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‘He’ll Always Be Special To Us’: Russell Mulling Next Start For First Graded Winner Wondrwherecraigis

Coming off the first graded-stakes win for himself and his trainer, Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Madaket Stables and Michael Caruso's Wondrwherecraigis is enjoying some down time while the connections mull his next race.

The 4-year-old Munnings gelding was a front-running winner of the seven-furlong Bold Ruler (G3) Oct. 31 at Belmont Park, his second career stakes victory and first in graded company from 10 starts.

Based at Laurel Park with trainer Brittany Russell, Wondrwherecraigis' triumph came seven weeks following his disqualification to second after finishing first in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) over his home track. It was also one day before Russell gave birth to a son, Rye, her second child with husband and jockey Sheldon Russell. They are also parents to 2-year-old daughter, Edy.

“I was disappointed not to be there, but, hey, we had another big thing going on,” Brittany Russell joked. “It was huge. It was so disappointing for him and the ownership group and everyone to see him disqualified that day. But, he came back and he showed that he is a graded-stakes winner.

“'Craig' is doing awesome. He hasn't missed a beat,” she added. “He thinks he's King Kong.”

Russell said they have yet to settle on a target race for Wondrwherecraigis. Among the options are $100,000 Dave's Friend, part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series, Dec. 26 at Laurel and the Toboggan (G3) Jan. 29 at Aqueduct. Both races are contested at seven furlongs.

“We're just sort of trying to give him some time now. I wouldn't say we're set on anything. There's a race in New York in January. There's the MATCH Series race at the end of December. Nothing's really set in stone,” Russell said.

“He'll get this next month. I just sort of backed off of him since he ran and we'll kind of start gearing him back up and let him tell us,” she added. “You have some ideas and goals in the back of your mind, but he doesn't owe us anything. If we keep him home, great. If we decide to take him somewhere else, that's cool, too.”

Russell credited her New York-based assistant, Amanda Olds, with playing a large part in Wondrwherecraigis' success. In addition to the Bold Ruler, his other stakes win came in mid-August in the Tale of the Cat at Saratoga.

“It's nice for us to be able to send him up and not worry about anything. There's no worry shipping him when you have someone like that to travel with,” Russell said. “When he was up at Saratoga, after he won he stayed with her for a while up there and, obviously, it was the right move. She did a great job with him. It's all the moving parts. We're lucky to have the team we have.”

Wondrwherecraigis owns six wins, one second and one third with $347,640 in purse earnings from 10 starts, making a successful debut last March at Laurel just before racing was paused amid the coronavirus pandemic. He has finished first in all five of his races in Maryland, four of them wins prior to the De Francis.

“He's cool. He's one of the original bunch from when we first started along with Hello Beautiful,” Russell said. “'Craig' was, at the end of that year, he was one of the horses that kind of came in and saved me. He just kind of keeps saving me. He got me that graded win, and he's just special. He'll always be special to us.”

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Miss Leslie Finds Winner’s Circle Again In Thirty Eight Go Go At Laurel

BB Horses' Miss Leslie returned to her multiple stakes-winning form after five straight off-the-board finishes, outrunning long shots Lookin Dynamic and Villanelle to win Saturday's $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

The 1 1/16-mile Thirty Eight Go Go for fillies and mares 3 and up, part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series, was the last of three $100,000 stakes on the card, preceded by the James F. Lewis III for 2-year-olds and Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies.

Miss Leslie ($4) was ridden by jockey Angel Cruz, who escaped injury after being unseated during Saturday's third race. Together they settled near the back of the pack in the early going, trailing all but one horse as Sosua and Grade 1-placed Off Topic raced together through splits of :23.94 and :47.29.

Cruz tipped Miss Leslie off the rail leaving the backstretch and began to roll on the turn, getting into contention after six furlongs went in 1:12.02. They continued on once straightened for home and hit the wire in 1:43.63 over a main track rated good, turning back Lookin Dynamic by a half-length. It was just a head back to Villanelle in third.

