Brittany Russell | Horse Racing Free Tips

With Two Stakes Wins Already, Brittany Russell on Track for Another Big Year

Riding high off an exceptional year in 2022, where she was the leading trainer at Laurel Park's fall and spring meet and tied for the lead at the Preakness Meet at Pimlico, Brittany Russell is poised for another strong showing this year.

The Laurel-based conditioner got the season off to a good start two weeks ago when Prince of Jericho and L Street Lady, both by Munnings, swept the two $100,000 stakes races for 3-year-olds on Jan. 21 at Laurel.

“It was really exciting to have two stakes winners in one day,” Russell said. “They're both 3-year-olds and it's early in the year, so it's great that they are coming along and making the progress you like to see.”

Michael Dubb and Morris Bailey's Prince of Jericho arrived at Russell's barn last spring. While the horsewoman initially thought the colt showed turf potential, his debut race in October was switched to the main track and Prince of Jericho finished a promising third. He came back two weeks later to break his maiden by nearly 12 lengths on the dirt under Russell's husband, leading Maryland jockey Sheldon Russell.

Three weeks before his recent stakes win in the Spectacular Bid S., Prince of Jericho finished second to Coffeewithchris (Ride On Curlin) in his stakes debut in December. He turned the tables on that same rival in the Spectacular Bid, sweeping four wide and pulling away down the lane to win by four.

“We really took our time with him and Sheldon always liked him,” Russell said. “When he ran second in the stake, Sheldon came back and mentioned that he probably should have let him run around the turn a bit more. That gave us the confidence to run him back in three weeks. He made a nice move around the turn and he really accelerated. He ran down a horse that beat him last time and he looked good doing it.”

L Street Lady, a $125,000 yearling purchase by Liz Crow for Madaket Stables, is another trainee that has blossomed under Russell's patient hand.

“She's a big-bodied filly and there's a lot to her,” Russell said. “She has gone through many growth spurts since we've had her. We always thought a lot of her and it was really nice of the Madaket crew to let us take our time with her.”

Third in her debut last fall on the turf, L Street Lady returned to the starting gate in December, this time on the dirt, and won by 7 ½. She was bet down to near co-favoritism in the Xtra Heat S. along with Maryland Million Lassie S. winner Chickieness (Blofeld) and rewarded her connections when she let Chickieness set the pace through much of the six-furlong contest and then took command at the top of the stretch.

“It was a beautiful trip,” Russell recalled. “She left there running and we didn't want [Chickieness] to get too far ahead of us. She has seasoning on L Street Lady and is a good Maryland horse, but 'L Street' responded at the end and ran big.”

Both Prince of Jericho and L Street Lady are progressing in their training since their stakes wins and Russell has plans sketched out for their spring campaigns. The Munnings duo has a chance to claim stakes wins on the same day yet again during Laurel's Winter Carnival program on Feb. 18.

“As long as he continues to progress, Prince of Jericho will run in the Miracle Wood S.,” Russell reported. “We'll try a mile with him. Distance doesn't seem to be an issue, but he'll have to answer the question in the afternoon. L Street Lady will go to the Wide Country S. at seven furlongs. With the way she ran last time, I think locally she should be tough.”

Russell has gone to the winner's circle 14 times already this year, putting her on pace to beat her career-high 100-win season last year. The current leading trainer of the Laurel meet, she has already amassed quite the arsenal of promising 3-year-olds for the year. Along with Prince of Jericho and L Street Lady, her winning sophomores include Haymarket Farm homebred Cats Inthe Timber (Honor Code), Grace and Charm (Accelerate), It's Viper (Super Saver), Pharoahs Baby Gyal (American Pharoah) and Tappin Josie (Anchor Down). Hillwood Stable's Post Time (Frosted), who won the Maryland Juvenile S. in December and is undefeated in three starts at Laurel, has yet to make his sophomore debut.

Doppelganger, the son of Into Mischief who ran second in last year's GII San Felipe S. under Bob Baffert, has been transferred to Russell for his 4-year-old season. Campaigned by a group that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables and others, he claimed an allowance at Laurel on Jan. 27 in his first start for Russell.

Wondrwherecraigis (Munnings), who gave Russell her first career graded stakes win in the 2021 GIII Bold Ruler H. and was a stakes winner in Maryland last year, will return to the track for his 6-year-old season. Russell said that no target is set in stone for the gelding owned by Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Madaket Stables and Michael Caruso, but added that the barn favorite put in his first work of the year at Laurel on Friday.

A native of Pennsylvania, Russell got her start in the industry as an amateur jockey and then worked for trainers Brad Cox, Jimmy Jerkens, Ron Moquett and Jonathan Sheppard before opening her stable in 2018. After five years of steady growth, while surpassing a 20% winning percentage in each season, Russell credits the owners behind BTR Racing Stable for her operation's many achievements in such a short period.

