Brittany Russell | Horse Racing Free Tips

Sheldon Russell Earns First Maryland Riding Title Since 2015

Jockey Sheldon Russell, returning from a four-day absence, won with two of his first three mounts on Thursday's New Year's Eve program at Laurel Park in Maryland to clinch the 2020 fall meet riding title.

Russell, 33, entered the day leading Jevian Toledo, 42-39, before winning with Dr. Ferber ($9.20) in Race 2 and Fast Cash ($6.40) in Race 4 to seal his eighth career riding title in Maryland and first since Laurel's 2015 winter stand.

Both Russell and Toledo are represented by agent Marty Leonard. Toledo had won with 10 of his previous 23 mounts (43 percent) to close the gap and make it a tight race. He wound up winless in five races Thursday.

“It's been a while since I won a title, but I'm just very happy. It's nice to look back and come back from all the injuries and have the support that I do from some of the top trainers here,” Russell said. “To win a meet title means a lot.

“Thanks to my agent, who does a fantastic job, and thanks to my competitors in the room because it keeps you going. I ride with some good guys in the room and we're all friendly in there,” he added. “Unfortunately I had to have a few days off and I was a bit worried there because [Toledo] was on a roll but luckily we had a good enough cushion to keep it going.”

Maryland's leading rider of 2011, Russell also won Laurel's fall meet in 2008 and 2011 as well as Laurel's 2011, 2012 and 2015 winter stands. He topped the spring meet standings at Pimlico Race Course in 2011 and 2013.

Russell registered 11 multi-win days during the fall meet including three-win days Dec. 6 and 11 and a four-win afternoon on Maryland Million Day Oct. 24 led by Monday Morning Qb in the Classic, Hello Beautiful in the Distaff and Pretty Good Year in the Turf.

On Nov. 28 Russell won stakes with Hello Beautiful in the Safely Kept and Whereshetoldmetogo in the Frank Y. Whiteley, both horses trained by his wife, Brittany. Together the Russells won with 18 of 35 starters at the meet (51 percent) and finished in the money 30 times (86 percent).

“She keeps me busy in the mornings. There isn't really a day where she doesn't have workers because she's got so many horses so it's a big advantage that I have,” Sheldon Russell said. “I get to get on them as soon as they come in and I do a lot of work with them and sort of get an idea of what their good and bad traits are. It's a big plus.”

Russell was leading Laurel's 2020 summer meet standings when he suffered a broken wrist in a starting gate mishap July 16 at Delaware Park. He returned on Sept. 24, opening day of the short Preakness Meet at Pimlico, and earned the mount on sixth-place finisher Excession in the Preakness (G1).

“I'm just happy that we're back racing. It's been a rough year for everybody so to win a meet, I'm very happy. I came back the first weekend at Pimlico, so to jump out of the Pimlico meet and come straight to Laurel and win this, it means a lot especially coming off the shelf,” Russell said. “I'm just very blessed and very happy.”

Claudio Gonzalez won with two of his five starters Thursday, Pitching Ari ($4) in Race 1 and Dance and Dance ($16.60) in Race 8, to finish with a four-win edge, 28-24, over runner-up Brittany Russell, who had no horses entered. Gonzalez formally clinched the title Dec. 27, his 12^th in the last 13 meets in Maryland dating back to Laurel's 2017 spring stand.

It was also the 100th and 101st wins in Maryland for Gonzalez, who topped the state's overall standings for a fourth straight year. Jockey Trevor McCarthy, who moved his tack to New York in mid-December, had 99 wins to lead all Maryland riders for the second straight year and fifth time overall (2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020). Toledo finished second with 95 wins.

The post Sheldon Russell Earns First Maryland Riding Title Since 2015 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Laurel Park: Apprentice John Hiraldo Scores First Career Win With 33-1 Longshot

Top Notch Racing's Flat Rate emerged from a three-way photo finish a neck ahead of Proud Enough to spring a 33-1 upset of Laurel Park's sixth race and give 10-pound apprentice jockey John Hiraldo his first career victory.