Miss Leslie entered the Thirty Eight Go Go off a 5 ¼-length optional claiming allowance win going one mile, 70 yards Oct. 21 at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., with Cruz up. Her previous stakes wins came in the April 23 Weber City Miss April 23 and last December's Anne Arundel County, both going 1 1/16 miles at Laurel.

“I rode her one time so I knew how she does. She breaks a little slow,” Cruz said. “Claudio just told me to wait for a moment to move and that's what I did. I waited, I moved on the outside and she kicked on.”

The Thirty Eight Go Go honors the two-time Maryland-bred champion bred and trained by Hall of Famer King Leatherbury. Eight of her 10 career wins came in stakes including the Grade 2 Gardenia, Grade 3 Tempted, and Maryland Million Lassie in 1987 and three consecutive runnings of the Geisha (1988-90).

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Buy The Best Takes Smart Halo Stakes At Laurel

Buy the Best was much the best in the Smart Halo Stakes at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. The 2-year-old daughter of Tapiture swooped around Sparkle Sprinkle and Buff My Boots on the far turn to take the six-furlong stakes by 3 1/4 lengths.

On a fast Laurel track, Sparkle Sprinkle was fastest out of the gate with Buff My Boots pressing early, a half-length behind in the opening furlongs. Around the far turn, Buff My Boots ranged up on the outside of Sparkle Sprinkle, taking the lead briefly as Buy the Best made a bold move on their outside. As the field of the seven reached the stretch, Buy the Best was a length clear of rivals, stretching her advantage out down the stretch. At the wire, she was four lengths in front, with Luna Belle second and Click to Confirm third.

The final time for the six furlongs was 1:09.99. Find this race's chart here.

Buy the Best paid $6.00, $3.40, and $3.00. Luna Belle paid $4.60 and $3.40. Click to Confirm paid $6.00.

Bred in Kentucky by Susan Moulton, Buy the Best is out of the Indian Charlie mare Sister Dawn. Trained by Cathal Lynch, the filly was ridden in the Smart Halo by Jaime Rodriguez. Consigned by Eaton Sales, she was purchased by owner Hope Jones at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $70,000. With her win in the Smart Halo, Buy the Best has three wins in five lifetime starts and career earnings of $117,480.

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MATCH Series: Off Topic Back For Second Off The Layoff In Saturday’s Thirty Eight Go Go

Before she heads off to the breeding shed at the end of the year, D Hatman Thoroughbreds' Grade 1-placed Off Topic will continue her quest to become a stakes winner in Saturday's $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/16-mile Thirty Eight Go Go for fillies and mares 3 and up, part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series, joins the $100,000 James F. Lewis III for 2-year-olds and $100,000 Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies on the nine-race program. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Initially purchased for $160,00 as a yearling in 2017, Off Topic raced 13 times for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher with two wins, two seconds and three thirds, most notably finishing third in both the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and Gazelle (G2) and fourth in the Alabama (G1) in 2019. In between, she ran fifth in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at historic Pimlico Race Course.

As part of the dispersal of late owner Paul Pompa Jr., who passed away last October, Off Topic was sold at Keeneland's Horses of All Ages sale in January, where D Hatman's Matt Dorman paid $575,000 for the 5-year-old daughter of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Street Sense and sent him to trainer Phil Schoenthal.

“She was being sold as a racing or broodmare prospect. She had kind of gone off form last year and we felt like maybe there was some opportunities there if she got some time off,” Schoenthal said. “We bought her as a broodmare prospect, really. He's trying to build a broodmare band and she's a great big, huge, beautiful Street Sense filly who's Grade 1 stakes placed. So, we were buying her with the end goal of putting her into the broodmare band.

“We discussed at that time just going ahead and retiring her and getting her bred, but he'd been on a buying spree of building his broodmare band and we had 20 mares in foal,” he added. “He said, 'Look, we've got 20 mares about to have foals, let's go ahead and take her back to the races and see if we can have some fun this year and go ahead and breed her next year.' That was just fine with me, of course.”

