Preakness: Undefeated Taj Mahal is a rising star for Russell

Undefeated multiple stakes winner Taj Mahal enjoys his role as the rising star in a deep stable of talented horses trained by Brittany Russell and based at Laurel Park, where the Preakness Stakes will be held next Saturday.

Taj Mahal earned an automatic entry to the middle jewel of the Triple Crown for his 8 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio on April 18, which improved the bay colt to 3-0 lifetime. All his races, including a determined front-running neck triumph in the one-mile Miracle Wood on Feb. 21, have come at Laurel.

“After he ran in the Tesio, he seemed to know. He had that air (about him). We all came back to the barn and he was just posing,” Russell said. “He’s funny in the morning. (Regular exercise rider) Alex (Beitia) spoils him a little bit, as all the good horses seem to get. He takes his time walking to the track, stops, looks around, loves for everyone to have a look at him. He’s that guy.”

The plan is to give Taj Mahal a second work since the Tesio on Saturday at Laurel, weather permitting. Russell moved last weekend’s work from Sunday to Saturday to give her some wiggle room.

“He came out of the last work good,” Russell said. “I do plan on working Saturday. If I had to push it back to Sunday, it wouldn’t be the biggest deal.”

Taj Mahal had a regular jog and gallop day Wednesday with Beitia, who was up for a bullet five-furlong breeze in 1:00.40 last Saturday, fastest of 12 horses including fellow Preakness contender The Hell We Did.

“We’ll have a couple mile and a halfs at the end of the week into his work. That was kind of my plan,” Russell said. “He does a lot in his gallops and that was a pretty good work the other day, not that it took anything out of him.”

Owned by the SF Racing-led partnership, Taj Mahal shares identical ownership to another Preakness contender, Cherokee Nation, a $1.15 million yearling trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert.

Taj Mahal began his career on the West Coast with Baffert but was moved to Russell, a move the connections have made with several other horses in recent years, and won his Feb. 6 unveiling just 15 days before the Miracle Wood. The ease with which Taj Mahal put in and exited his breezes got Team Russell excited.

“That’s kind of what caught our attention from the beginning,” she said. “Then I started putting him up beside some good horses and I’m like, ‘Hmm, is that other horse just not doing good or is this horse stepping up?’ He’s just always kind of handled everything we’ve thrown at him.”

After breezing solo last weekend, Taj Mahal is scheduled to have a workmate this weekend. His sire, 2015 juvenile champion Nyquist, was third in the 2016 Preakness after winning the Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby.

“I plan to work him in company, but I’m still sorting out who I’m going to send with him,” Russell said. “It’s tricky because I probably only have a select few where it would be beneficial for both horses.”