The fifth running of the Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and older was the first of three $100,000 stakes on the final program of July, followed by the Challedon, also sprinting six furlongs, and 1 1/8-mile Deputed Testamony, both for 3-year-olds and up.

All three races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.

It was the eighth career win and sixth in a stakes for Hello Beautiful ($2.20), who is trained by Russell's wife, Brittany. The final time of 1:09.63 was the fastest of two runnings at the current distance.

“It's always anxious because she means so much to us and she's been so good,” Sheldon Russell said. “As soon as she got the first quarter, I knew that she was in her happy place and it was cruise control from there. The final time was extremely impressive. She's a good filly.

“I'm just very happy that we got it out of the way, and for it to happen on Hello Beautiful. She's been a great filly throughout my career, she's given me some great wins,” he added. “She was mine and Brittany's first stakes winner together, so for me to reach a milestone on one of our favorite fillies, it's something I'll never forget.”

To commemorate the milestone, Russell teamed with agent Marty Leonard to gift Hello Beautiful's groom, Luis Barajas, with $1,500. It was a gesture Russell began with $1,000 for his 1,000th winner on March 7, 2015, with Shayjolie in the Cat Cay at Aqueduct.

“Luis has been with us for about a year now. He's a key role behind the scenes at the barn and he takes care of some really, really nice fillies,” Russell said. “He's got years of experience, so when they come with that kind of background, straight away when he came into Brittany's barn she gave him the best five horses pretty much that she has.

“It's good that the money's coming home. I see these guys on a daily basis and for them to make the extra money is always great,” he added. “Just finally to have gotten the 1,500, we can start moving forward now. I was starting to feel the pressure there. I had a couple of close finishes [Friday] and then today. It takes the pressure off.”

Beaten at the wire in his first mount of the day, 3-5 favorite Make It a Double in Race 2 for trainer Anthony Farrior, Russell and Hello Beautiful quickly established command as the 1-9 choice in a field of five. They rolled through a quarter-mile in :23.41 and a half in :45.84 with mild pressure from Call On Mischief.

Hello Beautiful straightened for home in front and shook loose through the stretch from Call On Mischief, who stayed up for second by a neck over Precious, followed by Bluefield and Paisley Singing. Club Car was scratched.

It was the first win in three tries at Pimlico for Hello Beautiful, having run third in her May 10, 2019 unveiling and second by a neck to undefeated Chub Wagon in the June 13 Shine Again. Bred in Maryland by Ellen Charles' Hillwood Stable, Hello Beautiful was picked out and purchased by Brittany Russell for $6,500 at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic December 2018 mixed sale.

“The question was always is she a horse for the course at Laurel and she's run two big races at Pimlico now so it's good that she can run on a different surface, as well. It feels great,” Brittany Russell said.

Hello Beautiful won the Jan. 16 What A Summer, 2020 Safely Kept and Maryland Million Distaff, and 2019 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship and Maryland Million Lassie, all with Sheldon Russell aboard at Laurel Park. She now has earnings of $464,610 from 16 lifetime starts and a milestone win for husband and wife, who are parents to daughter, Edy, who turns 2 next month, and are expecting a second child in November.

“It's really incredible it worked out that way, especially because [Sheldon] was on a very live horse of Farrior's in the second race and they're very good friends of ours,” she added. “I would have been just as happy to see him do it on his horse, but then when the horse got nailed on the line, selfishly I thought, 'Ok. It's going to be the big filly.' She means so much to us. It's very special.”

Russell was Maryland's overall leading rider in 2011 and has won eight career meet titles, the most recent coming at Laurel Park's calendar year-ending 2020 fall stand. He has battled various injuries over the course of his career and currently ranks second to Charlie Marquez for the state's most wins in 2021.

“In this game, you've got to stay healthy. The wins will always come. Knock on wood, we've been on a bit of a roll here and not been injured for a while,” Sheldon Russell said. “Just very fortunate. I'm happy to get to this milestone; hopefully, we can get to 2,000.”

