Barn Tour: Brittany Russell updates on 10 stable stars

Brittany Russell, coming off her best year yet and the best of any trainer in Maryland last year, is picking up where she left off.

She already has three graded-stakes wins this year, doubling her career total. Post Time won the Grade 3 General George in February and the Carter (G2) in March. And Apple Picker won the Barbara Fritchie (G3) in February.

“It's quality over quantity,” Russell told Horse Racing Nation on Monday. “Those are the races we want to win. We had a big weekend that weekend that Apple Picker and Post Time won the two Grade 3s here, and then Post Time getting the Grade 2 done, that was a relief. So good stuff.”

Her stable is “trying to kind of gear up for the summer,” she said. “It's always a little bit of a slow start, I feel like, the first part of the year. But between Delaware opening, you've got Colonial Downs to look forward to, we're trying to kind of gear up and get horses right for that.”

Speaking of quality vs. quantity, Russell said she has “less than 100 horses right now. And it's nice. It's actually a good number I can manage between Fair Hill and Laurel. Honestly, I don't want it to get much more than that. It's nice to handle this number. Keep the right kind of horses in the barn.”

Russell provided updates on her graded-stakes winners and others in her stable for the latest in HRN’s Barn Tour series.

Post Time. The 4-year-old Frosted colt has won eight of nine career starts. “Post Time's doing great. We have a couple of races on the radar. I kind of want to just focus on keeping him at one turn at the moment. There's the race Derby weekend (the Churchill Downs, G1). We haven't decided yet. He needs the breeze this weekend. And then, obviously, the Met Mile (G1) fell a little different this year, being at Saratoga. So we haven't made a decision yet. But he's doing great and we have, hopefully, some good stuff ahead with him.”

Post Time had a 10-month break before returning with a win in September. “It was no secret that I struggled with his feet. And I just felt like, after he won the Maryland race as a 2-year-old, that I was just missing something. I thought we had his feet under control. And we sent him for a scan, and something very minor showed up. So we decided to just give him time, and we actually gave him extra time, so it was just kind of an extended vacation and it worked in his favor.”

Russell isn’t surprised that Post Time has been so successful. “We always knew he was a good horse, and we gave him the time. And he won off the bench. I feel like he was set up to hopefully improve with racing. It's satisfying to see that (owner) Ellen Charles does the right thing by her horse and gets the reward.”

Apple Picker. The 4-year-old Connect filly followed her Fritchie win with a fourth-place finish in the Distaff (G3) at Aqueduct. “She came out of the New York race good. I think we're going to plan on the Skipat on Preakness weekend.”

Mission Beach. The 3-year-old son of Curlin, formerly trained by Bob Baffert, is 2-for-6 and will run in Saturday’s Federico Tesio Stakes, an automatic qualifier for the Preakness. “Not sure yet what we're going to do with him. He is sort of a tricky horse, we're not exactly sure what his optimal distance is. So I kind of feel like we're in a current regroup with him, but he's doing great, training good. The horse is in very good shape.”

Saddle Up Jessie. The 5-year-old daughter of More Than Ready had three wins and two seconds in her five starts before finishing eighth in the Azeri (G2) last out. “She's going to run in the Doubledogdare (G3) this weekend. Tough spot, coming off a bit of a clunker at Oaklawn. But she's trained well, she's an honest filly. And naturally you're hoping that she can show up on a day like Friday.” As for the Azeri, she can’t explain what happened. “Didn't come up with a thing. Very disappointing. But you know what? She had a lot of traveling, just sometimes you just draw a line through them and move forward.”

Prince of Jericho. The 4-year-old Munnings colt returned from a six-month break and won an optional-claiming allowance in February and was second by a nose Saturday in the Frank Y. Whiteley Stakes. “What a good man. He's a barn favorite. We're probably going to take a look at the Maryland Sprint. But he ran really hard, actually, on Saturday in defeat, which, props to the winner (Coastal Mission), ran a huge race, very nice horse. But (Prince of Jericho) was on his belly. I think he ran really hard, and it's kind of sad for him to lose. But with that being said, I think we'll take a look at the Maryland Sprint (G3). I think he's back in form. I think we need to focus on three-quarters to seven-eighths, not much farther than that. He came out of that race in good shape and hopefully trains forward.”

Magic Express. This 4-year-old Good Magic gelding has had only three starts, all this year, with one win and a fourth-place finish Friday in a Keeneland allowance. “This is a pretty cool horse. He's taken a lot of patience. And again, props to his owner (Respect the Valleys). I think he's a horse that should improve with racing. And I think we're going to focus on something here at Pimlico in May. He's still an a-other-than, so that's what we're looking for.”

Be Better. The 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo had a three-race win streak last summer but is 1-for-7 since, including a fourth-place finish last out in the Native Dancer stakes. “He's one of those tricky horses, right? Because he needs a pace setup. He's a good, honest, consistent horse, trains great. The other day they let the winner kind of walk the dog on the front. And it's hard to be successful from his running style in a setup like that. So we may take a look at the Pimlico Special (G3). I'm not sure yet. It's one of those weird times a year with a horse like that, but I think we'll probably take a look at the race.”

Regalo. The 3-year-old son of Maximus Mischief was 2-for-3 last year but has two losses in two stakes starts this year, most recently finishing sixth in the Feb. 24 Miracle Wood. “Regalo is back in training. We just freshened him up actually. We castrated him. He became a little bit more unfocused. We thought the horse would improve with racing, but he seemed to become more unfocused going forward. I think he was really starting to understand that he was a colt. So we just castrated him, freshened him up. I'm not trying to push him to make the Sir Barton, but it's a race we might take a look at. Otherwise, we'll just maybe find a good spot for him to come off a little freshening.”

Goodgirl Badhabits is a 4-year-old Mastery filly who won her March 2023 debut and then an optional-claiming allowance before finishing eighth in the Acorn (G1), her most recent start. She returned to training in February. “I thought (she) was going to be a serious horse. And then we took a big swing with her and ended up having to give her some time after the last race. But she's back in training and she looks really good, and we're going to target a two-other-than over at Pimlico on Preakness weekend as well. But I think she could be a serious sprint type this summer.”

And in case you’re wondering where Wondrwherecraig is, “Craig is my pony now. Not at the racetrack, he's not ponying at the racetrack yet. But he's with a friend, sort of learning a different career. He was just such a special horse to us and my daughter. She's only 4, but God, she loves that horse. So we're hoping that in a year's time that he can pack her around.”

The 7-year-old gelded son of Munnings compiled a 20: 8-4-1 record for Russell and won the Bold Ruler (G3) in 2021.