Flat Rate ($69.80), a 4-year-old Violence gelding, ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:05.90 over a fast main track in the beaten claimer for 3-year-olds and up to earn his fourth career victory and first since joining trainer Michael Jones Jr.

“It's something very special, unbelievable really. I can't believe it,” Hiraldo said. “I'm very happy. I have to thank God for always watching over me and all the other riders. I'm just very happy. I've worked so hard for this moment and I've dreamed about it since I was a little kid. It's something very special for me.”

Hiraldo, 19, is a native of Puerto Rico who galloped horses for trainer Brittany Russell before making his professional debut running fourth on Maximo Strong Dec. 10 at Laurel. Hiraldo had gone winless in his first 18 mounts including a third on Frontier Woman in Thursday's third race.

“My cousin, Angel Cruz, he has been a big part of my short career. Xavier [Perez], Sheldon [Russell]. Sheldon is one of the best ones in there. He's a great guy on and off the racetrack and he's been a good mentor for me,” Hiraldo said.

Angel Cruz is member of the Maryland track's riding colony who won with Dance and Dance ($16.60) Thursday and finished sixth in the fall meet standings with 20 wins. Hiraldo's father, Joel, won 200 races between 2001 and 2011, the last coming at Charles Town.

“When I was growing up, my dad was a jockey so he was the person I would always look up to. I would go to school and always think about riding. I didn't care about the grades, I just wanted to go to be a jockey when I grew up,” Hiraldo said. “When I grew up I went to the farm and started learning as much as I could. I came back and was here for a couple months working for Brittany Russell. I have to thank her for all her help. I just felt like it was the right time to do it.”

Flat Rate and Hiraldo posing for pictures

The post Laurel Park: Apprentice John Hiraldo Scores First Career Win With 33-1 Longshot appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Kirkpatrick & Co Presents In Their Care: Labarre, Montanez ‘Stronger Together’ After Harrowing Accident

Exercise rider Chloe Labarre tuned in to watch the first race at Laurel Park in Maryland on July 17, a 5 1/2-furlong turf contest. Her fiancé, Rosario Montanez, had picked up the mount on Hendaya due to an injury to another rider.

Labarre remembers feeling some concern as the runners advanced to the starting gate because neither of them was familiar with the 4-year-old filly. She breathed a sigh of relief when Hendaya broke cleanly and the field began to string out.

She was filled with doubt and fear by the time the race ended. Montanez and Hendaya were nowhere to be found as the horses flashed across the finish line. Then came the call.

It was from Brittany Russell, the trainer who employs Labarre. “Chloe,” she said, “he went down.”

Hendaya, seemingly too headstrong for Montanez to handle, had clipped heels with a horse in front of her, causing both of them to fall. Hendaya rolled over Montanez before regaining her feet. Montanez was not so fortunate.

“It happened so fast,” Labarre said. “I didn't see it happen.”

They live five minutes from Laurel Park. Fortunately, medical help arrived so quickly that Montanez was already being rushed to the hospital by the time Labarre reached the track. She waited hours while her fiancé was evaluated. He would have full use of his extremities but was found to have a traumatic brain injury, a broken back, broken ribs and facial fractures.

Montanez is 30, two years older than Labarre. They never envisioned such hardship when they became engaged on Nov. 3, 2019. No one could have.

Montanez, one of three finalists for the Eclipse Award as North America's leading apprentice in 2011, underwent successful back surgery at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore the next day. As Montanez spent the next two weeks recovering in intensive care, he understood as never before how strong a woman he had chosen as his future wife.

“Chloe is my rock, honestly. She is my everything,” he said. “If I wasn't with her, my life would be completely destroyed.”

Labarre found inner strength she never knew existed.

“I wasn't okay, but I was fine,” she said. “I was getting through it because he needed me to be there. I couldn't be the one falling apart, having a meltdown.”