“When you have the clients like we have–Madaket Stables, Mike Dubb and those types of guys–and now we're getting horse from Starlight and the SF group, it's a big deal,” she said. “We're getting better quality in the barn and it's exciting.”

With a growing number of equine constituents comes a need for skilled hands involved in the day-to-day running of the operation. Russell said that her team has taken it all in stride.

“My team has grown so much in the few years that I've been at this and I'm so proud of everyone and the responsibility that everyone has taken on to manage a larger number of horses and better quality of horses,” she said. “All we can hope is that they keep coming and our barn keeps growing and we can hopefully win big races moving forward.”

The post With Two Stakes Wins Already, Brittany Russell on Track for Another Big Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Riders Deadheat for Laurel Title, Russell Takes Training Honors

Laurel Park's fall meet ended with a tie for leading rider between journeyman Angel Cruz and 19-year-old apprentice Jeiron Barbosa. In addition, trainer Brittany Russell topped the trainer standings for a third time this year.

It was the first riding title for Cruz, who deadheated with Barbosa with 44 wins apiece. Cruz won two races Saturday to secure the tie with Barbosa. The latter is among the contenders for champion apprentice jockey of 2022 and had won both Laurel's spring meet and Pimlico's fall meet titles. Both riders are from Puerto Rico, where they've known each other for more than a decade, and are represented by agent Tom Stift.

“Angel is the reason Jeiron became a jockey,” said Stift. “They wanted to finish 1-2 [in the standings], and it worked out even better.”

In the training ranks, Russell won 29-24 over Jamie Ness for the fall meet title. She had also wrapped up the honors at Laurel's spring meet and tied for the lead at the Preakness Meet at Pimlico. She is just the fourth female trainer to lead the meet standings in Maryland following Karen Patty, Mary Eppler, and Linda Rice.

For the entirety of 2022 in Maryland, she was second to Claudio Gonzalez, 74-73. Russell set career highs with 453 starters, 100 wins, and more than $4.3 million in earnings for 2022.

Laurel's 2023 winter meet opens New Year's Day with a nine-race card and first post at 12:25 p.m.

The post Riders Deadheat for Laurel Title, Russell Takes Training Honors appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

With His Exercise Rider Aboard, Promising Post Time Wins Again

The Week In Review, By Bill Finley

When Eric Camacho retired from riding in 2016, he thought he knew what his future would be. He'd work as an exercise rider in the mornings and step aside in the afternoons and let someone else get all the glory and the big paychecks. Never did he imagine he'd win another race, let alone get the mount on an undefeated 2-year-old who might just be good enough to be pointed toward the GI Kentucky Derby. But after Post Time (Frosted) won Saturday's Maryland Juvenile at Laurel with Camacho aboard, it's beginning to look like anything is possible.

“It's been amazing,” Camacho, 39, said. “Words can't express it.”

Camacho rode regularly from 2004 through 2016 and won 787 races and captured Laurel Park's 2005 winter meet riding title. But he won just 16 races in 2016 and was having a hard time lining up decent mounts.

“I needed to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life,” he said.

So he quit riding and took a job galloping horses for trainer Keith Nations. It was his first stop of many before he signed on to work for trainer Brittany Russell in May. That was just about the time that Russell was starting to prepare Post Time for the races. In the son of Frosted, she knew she had a talented prospect but one who was a handful and was immature and quirky. Someone needed to teach him the right way to go about things and she assigned the job to Camacho. The two hit it off.

“He liked to rear up, he liked to play around,” Camacho said. “This horse liked to do things way he liked to do things. I have a lot of experience with younger horses trying to get along with them. We had a bond. Don't get me wrong, we had our bouts. But he came to respect me. He's a very smart horse.”

Post Time's debut was delayed due to a quarter crack, but Russell, whose husband, Sheldon, is a jockey, had him ready to go by early fall. It was around then that Camacho came to her and said whoever would be riding Post Time in the afternoon needed to get on him in the mornings beforehand.

“I told her that if she put somebody on this horse they first need to come by and get on him in the morning,” Camacho said. “I don't want them to afraid of him in the afternoon.”

Russell considered his advice and started to think that maybe the best option was to let Camacho ride Post Time.

“I asked him if maybe he should ride the horse,” she said. “At first, I was kind of just joking around. But then I thought, you know what, he has a good relationship with the horse's owner, Ellen Charles, and I know he'll get this horse to the starting gate. Whatever tricks this horse might have up his sleeve on race day I know Eric will remain confident in him and will let him run anyway.”

The Maryland-bred debuted Oct. 7, facing off against open company in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race at Laurel. Camacho, who had one mount in 2017 and another in 2021, had not won a race for nearly six years, since Oct. 20, 2016. Post Time won by two lengths, but it was far from smooth sailing. After making a sweeping move on the turn and gaining the lead in upper stretch, he swerved in and out down the lane.

