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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.”

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Trainer Howie Tesher Passes Away

Howard (Howie) Tesher, a winner of 1,302 races, including several Grade I events, and a popular figure around the New York racetracks for decades, passed away Friday. He was 87.

According to his niece, Jodie David, Tesher passed away at the Majestic Memory Care Center in Hollywood, Florida, and had been there for about five years dealing with dementia. David said the cause of death was pneumonia.

“He was happy right up to the end,” David said. “There was no patient there like him. He was always grabbing the girls and giving them hugs. When he passed, there was a stream of employees coming by to kiss him goodbye.”

Tesher was born in 1935 in Miami and was a journalism major in college at the University of Miami. Out of college, he worked in his brothers' dental clinic, but soon discovered that he preferred to spend his time around horses, even though he was allergic to them.

Tesher ran his first horse at the old Tropical Park in 1961 and won his first race in 1962 with Weeper's Boy at Suffolk Downs. He trained for such prominent owners as Joseph Allen, Telly Savalas and George Steinbrenner.

“I got my assistant's license with Howie after I left Pat Byrne,” said trainer Steve Margolis. “He treated me like a son. I went through a divorce while I worked for him and that was hard on me because I was young. He was always really helpful and was a really personable person. I worked for him for seven, eight years and it was a great job and I learned a lot from him. He was a kind man and a friend to a lot of people.”

“Howie was one of the nicest people I ever met on the track,” said former jockey agent turned lawyer Drew Mollica. “He had a great sense of humor and was a guy who knew how to train a horse. Racing and the human race will miss him. He was a great stand-up guy in a game with far too many not stand-up guys. I'm proud to say he was my good friend. Rest his soul.”

According to Equibase, Tesher had career earnings of $31,247,483. In terms of earnings, his top horse was Bolshoi Boy, who made $1,039,702 and won the GII Cornhusker H. and the GII Razorback H. in 1987. He also won the 1986 GIII Illinois Derby in 1986.

Tesher won the 1997 GI Man o'War S. and the GI Caesar's International H. in 1997 with Influent. He won the 1986 GI Washington D.C. International with Lieutenant's Lark and the 1993 GI Florida Derby with Bull Inthe Heather. He took over the training of 1982 GI Kentucky Derby winner Gato Del Sol after the horse was transferred from the Ed Gregson barn. Tesher's Champagneforashley won the 1990 Tampa Bay Derby and then finished third as the favorite in the GI Wood Memorial, which was his last career start. Champagneforashley was being pointed for the GI Preakness S., but suffered a career-ending injury two days before the race.

According to equineline.com statistics, which go back only to 1976, Tesher had 51 graded stakes winners. He started his last horse on May 2, 2014 at Gulfstream.

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Walden Racing Gives Fresh Start to An Improbable Team

Kyle Berryman has a lot to look forward to as he opens a new chapter in 2023. He recently celebrated six months of sobriety and, two weeks ago, his boss Will Walden asked him if he would be interested in running the stable's shedrow.

“It's just a title, but it's pretty cool,” Berryman said after wrapping up a busy morning at Turfway Park. “I only have maybe five months of experience working with horses right now, so I'm still brand new and still learning a lot.”

He may shrug off those recent achievements, but Berryman's long days at Turfway this winter are worlds away from the life he was living when the calendar turned over last year.

Berryman is a member of the improbable team that makes up Will Walden Racing. The group consists of six men recovering from substance addiction. They all have their eyes on the winner's circle, but the overarching goal of the team is to encourage each other in remaining sober.

“There is no shedrow if this group of guys makes a decision to go do what they used to do,” Berryman explained. “There would be no Will Walden Racing. Sobriety is our number one thing and the care of these horses is number two. They wouldn't get the care they needed if we weren't sober.”

Will Walden, the 32-year-old son of former Grade I-winning trainer and WinStar's President and CEO Elliott Walden, went through his own painful battle with drug addiction and alcohol abuse. After spending nearly a year at the Shepherd's House, a drug treatment facility in Lexington, Walden began laying out the plans for a substance recovery-based racing barn.

The stable launched in April last year and has steadily added new members–both human and equine–since. Taylor Made's School of Horsemanship, a program designed to work with people recovering from substance abuse and teach them a new vocation in the Thoroughbred business, has sent several graduates interested in furthering their career in racing on to Walden.

“It's about giving guys a second chance,” said Walden. “It's for guys who were in the system, who served prison time, who came from sordid backgrounds and have had their tails kicked in by life. When I got sober, [racing] was all I knew and is what I've always loved. I couldn't think of anything better than to be able to give this to guys I met through something so ugly and so heinous.

“Most of these guys have never touched a horse before, but because of where they came from, they have a hunger for a purpose and a drive for life, and these horses give that to them.”

Eight months after saddling his first starter, Walden closed out the year with promising statistics for 2022. From 41 starts, the stable maintained a 21% winning percentage and ran in the money in nearly half its starts. In December, they brought home a major victory when Kate's Kingdom (Animal Kingdom) gave them their first stakes win in the My Charmer S. at Turfway Park.

While the win was a significant personal achievement for Walden, it meant even more to be able to watch the celebration unfold amongst his team.

“These guys were homeless, they were in jails–myself included,” Walden said. “We've been in some really hopeless places, some really tough spots. But the day that Kate's Kingdom won, they were on top. That day they had the victory. That day they were the champions.”

Walden said that Kate's Kingdom, who was purchased for $400,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton Digital Flash Sale in November by Stephen Screnci, remains in training and is pointing for an upcoming stakes at Turfway on January 14.

