sheldon russell | Horse Racing Free Tips

Jockey Sheldon Russell Will Require Surgery For Broken Foot

Sheldon Russell, the top money-winning jockey in Maryland this year, will have surgery to repair an injury to his right foot suffered in a pre-race spill Sept. 9 at Laurel Park.

Russell, 34, got the news Monday after visiting Dr. Jacob Wisbeck, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in foot and ankle injuries, at MedStar Health in Timonium, Md. Russell said a date for surgery won't be determined before a follow-up visit Sept. 20.

“What we found out is it's the main bone in the foot and needs to be addressed. If I opted not to do the surgery and heal it by myself there's chances of dislocation [and other complications],” Russell said. “He's given me another week to get the swelling down.

“I'll sit down with him next Monday at 8 o'clock and we'll X-ray the foot [again]. Hopefully some of the swelling has gone down and we can sort of schedule something,” he added. “Right now that's probably the route I'm taking to do the right thing. I'm going to be off regardless, so why not get it fixed properly.”

This year Russell has $2,497,146 in purse earnings in Maryland, leading 18-year-old runner-up Charlie Marquez by just under $100,000. Russell's 65 wins are second to Marquez's 79.

Russell was hurt after being thrown when Little Bit of That, a 2-year-old Maryland-bred Great Notion filly trained by his wife, Brittany Russell, reared in the post parade of her scheduled first start. She got loose and was scratched from the maiden special weight event, and is entered again to make her debut Thursday under jockey Forest Boyce.

“We'd done some schooling with her in the morning. She'd never shown any signs of doing anything silly. It's just one of those freak accidents,” Sheldon Russell said. “She got out with the pony and she walked a couple of steps and I don't know. She was walking like a professional, like she knew what her job was to do, and all of a sudden something spooked her and she jumped back.

“It wasn't the pony's fault or anything like that,” he added. “She was going like she was going to go over and she's throwing me off. She threw me so high. The right foot landed in the dirt first and it went toes in. When they took me off the track I said to Brittany, 'My foot's broken.'”

Russell said he was diagnosed with a Lisfranc injury, involving both the bones and ligaments in middle part of his foot, due to the way he landed and causing separation between his first two toes. Surgery may include inserting hardware to stabilize the area.

“[Dr. Wisbeck] said it happens a lot to football and baseball players. He was saying catchers get it from when they jump straight up,” Russell said. “He had a lot of jerseys up in his office. I felt good seeing someone like that.”

Russell, whose wife is expecting their second child in seven weeks, was fitted with a boot and told to keep weight off the foot for three months. Among his upcoming mounts were Wondrwherecraigis in the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) and multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful in the $100,000 Weather Vane, both on Saturday.

“I'm in for a long run,” Russell said. “But, it could have been worse. That's all I can think about. I'm home, I'm safe, and I have my family around me.”

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Wondrwherecraigis Leads Field For De Francis Dash At Laurel

It's on to the $200,000 Grade 3 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash for newly minted stakes winner Wondrwherecraigis, who tuned up for his return to graded competition with an easy half-mile breeze Saturday morning at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables' 4-year-old gelding Wondrwherecraigis went four furlongs in :49 over Laurel's main track, which underwent a multi-million dollar reconstruction over the summer.

It was the second work for Wondrwherecraigis since earning his first career stakes victory Aug. 13 in the Tale of the Cat at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He also breezed a half-mile in :49.20 Sept. 3.

“That's all we wanted,” trainer Brittany Russell said of Saturday's work. “He's great. He's in good form. He's happy and he's training well. We have a lot going on at the moment, but it looks like we're going to move forward to next week.”

The six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up headlines four stakes worth $500,000 in purses Saturday, Sept. 18 at Laurel, which launched its calendar year-ending fall meet Thursday. Joining the De Francis are the $100,000 Weather Vane for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting six furlongs and a pair of $100,000 stakes going one mile, the Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up and Twixt for females 3 and older.

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

Named for the late president and chairman of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, the De Francis' illustrious roster of winners includes Hall of Famer Housebuster, fellow sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor's Echo and Benny the Bull, and Lite the Fuse, the race's only two-time winner (1995-96) honored with his own stakes race in Maryland.

Wondrwherecraigis has won each of his last two starts, both in front-running fashion. Saratoga meet champion Luis Saez was aboard in the six-furlong Tale of the Cat, beating fellow De Francis nominee My Boy Tate by 2 ¾ lengths in 1:10.09. He was a popular 5 ¾-length winner of a July 18 optional claiming allowance at Pimlico under Russell's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell.

The connections will need a new rider as Sheldon Russell suffered a broken foot after being thrown from his horse during the post parade of Thursday's opening day finale at Laurel and will be out indefinitely.

Other jockeys to have ridden Wondrwherecraigis include Jose Lezcano and Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, the latter in the 2020 Grade 2 Amsterdam last August where they ran fourth in the Munnings gelding's only previous graded-stakes attempt.

Sheldon Russell is also the regular rider for six-time stakes winner Hello Beautiful, trained by his wife and owned by Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables, and Magic City Stables and scheduled to start in the Weather Vane. Hello Beautiful, who gave Russell his 1,500th career victory in the July 31 Alma North at Pimlico, breezed a half-mile in :48.60 Sept. 8.