He returned for an allowance race on Oct. 27 and it was a case of more of the same, a bold move on the turn followed by his ducking in and out down the stretch. He won by 6 3/4 lengths.

The Maryland Juvenile was next. Facing fellow Maryland-breds, this time Post Time closed from last, made an eye-catching move on the turn and drew off to win by 3 3/4 lengths. Though the competition may not have been that strong, it was a very impressive effort. And it was delivered without any antics in the stretch, giving Camacho his third win on the year from just three mounts. He has not ridden anybody else this year.

“This horse really turned a comer in the last two weeks or so,” Camacho said.

With the worst behavior perhaps a thing of the past, maybe now is the time for Russell to go to a different jockey, maybe even her husband, who is one of the top riders on the Maryland circuit. Russell said she has no plans to do so.

“I don't know where we'll go with him next, but it's kind of hard to pull somebody off a horse that knows him so well and has done nothing wrong on him,” Russell said. “I think this has meant a lot to Eric. And it should. He's done a lot of work with this horse, who has had his good days and his bad days. Yes, he has a lot of talent, but I'm sure there are a lot of days when Eric wakes up and thinks, 'Oh, gosh, I've got to get this sucker to the racetrack this morning.' We gave Eric an opportunity, but he has done a great job.”

It's clear that Post Time is ready for a tougher assignment, but it's hard to tell how good he is. He has been winning easily, but that doesn't mean that he can step up from Maryland-bred competition and be competitive in a prep for the Derby. Then again, Russell isn't ruling it out.

“That's why you're in this business,” she said. “Everybody wants a horse like this in the barn and everybody wants to dream. The Derby or Derby preps? I can't say no, but he has a lot to prove before you can start talking about something like that. He won the Maryland Juvenile against a horse that had just won a restricted race. He's going to have to step up. Ellen is Maryland through and through, so she might like to see him run through the series here in races like the Tesio. But it's not a far ship to New York, so something there might be in the cards.”

Wherever Post Time goes next, it will be with Camacho, his exercise rider aboard.

“People say this horse has so much ability, why do you let the exercise rider ride him in the afternoon?” Russell said. “You have to realize that Eric had to work really hard with the horse to get him to show his talent in the afternoon. I don't know where we'd be without him.”

In Appreciation of Mind Control

There have been better horses to run over the last few years than Mind Control (Stay Thirsty), the winner of Saturday's GI Cigar Mile H., but perhaps none tougher or more game. You don't want to get into a dogfight in the stretch with this horse because you will lose. That was the case Saturday when he was passed in the stretch by Get Her Number (Dialed In) only to fight back and win by a head. It was his 11th career stakes win and his third victory in a Grade I event.

In the last four races in which he has crossed the wire first, he has won by a head every time. The chart comments have included the following: “battled back gamely,” “bid stretch, came again,” and “dueled.” Outside of his maiden win, which he won by three lengths, he has never won by more than 1 1/2 lengths and he won both the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. and the GIII Toboggan S. by a nose.

He's also been remarkably durable, winning the GI Hopeful S. as a 2-year-old and the Cigar as a 6-year-old in his last career start.

“If you like horse racing, you've got to love this horse,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher after the Cigar.

Well said.

The post With His Exercise Rider Aboard, Promising Post Time Wins Again appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Russell, Barbosa Win Laurel Spring Meet Titles

Surrounded by her family, Brittany Russell celebrated Mother's Day in style by winning with her only two starters Sunday at Laurel Park and clinching her first career training title. Russell, 32, ended the 22-day spring meet with a flourish, winning five races from nine starters over the final weekend to edge Jamie Ness, 14-13 and snap Claudio Gonzalez's streak at nine consecutive meet titles in Maryland. Gonzalez wound up third with 10 wins.

“It's a huge accomplishment. My team, just how far we've come in a short time, it's going to take me a little bit to wrap my head around it,” Russell said. “I think it's a really big deal for the barn. My crew is amazing. I'm lucky for the clients I have and the barn we've built.”

The battle for leading jockey came down to the final race of the meet when Jevian Toledo finished sixth aboard favored Scintilli and fell one win short of seven-pound apprentice Jeiron Barbosa, 20-19. It is the first riding title for Barbosa, an 18-year-old native of Puerto Rico, who had a five-win edge before missing the final three days of the spring meet serving a suspension.

Barbosa becomes only the third apprentice in a decade to lead the jockey standings at Laurel, following Yomar Ortiz (2013 winter) and Julio Correa (2019 summer). Toledo, Maryland's overall riding champion in 2015, 2017 and 2021, had three wins, three seconds and three thirds in 12 mounts during Barbosa's absence.

“I'm feeling really happy and really grateful with all the opportunities,” Barbosa said through fellow Maryland jockey and family friend Angel Cruz. “To be here my first month and be leading rider of the spring meet, it's a big accomplishment.”

The post Russell, Barbosa Win Laurel Spring Meet Titles appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post