Off Topic began working her way back at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. in March and was under consideration for the Allaire du Pont (G3) on the eve of the Preakness Stakes (G1) in mid-May but missed time following a freak training mishap.

“We gave her the winter off and brought her back in the spring, and she was getting ready to run. We were kind of pointing for that race on Preakness weekend with her and were really excited about it,” Schoenthal said. “One day in training she was galloping along, and she's a real strong horse, difficult to gallop, and the rein broke in half. It just snapped right in half while she was galloping. The rider came off and she got loose and ran around the racetrack.

“As luck would have it she tried to make the gap and jumped the fence and scraped her knee all up real bad. It got into the joint so we had to take her off to New Bolton and she had to have surgery and get that all cleaned up,” he added. “That kind of set her back a couple more months. That was really disappointing. It took us a little while to get her over that and get her back to the races.”

Off Topic launched her comeback in the one-mile Twixt Sept. 18 at Laurel, just 16 days shy of one year since her prior start, running seventh. She finished behind Artful Splatter (second), Josie (third), Miss Leslie (fourth) and Lookin Dynamic (sixth) and ahead of Villanelle (eighth) – all of whom return in the Thirty Eight Go Go.

“We were hoping to run her in a two-other than and we just couldn't get one to go. I probably entered her four or five times looking for two-other-thans on the dirt all over the East Coast going long and just didn't have much luck getting her in,” Schoenthal said. “Talking to the owner we decided she's going to go be a broodmare. The goal with her is not to win a $50,000 two-other-than pot. We're trying to enhance her resume a little bit and add some more black type or maybe make her a stakes winner. So we said lets go ahead and put her in these stakes and see if we get lucky.

“She's a great big, huge filly who's a long-striding, grind it out kind of filly. A mile and an eighth, a mile and a quarter is really what she wants, as evidenced by her grade 1 placing at Saratoga going long. We knew that the one-turn mile was not going to be in her favor,” he added. “She was closer to the pace than I expected and then at the quarter pole I think she just got tired and backed out of the fight. I didn't think it was a bad race for the first one back in a long time. She's come back since then and she's breezed three or four times and is training really well. We're really pleased with her and I'm expecting her to move forward and run a better race now.”

Off Topic drew Post 4 under jockey Victor Carrasco and is the longest shot on the morning line in a field of nine at 30-1. Pending the result, she may have one more start in the $100,000 Carousel Dec. 26 at Laurel, the finale in the MATCH Series fillies and mares 3 and up long dirt division.

“Obviously she's a long way removed from her better form and there's some question as to whether she still has it or if she even wants to do it,” Schoenthal said. “I am hopeful. She is one of the nicest horses I've ever been around. She's just as classy as they come. Really more so for her sake, I hope she runs well just because I have such a high opinion of her that I want everybody else to see it, too.

“There's that race in the series next month going a mile and an eighth so I'm hoping to use this race and then run her in that spot at a distance I know she's going to relish,” he added. “After that, I'm sure she'll be retired and off to the breeding shed. I think we have her penciled in to get bred to Charlatan this year. Let's put her on the right track and give her a shot.”

Josie, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, is the 9-5 program favorite. Winner of the Iowa Distaff July 3 at Prairie Meadows, she was beaten less than a length in the Twixt, her most recent start.

Multiple stakes winner Artful Splatter came up a head short of Dreamalildreamofyou after setting the pace in the Twixt, and is back on the dirt after running seventh in the Maryland Million Ladies Oct. 23.

Completing the field are fellow stakes winners Trolley Ride, third in the 2019 Thirty Eight Go Go for trainer Bernie Houghton, and Miss Leslie, along with Scatrattleandroll, Sosua and Villanelle.

The Thirty Eight Go Go honors the two-time Maryland-bred champion bred and trained by Hall of Famer King Leatherbury. Eight of her 10 career wins came in stakes including the Gardenia (G2), Tempted (G3) and Maryland Million Lassie in 1987 and three consecutive runnings of the Geisha (1988-90).

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