She stayed at a hotel near the hospital in those critical early days before returning to work, even though Russell had urged her to take as much time as she needed.

“She reached out to me and said, 'I want to come back,'“ Russell recalled. “I was very surprised. But, at the same time, she loves what she does. I think it was a little bit of a sense of normalcy for her to get on horses and get back to the barn.”

Russell went on: “It's the nature of the business. Horse people, we don't really know how to take time off. It's kind of been bred into us to put your head down and go to work regardless of what is going on in your personal life.”

“I've loved horses since I was a little kid,” said Labarre after returning to the saddle following her fiance's racing injury. “They're my life.”

Labarre had grown up with horses and ridden at an early age. She has been an exercise rider since she was 16 and has worked for a series of prominent trainers, among them Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Chad Brown and Michael Matz.

Labarre never thought twice about returning to horseback, even after seeing firsthand how perilous that can be.

“I love it. I love horses,” she said. “I've loved horses since I was a little kid. They're my life.”

She had always been aware of the danger without experiencing it. “Thank God, I've never been injured badly on a horse,” she said. “I thank God for that right now because I don't want it to happen.”

While Montanez continues an encouraging recovery by attending physical therapy three days a week and talks hopefully about returning to competition, Labarre has helped make Russell one of the leading trainers at Laurel Park's fall meet.

“She is a huge asset in the barn for more reasons than one,” Russell said. “She gets along with pretty much anything she sits on and she's a good read of a horse. She can breeze horses. She works horses from the gate. She gets on babies. She helps older horses.”

Russell and Labarre enjoy much more than a typical employer-employee relationship. Russell arranged a GoFundMe account that ultimately raised more than $40,000 to benefit Montanez. Almost $3,000 poured in during the first hour.

“I have no words to say how thankful I am to them,” said Montanez.

Some good has come from the ordeal. If Labarre and Montanez had the slightest doubt about their relationship, they now know one thing with certainty. They are stronger together.

Tom Pedulla wrote for USA Today from 1995-2012 and has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Blood-Horse, America's Best Racing and other publications.

If you wish to suggest a backstretch worker as a potential subject for In Their Care, please send an email to info@paulickreport.com that includes the person's name and contact information in addition to a brief description of the employee's background.

The post Kirkpatrick & Co Presents In Their Care: Labarre, Montanez ‘Stronger Together’ After Harrowing Accident appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Claudio Gonzalez Wraps Up Another Leading Training Title At Laurel

Midwest Thoroughbred, Inc.'s Tayler's Chrome, a juvenile daughter of two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, captured Sunday's opener at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md., to clinch the fall meet championship for trainer Claudio Gonzalez.

Ridden by Angel Cruz, Tayler's Chrome ($7.60) pressed the pace for a half-mile and took a 2 ½-length lead into the stretch before drawing off to win by five in 1:38.28 over a fast main track in the one-mile waiver maiden claimer for 2-year-olds. One of three horses in for a $40,000 tag, she was not claimed.

It was the 25th win of the fall meet for Gonzalez, putting the title out of reach for runner-up Brittany Russell, who would later win with impressive second-time starter Little Huntress, her 24th victory from just 49 starters. Gonzalez also won with 3-year-old filly Originaly From Dot ($3.80) in Race 7

Gonzalez, a 44-year-old cancer survivor, has now won 12 of the last 13 meets in Maryland dating back to Laurel's 2017 spring stand, and owns or shares 15 titles overall. With just New Year's Eve remaining on the live racing calendar in 2020, he will finish with the most wins in the state for a fourth consecutive year.

“When we win the title it's not only for me, it's for all the people working for me. It's a team; everyone is excited. No matter what, in the end we want to win. It's a good feeling,” Gonzalez said. “It's very special for everybody. My assistants, the grooms, everybody. There are very good trainers here and that's why to win the title is a special, special feeling.”