The Alma North is named for the Maryland-bred champion 3-year-old filly and Horse of the Year in 1971 and Maryland-bred champion older filly of 1972. Owned by the late Eugene Mori's East Acres Stable, Alma North won 23 of 78 career starts with $513,597 in purse earnings from 1970-74. Her victories included graded-stakes scores in the Grade 1 Matchmaker and Grade 2 Vineland, Grade 3 Margate, and Grade 3 Betsy Ross handicaps in 1973.

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Marquez, who turns 18 Jan. 25, had two mounts as live racing returned to Laurel on Friday. The Columbia, Md., native finished second with Milam Racing Stables' Hydra in Race 2, a starter optional claimer for older females, and was seventh after pressing the pace on Komlo LLC's Determined Honor in Race 3, a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies..

“[Hydra] ran very well. I knew Vic's Cool Cat was going to be tough and I thought [1-2 favorite Uno Tigress] was going to be tough in there, too, but I don't think she liked being down on the inside,” Marquez said. “I kind of just tried to keep Hydra engaged and keep the favorite down on the fence.

“When we kicked on down the lane, she kind of kicked on with them but Vic's Cool Cat just kind of ran away from us,” he added. “[Determined Honor], she ran great, I thought. I think she may be been in a little over her head but she can definitely win for claiming $10,000.”

Friday marked the first time riding back in Maryland for Marquez since closing day of Laurel's extended summer meet last Sept. 19, before moving his tack to Belmont Park and then Aqueduct with Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr. as his agent.

“It feels great. I love being home,” Marquez said. “There's nothing like home. New York was fun and it was a great learning experience, but I'd much rather be home with my family and all the horses I'm familiar with and my jocks' room family.”

Marquez made his professional debut at age 16 running fourth on Up Hill Battle Jan. 1 at Laurel, getting his first win eight days later on his eighth career mount, Sierra Leona. Marquez would go on to rank third at Laurel's winter meet, cut short when live racing was paused in Maryland for 2 ½ months from mid-March to late May amid the coronavirus pandemic, registering hat tricks March 8 and 15. He was also third at Laurel's summer stand, compiling seven multi-win days.

Overall, Marquez's 58 wins were the most of any apprentice in Maryland last year and put him in a tie with Xavier Perez for sixth overall behind Trevor McCarthy's (99). He continues to ride with a five-pound weight allowance.

“I thought I had a great 2020. The COVID really put a stop on things,” Marquez said. “Right before COVID happened, I was on fire. I was winning three a day and then COVID happened. When we came back I was still winning, but I can't really see what would have happened if covid didn't happen. Could I have been leading rider? You never know.”

Marquez spread nine wins over three different meets in New York, going 1-for-12 in 2021 at Aqueduct before making the move back to Maryland, where he will be represented by Marty Leonard. He last rode Jan. 3 at Aqueduct.

The son and grandson of successful jockeys both in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Marquez went down in an Oct. 10 spill at Belmont with what was initially thought to be a fractured right wrist. It turned out to be a sprain, and he rode three races Oct. 18 before taking time off and returning Nov. 14 at Aqueduct.

Marquez ended his rookie season with 71 wins and $1,981,358 in purse earnings from 531 mounts, also winning multiple races at Delaware Park and Penn National. Finalists for Eclipse Award finalists as champion apprentice of 2020 will be announced Saturday and are expected to include current Maryland regular Alexander Crispin (539 mounts, 103 wins, $2.19 million).

“Of course, it'd be a pleasure to be nominated but I'm not really thinking about it right now,” Marquez said. “If I am, then that's great. It was a great year.”

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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.

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Seize the Day ($3.60), trained by Ben Feliciano Jr., was a pickup mount for Toledo in Sunday's ninth-race finale, replacing Julian Pimentel in the seven-furlong claimer for 3-year-olds and up.

Toledo also won twice Sunday for trainer Anthony Farrior aboard Lectric Choke ($10) in Race 2 and Union Song ($14.60) in Race 4. Toledo's other win came with Carlos Mancilla-trained Catch the Sky ($4.80) in Race 7.