Kate's Kingdom's success is doubly special because the 5-year-old is owned by a partnership that includes Frank Taylor. To help Walden get his stable off its feet last year, Taylor formed Ready Made Racing–a pinhook-to-race venture that provided Walden with his 10 original trainees.

Walden's stable has grown so rapidly since it first launched that they are now transitioning away from relying on Ready Made Racing as its sole client and officially transferring into Will Walden Racing. With 15 horses currently stabled at Turfway, they're steadily adding in new owners like Cypress Creek Equine, Elliott Logan's TEC Racing and Three Diamonds Farm.

“These [owners] are willing to put in their time and money to back us when not a lot of people would,” Walden explained. “But our goals are big in this game. We're not out here for any participation trophies. We want to be the best. We hope to accrue more horses, but we're not really worried about that now. We're grateful for the 15 we have.”

Tyler Maxwell is an integral member of Walden's team. Maxwell grew up out West riding cutting and sorting horses and now serves as Walden's assistant and exercise rider. The pair met at the Shepherd's House and after they both completed the program, Walden invited his friend to join him in starting up a stable.

“Never in a million years did I think that I'd be riding for living,” said Maxwell, who has been sober for two years. “I had never ridden Thoroughbreds before and I really didn't know anything, but I have come a long way and it's because of Will. I never would have done this if I didn't trust him.”

Maxwell added that he considers Walden to be a brother first and an employer second.

“Some days that gets a little quirky,” he said with a wry grin. “But God has put me in his life and him in mine for a reason.”

Walden's team is more than just a collection of co-workers. The group is working and living together during the Turfway meet, but the bond they share runs much deeper than their admiration for the horses they care for. Along with Will, Tyler and Kyle, the team includes Scott, who has been with them for almost two months, as well as Mike and Nate, who both joined the group two weeks ago.

“These guys are coming to us from addiction or alcoholism and they see all these different walks of life and all these different lengths of sobriety that come together to form our team,” Walden explained. “We enjoy each other's company. We enjoy each other's mentorship. We enjoy this journey that life is. Where I used to be addicted to how I felt every single minute of the day, now I can walk into the barn and take a deep breath, let the slack out of my shoulders and just enjoy what is in front of us today.”

There's an unmistakably light atmosphere in Walden's barn at Turfway and the conditioner said that the horses have responded to it.

“What you think, they feel,” he explained. “So if you're walking around with a low head worried about yourself and how miserable your life is, you're going to pass that on to these horses. If you keep things light and positive and jubilant, that energy passes on to them. If you walk down our shedrow at any given time, these horses aren't sitting in the back of their stalls with their ears pinned back. They're out there bobbing their heads and looking for attention.”

“The energy and love that we have for these horses is contagious,” added Maxwell. “And they carry it out there on the track.”

Last week, the Will Walden Racing team got its first win of the year with Clear the Air (Ransom the Moon), who broke his maiden at second asking on Friday while carrying the Cypress Creek Equine silks.

When they're not busy at the barn, Walden places an emphasis on furthering the education of each member of his team. Recently, the group began taking off-track field trips to learn about various aspects of the industry. Their first outing was to Jonabell Farm, where they visited the Darley stallions.

“We don't want to bring them onto the racetrack and say, 'This is it for you,'” Walden explained. “We want to encourage these guys to pursue their dreams in whatever facet of the industry, if it even is this industry, that they want to be involved in.”

While Walden aims to maintain a recovery-based stable even as his list of employees grows, his goals for the operation go beyond just the members of his team. He hopes that their barn can be a safe haven for people on the backside who carry struggles similar to the ones he and his team have gone through.

“Nobody wants to go around and talk about their alcoholism and addiction,” he said. “But if people know we're here and they know we're open and willing to talk about it, maybe they come in and voice what they're going through.”

During his first year in the industry, Maxwell has found a lifelong passion for the sport and for sitting on the back of a Thoroughbred.

“Horses have definitely played a big part in my recovery,” he said. “On the days that it was hard for me to find God, horses were there to talk to. Some people probably think I'm crazy because I'm sitting there talking to a horse, but these horses are intuitional.”

While he could easily further his career by finding another job, Maxwell said that Walden's barn is where he belongs.

“It's not about me anymore,” he said. “It's about these guys coming in and watching that spark come inside.”

Maxwell stays with Walden's team for people like Kyle Berryman, who made a commitment to living and working alongside people who are also recovering from substance addiction during the first year of his sobriety.

“Experience is the greatest teacher,” Berryman explained. “Chances are that Will and Tyler have been through what I'm going through. We all share this common bond.”

While the encouragement of his teammates has been key to Berryman's sobriety over the past six months, so too has been the connection he has formed with the horses.

“The bond I share with them is like no other,” he said. “If you really don't feel like dealing with humans that day, you go in and start grooming a horse and I know they're listening. I can feel it. I can see it in their eyes. These horses, they rely on us. I take pride in that. When you take one up to the paddock, there's that minute where I'm thinking of nothing but what is going on right in that moment. That's not how my past has been. It's been ten miles in the future or ten miles in the past. But I feel like with this, I can finally feel like I can be in the moment, and that's precious to me.”

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Memorial Service For Angel Penna, Jr. at Gulfstream

Angel Penna, Jr. will be remembered Saturday during an 11:30 a.m. memorial service in the winner's circle at Gulfstream Park. Penna, the son of Hall of Fame trainer Angel Penna Sr., will be honored on the same day Gulfstream plays host to the Via Borghese, a race named after one of Penna's many graded-stakes winners. The winning trophy will be presented by his late father's wife, Elinor, and his widow, Ruth.

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