“We'll just regroup here the next couple days and see what we're going to do,” Brittany Russell said.

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Other De Francis nominees breezing Saturday were Mucho, four furlongs in :50.80 at the Churchill Downs' Trackside training center for trainer John Ortiz; and Gary Capuano-trained stablemates Band On Tour (:48.20) and Threes Over Deuces (:48.40) at Delaware Park.

Band On Tour, 4, exits a six-furlong optional claiming allowance win Aug. 7 at Pimlico. Threes Over Deuces is a stakes winner that has run second or third in six others including a runner-up finish to Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire in the 2020 Grade 3 General George at Laurel.

Mucho leads the 3-year-old and up dirt sprint division of the MATCH Series with 20 points, two more than defending De Francis champion and fellow nominee Laki. Winner of the July 31 Challedon at Pimlico, Mucho is also tied with Chub Wagon for the overall MATCH Series championship.

Kentucky-based Ortiz said Saturday that Mucho is being pointed to the Grade 2 Phoenix Oct. 8 at Keeneland, an automatic qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint Nov. 6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“I know we're sitting so close to winning the MATCH Series, but when a horse is doing this well you have to take advantage,” Ortiz said. “Kentucky being our home and his home track and Lexington being my hometown, I just think it's best to get a 'Win and You're In' while things are going the right way.”

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Jockey Sheldon Russell Out Indefinitely With Broken Foot

Champion jockey Sheldon Russell, ranked second by wins among Maryland riders this year, will be out indefinitely with a foot injury suffered during Thursday's opening day program finale at Laurel Park.

Russell, 34, was hurt after being dropped by Little Bit of That, a 2-year-old Maryland-bred filly trained by his wife, Brittany Russell, when the daughter of Great Notion reared in response to her accompanying pony acting up.

Both horses got loose and were caught, with Little Bit of That scratched from the 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight turf sprint for juvenile fillies, her career debut. The race was won by another first-time starter, Kit Keller.

“His horse reared up in the post parade,” agent Marty Leonard, who also represents jockey Jevian Toledo, said. “He was thrown off the horse and just landed on it wrong.”

Russell was carried from the track and taken for evaluation. He is scheduled to have a follow-up appointment next week to determine the severity of the injury.

“He broke a bone in his foot,” Leonard said. “We don't know more right now. He's going to see a specialist on Monday. We'll know more then.”

Russell went 1-for-4 on opening day of Laurel's calendar year-ending fall meet, winning with his first mount, Ten Strike Racing's sophomore Paynter gelding Arrio also trained by his wife in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight for horses 3, 4 and 5.

Maryland's overall leading rider in 2011, Russell earned the most recent of his eight career meet titles at Laurel's 2020 fall stand. He ranked second at Laurel's winter meet to open 2021, one victory behind 2020 Eclipse Award winner Alexander Crispin, and finished fifth with 26 wins during the extended four-month Preakness Meet at historic Pimlico Race Course that ended Aug. 22.

Russell has 65 wins in Maryland this year, second only to teenage sensation Charlie Marquez's 79 through Thursday. He earned career win No. 1,500 aboard Hello Beautiful in the Alma North July 31 at Pimlico, and celebrated by gifting $1,500 to her groom, Luis Barajas.

Though beset by injuries early in his career, Russell had been riding at full health since the spring of 2017 before suffering a broken right wrist last July at Delaware Park that cost him two months. He closed 2020 strongly by capturing the Laurel meet title, his first since 2015, and ranking third overall with 86 wins in Maryland.

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Malibu Beauty Gets First Stakes Win In Miss Disco At Pimlico

ZWP and Non Stop Stable's homebred Malibu Beauty registered her fourth win in the last six starts and first in a stakes, going gate to wire under Sheldon Russell to capture the $75,0000 Miss Disco by 4 ½ lengths at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.

Malibu Beauty ($2.80) and her Gary Capuano-trained stablemate Hitch a Ride are both front-running types, but it was the former that go to the lead first from Post 2 and held it through fractions of :23.26 and :46.56 pressed by Response Time. The top two made the turn together while My My Girl swung outside to make a run and Hitch a Ride hugged the rail.

“It was just depending on who broke good. Malibu broke sharp and the other horse was outside. I just said I don't want you going head-and-head setting it up for somebody coming off the pace,” Capuano said. “Then [Response Time] ended up going with Malibu and Hitch a Ride just tracked nice. They both ran great races today.”

With some encouragement from Russell, Malibu Beauty was able to open up on her rivals through the stretch as Hitch a Ride came through on the inside to edge My My Girl by a nose for second with Response Time fourth. Seven-time stakes winner Street Lute was scratched.

The winning time was 1:11.48 over a fast main track.

Malibu Beauty has been first or second in her last six starts, with each of her two losses coming by a half-length – one to Street Lute in the June 13 Stormy Blues at Pimlico, and the other against elders in an open allowance July 1 at Delaware Park.

“She's a real nice filly, been getting better each time. She's just cool,” Capuano said. “She got beat couple tough races, but other than that she's been really good.”

The Miss Disco pays tribute to Alfred G. Vanderbilt's Maryland-bred multiple stakes winner, dam of 1957 Preakness (G1) winner and Hall of Famer Bold Ruler and granddam of fellow Hall of Famer and 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat.

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