“It was a really nice day. I looked at the program and my horses, a couple of them were favorites but the other ones weren't but they had some chance. Thank God we had some really nice trips,” Toledo said. “A few of them, I could go to the rail and it opened up for me and that was the key. When you have a good horse with a nice trip, you're going to win races.”

Union Song, a 4-year-old daughter of Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Union Rags, was being ridden for the third straight race by Toledo. Two starts back she was beaten a neck when second in a one-mile claimer Nov. 8, and last out she reared at the break and raced wide when fourth in an optional claimer going the same distance Dec. 3.

“They were schooling her for this race,” Toledo said. “The last time she kind of broke bad and they worked with her for this race. Anthony did a really good job with her and we got some room on the rail and she went through perfect.”

Represented by agent Marty Leonard, Toledo is second with 33 wins at Laurel's fall meet which wraps up Dec. 27. He trails Leonard's other client, Sheldon Russell, by nine wins with two days remaining.

“We're having a really good meet. I have to thank God and all the trainers and owners and my agent for doing a really good job,” Toledo said. “They've been helping me a lot and we've been doing good.”

Notes: Five-pound apprentice Alexander Crispin visited the winner's circle twice Sunday with Bananas On Fire ($4) in Race 3 and Oxide ($7) in Race 8 … There will be a $9,551.29 jackpot carryover in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 when live racing returns to Laurel Park Saturday, Dec. 26. Multiple tickets with all six winners Sunday each returned $704.98 … There will be no live racing at Laurel on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The Christmastide Day program Dec. 26 will feature eight stakes worth $850,000 in purses led by the $150,000 Allaire du Pont (G3).

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Russell captured Friday's opener with 1-2 favorite Chloe Rose ($3), a 2-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy making her second career start. He followed up with 4-year-old filly Nana's Shoes ($4) in Race 2 and 2-year-old Bullsbay gelding Maythehorsebwithu ($5.40) in Race 3.

Among his remaining mounts Friday, Russell was third with Remain Anonymous in Race 6, second with Nomo Ron in Race 7.

“It's always nice to start the day off with a win, let alone the first three. It puts you on just such a high,” Russell said. “I knew coming into the day I had a couple of live mounts. You need good trips. We got off to a good start and to be fair all my horses ran well.”

Both Chloe Rose and Maythehorsebwithu, the latter runner-up in the First State Dash Sept. 26 at Delaware Park, are trained by Russell's wife, Brittany Russell, who is tied with Claudio Gonzalez for the fall meet lead with 21 wins.

“We have a great work ethic together. I know what she wants and she knows what she's doing. She keeps me busy in the morning and feel like we both understand her horses,” Sheldon Russell said. “We're both on the same page and we've got a great team behind us. You can just see the horses are well-spotted and they're running really well right now.”

Represented by agent Marty Leonard, Russell has 39 wins at the fall meet, 13 more than runner-up Jevian Toledo with Trevor McCarthy third at 25. McCarthy and his fiancé, jockey Katie Davis, have moved their tack to New York for the Aqueduct winter meet and plan to return to Maryland in the spring.

“I'm just very pleased, riding the right horses. Marty's doing a great job for me in the mornings,” Russell said. “Just want to ride this high out through the end of the month. We've had a fantastic last two months, really. I couldn't be happier.”

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Making her third career start, all since mid-June, M. J.'s Lady ($12) ran one mile in 1:40.60 for the milestone win. It gave Toledo a sweep of Friday's maiden special weight events for fillies and mares 3 and up, also taking Race 3 with Dontletsweetfoolya ($6.80) for No. 999.

He becomes the second rider this year to reach 1,000 wins at Laurel following his close friend, Victor Carrasco, who did it Jan. 26. Carrasco, the champion apprentice of 2013, is currently sidelined for six weeks with a fractured right elbow.

“Whenever you win a race, you feel happy. When you win a thousand, you feel amazing like all the hard work pays off,” Toledo said. “I just feel blessed. I have to thank God. Without him, we wouldn't be here. I have to thank the owners, trainers, grooms, exercise riders, hotwalkers, my agent – everybody does a great job.”