Gonzalez entered the Christmastide Stakes Day program Dec. 26 tied with Russell at 22 wins. Trying to become just the fourth female to lead the trainer standings in Maryland following Karen Patty (1992), Mary Eppler (2016) and Linda Rice (2017), Russell won the $100,000 Dave's Friend with Whereshetoldmetogo.

But Gonzalez captured the $100,000 Native Dancer with historic Pimlico Special (G3) winner Harpers First Ride and $100,000 Anne Arundel County with 2-year-old filly Miss Leslie – a horse he claimed for $25,000 two starts prior – to retake the lead.

Claimed by Gonzalez for $30,000 out of a Sept. 14, 2019, win at Churchill Downs, MCA Racing Stable's Harpers First Ride won for the seventh time in 11 starts in 2020, four of those wins coming in stakes – the Deputed Testamony, Richard W. Small and Native Dancer at Laurel and Pimlico Special at Pimlico Race Course.

A gelded 4-year-old son of Grade 1 winner Paynter, Harpers First Ride has earned $495,623 this year, growing his career bankroll to $573,055. He will figure in the conversation for Maryland-bred Horse of the Year along with Knicks Go, who went three-for-three in the Midwest this year topped by a victory in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1).

“The horse surprises me every race he runs. Every race he runs better and better. He walked today and he walked like he knows he won. It's really good when you see that,” Gonzalez said. “He won four stakes, he won the Pimlico Special, and all the stakes he won he won good. It's the first time I've had a horse like that. With Harpers, every day is special. From the day we claimed him, he started doing good.”

Among the early 2021 stakes for 4-year-olds and up going a route of ground at Laurel are the $75,000 Jennings for Maryland-bred/sired horses at one mile Jan. 16, the $100,000 John B. Campbell at about 1 1/16 miles Feb. 13 and $100,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial at 1 1/8 miles March 13. Gonzalez said the connections will keep all their options open for the soon-to-be 5-year-old.

“He proved that he won his races easy and maybe he has to take the next step and race with the big guys and see how he does,” he said. “It all depends on how he's doing after the race, day by day, and we'll make a decision what we're going to do.”

Gonzalez has 99 wins in Maryland this year heading into Thursday's fall meet-ending program, where he has five horses entered. Russell does not have any horses entered on Thursday. Gonzalez also finished first overall in 2017, 2018 and 2019 but said this year takes on added significance, especially since live racing was paused in the state for 2 ½ months from mid-March to late May due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Aside from Harpers First Ride, Gonzalez's other stakes winners this year were 3-year-old Lebda in the Miracle Wood and Private Terms, Princess Cadey in the Beyond the Wire and Completed Pass in the Laurel Dash.

“I don't pay attention to those things. It's not like I have just really good horses. A lot of the horses we have we claimed. They do a little bit better and they run. Like [Saturday], the filly we claimed [Miss Leslie] and she won the stake. You never know,” Gonzalez said.

“The horses tell me where I have to put them. Every race they go, they say ok I'm ready for the next step and we go,” he added. “It's special this year because for everybody it was a strange year with the coronavirus. It's extra special for everybody.”

Notes: Wonder Stables, Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables' Little Huntress ($2.40) broke running and never looked back in rolling to a front-running 14-length maiden special weight romp over five rivals in Race 3. The winning time for seven furlongs was 1:23.94 over a fast main track … A gray or roan daughter of first-crop sire Frosted, record-setting winner of the 2016 Met Mile (G1), Little Huntress was the first of three winners on the card for jockey Jevian Toledo, followed by Introspection ($4) in Race 6 and Gimme's Goldengirl ($5.20) in Race 9. Toledo has tripled in back-to-back days and has 39 wins, three behind meet leader Sheldon Russell … There will be carryovers of $17,538.82 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $332.99 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for the Thursday, Dec. 31 closing day program. Tickets with five of six winners in Sunday's Rainbow 6 each paid $69.56.

The post Claudio Gonzalez Wraps Up Another Leading Training Title At Laurel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post