1 and Seany P ($13.20) via disqualification in Race 8 … No one selected all six winners in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, growing the carryover jackpot to $1,559.76 for Sunday. Tickets with five of six winners were each worth $158.06.

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Russell Calls Decision To Enter Hello Hot Rod In FT Winter Mixed Sale ‘A Good Business Move’

As a trainer, Brittany Russell knows the best time to take a chance is when a horse is doing well. She shipped Hello Hot Rod from her Laurel Park base to New York last weekend, where the Maryland-bred half-brother of multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful extended his win streak to three races in Aqueduct's Jimmy Winkfield Stakes.

As an owner, Russell hopes to experience similar success when Hello Hot Rod goes through the ring Feb. 9 on the second of Fasig-Tipton's two-day winter mixed sale in Lexington, Ky. The sale begins both days at 10 a.m. ET.

Russell co-owns Hello Hot Rod, a 3-year-old Mosler colt out of the Tiznow mare Hello Now, with Dark Horse Racing. Consigned by ELiTE Sales, he is cataloged as Hip No. 672.

Hello Hot Rod fetched $10,000 out of Fasig-Tipton's 2019 Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. He has won three of four starts and $113,941 in purse earnings.

“This is a business and it just seemed like sort of a good business move after winning the stake up there. I have some friends between Fasig and ELiTE sales and I thought it was a good move,” Russell said Thursday. “Naturally, I'd love to have him in the barn and keep him and race him, and maybe that can still happen, but we're going to put him through and just see what happens.”

Hello Hot Rod debuted running second by a neck to Doubleoseven in a six-furlong waiver maiden claimer last Oct. 30. He returned to capture a similar spot going seven furlongs Nov. 13 by 4 ½ lengths, then stepped up to win a one-mile optional claiming allowance triumph by 2 ¼ lengths Dec. 13 in his juvenile finale. All three races came at Laurel.

“He's the right kind. This is the right kind of horse at this time of year,” Russell said. “He's won at a mile. He already has that, and he's a stakes winner. He's done nothing wrong. That's what it comes down to. He's a racehorse.”

Hello Hot Rod was a determined front-running head winner of the seven-furlong Jimmy Winkfield, the first time he didn't go off as the favorite. He returned to Laurel later that evening, ahead of the winter storm that gripped the New York and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas.

“He's awesome. We got lucky with the snow. It started later up in New York so we were able to get him home right away,” Russell said. “He's wonderful. You wouldn't even know he ran. He trained this morning and he's in good form.”

Russell has Wonder Stables, Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables' Little Huntress in the seven-furlong Ruthless for 3-year-old fillies Feb. 7 at Aqueduct. A 14-length maiden special weight winner Dec. 27 at Laurel, the Frosted filly is also nominated to Laurel's $100,000 Wide Country going seven furlongs Feb. 13.

Little Huntress drew Post 4 in the Ruthless against just four other rivals.

“I entered Little Huntress in the Ruthless this morning because it [is] a short field. We're going to take a look at it and, obviously, we're going to heavily consider running Sunday there,” Russell said. “If we opt to skip, she'll run here in the stakes next week.”

Meanwhile, Russell will send out Cash is King, D.J. Stable and LC Racing's Mine Not Mine in Friday's eighth race, a one-mile allowance for Maryland-bred/sired 4-year-olds and up where the Golden Lad colt drew Post 3 in a field of seven and is 6-1 on the morning line.

Mine Not Mine ran third in a similar spot going 1 1/16 miles Jan. 1, his first start in 216 days after finishing 10th of 11 as the favorite in an open one-mile allowance last May. The winner of that race, Toy, also beat Mine Not Mine in his New Year's Day comeback.

“We were tickled with his last race. To be honest, he was far from being tight to go two turns … meaning he was at least two works short,” Russell said. “He could have used a little bit more, but he was doing well and he was working well so we thought, let's just give him a race and that should really put him right for this next race.”

Mine Not Mine, also by Golden Lad, made his first two starts for trainer Claudio Gonzalez. In his first two starts after being sold for $210,000 in December 2019 and moved to Russell, Mine Not Mine ran second and third, respectively, to the Gonzalez-trained Lebda in the 2020 Miracle Wood and Private Terms at Laurel.

“He's a horse that we've had high expectations for from Day 1 and he's had some hiccups along the way. You're just kind of hoping that every time you run him, maybe this is his chance to shine,” Russell said. “He seems like he's great right now. He's on good foot in the morning so I certainly expect to see a good effort from him.”