Toledo leads all riders at Laurel's summer meet in mounts (124) and purse earnings ($578,122) and is third behind Sheldon Russell (20) and Trevor McCarthy (15) in wins. Russell, like Toledo represented by agent Marty Leonard, is out 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist.

M.J.'s Lady had only one horse beat through a half-mile as Peachy Between Us set fractions of 23.27 and 46.98 seconds. Toledo moved the 3-year-old daughter of First Dude between horses on the far turn, shifted down to the rail for running room once straightened for home, wrested the lead from Ski Bunny inside the eighth pole and edged clear to win by three-quarters of a length.

“In the beginning my filly give me everything that she had and I feel comfortable how I was going. By the three-eighths pole, she grabbed the bit and I said I think I have a good chance to hit the board,” Toledo said. “To be honest, at the three-eighths I didn't feel I was going to win the race, but coming to the stretch when I found the hole on the inside, she passed the other horses and kept going.”

A native of Puerto Rico, where Carrasco, Manny Franco and Jorge Vargas Jr. were among his classmates at the famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school, Toledo won 33 races before coming to the U.S. in the spring of 2013. He earned his first domestic win June 8, 2013 aboard Peaceadaaction at Pimlico Race Course.

He led all Maryland riders in wins in 2015 and 2017 and ranked second in 2016, finishing third in 2018 and fifth in 2014 and 2019. Toledo owns five meet titles at Laurel, the most recent coming at its 2018 summer stand.

Toledo won graded-stakes with Divisidero in the 2018 Arlington Handicap (G3) and Miss Behaviour in the 2014 Charles Town Oaks (G3) and has also regularly ridden multiple stakes winners O Dionysus, Sonny Inspired, Las Setas, Name Changer and Talk Show Man.

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Agent Marty Leonard said the 32-year-old Russell was hurt after being unseated by his mount Maliceinthepalace, a 3-year-old filly trained by Michael Gorham, as the horses were loading for Delaware's third race. Maliceinthepalace would go on to run fourth under Alex Cintron.

“Walking into the gate the horse just reared up and he came off. When he came off, he landed on the ground and used his hand to brace his fall and that's what did it,” Leonard said. “The second he hit the ground he said he knew it was broken. They went and got X-rays and that confirmed it.

Leonard said Russell, married to Laurel-based trainer Brittany Russell, is expected to be out “four to six weeks.”

Sheldon Russell led Laurel's summer meet, which began May 30 following a 2 ½-month pause in live racing amid the coronavirus pandemic, with 20 wins and $568,391 in purse earnings, five wins ahead of runner-up Trevor McCarthy.

Russell had five multi-win days during the summer stand, including hat tricks June 6, 8 and 12. He is the regular rider for multiple stakes-winning 3-year-old filly Hello Beautiful, under consideration for the Test (G1) Aug. 8 at Saratoga and trained by his wife.

A winner of 1,392 career races, Russell ranked second in Maryland with 93 wins and $3.3 million in purses earned in 2019. The state's leading rider in 2011, he is a seven-time meet champion owning five titles at Laurel and two at Pimlico Race Course between 2008 and 2015.

Though he has been ridden at full health since the spring of 2017, Russell's career has been beset by injuries. He suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb in 2016; torn labrum and fractured shoulder in a November 2015 training accident; broken ribs (2015, 2010), punctured lung (2015), broken foot (2013), broken wrist (2008) and fractured vertebrae (2007, 2008).

“Unfortunately, he's gone through this before. It's never, 'why me' with him. I don't know how he does it, but he takes it well. He takes it in stride. I'm sure he's disappointed, but he's a true professional. He's just going to get healthy and get back to riding again. That's what he does,” Leonard said. “He's a great person.”

Laurel's summer meet, which had been racing Fridays and Saturdays since May 30, will move to a three-day schedule starting Thursday, July 23. Racing will be conducted Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Saturday, Aug. 22.

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