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Hello Hot Rod Goes from Winner’s Circle to Fasig Sales Ring

Hello Hot Rod (Mosler), fresh off a gritty score in the Jimmy Winkfield S. at Aqueduct last Sunday, will make his next appearance in the sales ring during Tuesday's second session of the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale. The 3-year-old (hip 672), owned by Dark Horse Racing and Brittany Russell and trained by Russell, was a late supplement to the two-day auction and will be consigned by Elite.

Russell and Dark Horse Racing's Jodi Quinn already had a favorable impression of the son of Mosler before they purchased him for $10,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic October Yearling Sale. They had purchased his half-sister Hello Beautiful (Golden Lad) for $6,500 at the Midlantic December Mixed Sale the previous year.

“Hello Beautiful had just broken her maiden at the time he was being sold, but we really liked her and we knew she had some ability,” Russell said of the colt's appeal as a yearling. “He had good bone on him, he was a good-looking little horse. He had a few minor flaws that we could deal with, so it was nice we could get him bought for that price back then.”

Shortly after they purchased Hello Hot Rod, Hello Beautiful won the Maryland Million Lassie S. and the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship. She has since added wins in the 2020 Maryland Million Distaff and Safely Kept S. and opened 2021 with a win in the What a Summer S.

Despite his half-sister's accomplishments, Russell kept her initial expectations for Hello Hot Rod in check.

“I think when you buy a horse like that for that kind of money, you don't have those high expectations,” Russell said. “You just hope you are going to have a useful racehorse. It's a nice price where, if they're going to be a lower level horse, you paid just $10,000. And if they are a nice horse, it's great because you only paid $10,000.”

But Russell's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, knew early on the colt had talent.

“My husband does all the work on my babies in the morning and he had been on him in the morning and he liked him,” Russell said. “He said, 'This is going to be a pretty decent little horse, we'll have fun with him.'”

Hello Hot Rod got his racing career off to a promising start, closing to miss by just a neck in a six-furlong waiver maiden claiming race at Laurel Oct. 30.

“You'd love to win first time, but we were kind of just trying to give him a run and he nearly got his first start won,” Russell said. “Sheldon took him back and taught him something and he came with a run and nearly won it. He probably needed that race, anyway, from a physical standpoint.”

The dark bay colt came back to win by a front-running 4 1/4 lengths going seven furlongs in similar company Nov. 13 and added a one-mile optional claimer tally Dec. 13.

“We sort of expected for him to come back and win the way he did,” Russell said of Hello Hot Rod's second start. “And I thought he would like the mile and he did everything right in that allowance race as well.”

Hello Hot Rod jumped up to the stakes ranks for his sophomore debut and went wire-to-wire in the seven-furlong Jimmy Winkfield S., digging in gamely in the final strides to keep his nose in front on the wire (video).

“I loved him to be fair, but you don't love the one hole going seven-eighths, so that was a concern,” Russell said of expectations going into the race. “But [jockey] Trevor [McCarthy] and the horse handled it and got the job done. It's tough in the winter, these winter tracks are hard racetracks for horses to run on and he jumped out of there and he showed some speed and he kept going. He showed he's a tough racehorse and that's what you want.”

The idea of selling the colt had been percolating for some time before the final decision to enter him in the Fasig February sale.

“I had some interest [in buying him] after he broke his maiden,” Russell said. “Actually after both of his wins, we had some interest. It's kind of the goal in the game, right? To make a $10,000 horse into a more expensive horse. This is how you make money in the game, it's a tough game.”

She continued, “We own 50% of him and it was always in the back of our minds that we might try to sell him. I'd love to keep him in the barn, naturally, but I have some friends who work with Fasig and we bounced some ideas back and forth. After he won, it just seemed like maybe a smart business move.”

While the decision to sell may be a smart business move, Russell agreed it was still an emotional one.

“Oh absolutely, I love him,” she said. “He means a lot to us. We have his sister in the barn and he's our other big horse, so to see him go will be sad. But who knows, maybe we'll end up getting him back in the barn.”

Russell sees plenty of upside for potential buyers in the newly minted stakes winner.

“He's very easy to train and he's sound,” Russell said. “He's not a bleeder, so moving forward with what we are dealing with with Lasix, I think that's a huge attribute. And I think he'll go farther. He's smart, he has a good mind on him. He can go or he can sit, so as the races get longer, he has options. I think that's going to be a huge thing.”

Asked how Hello Hot Rod exited his first stakes win, Russell said, “Awesome. He's in great form.”

The Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale will be held next Monday and Tuesday at the company's Newtown Paddocks. Each session begins at 10 a.m.

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