LAUREL, Md. – Barbadian Runner could not have received a tougher test in his first race against older horses, nor could he have passed in more emphatic fashion. Squaring off with Post Time, a Maryland-bred superstar undefeated in his first 10 starts at Laurel Park, the 3-year-old gelding proved dauntless in the stretch to win the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic by three-quarters of a length. In the winner’s circle after the race, trainer Henry Walters did his best to downplay the monumental feat his gelding accomplished in defeating Post Time in the feature on Maryland Million Day. He stressed that he wasn’t expecting the result, that it was finally time to test him against older horses. Every now and then, a giddy smile betrayed his cool analysis. “Eventually, he'll have to meet some older horses along the line, if he’s this caliber,” Walters said. “I had a lot of support. A lot of people were telling me, ‘You can beat that horse today.’ And I was like, okay, I'm with you.” Before Barbadian Runner walked into his barn, Walters’s first and last stakes victory came in March 2004, when 3-year-old colt Basketball Court closed from sixth to win the $40,000 Horatius. Since January, the trainer has brought Barbadian Runner to six different tracks, notching five stakes victories. In August, he stepped up and took down Kentucky Derby runners Neoequos and Owen Almighty in the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town. There was more than one challenge ahead in the Maryland Million Classic. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. For starters, Post Time was not a Triple Crown entrant nor a merely salty older rival, but a two-time graded stakes winner and the runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile for trainer Brittany Russell, Laurel’s leading trainer. His 10-race undefeated streak at his home track was unprecedented, and even after regressing as a 5-year-old, he still returned to Laurel last month to win the $100,000 Polynesian by 17 lengths. The Maryland-bred only qualified for the Classic after six of the 12 Maryland-sired nominees withdrew. The 1 1/8-mile distance also was an unknown for Barbadian Runner. Earlier in his campaign, Walters cited an aversion to longer races as a reason to avoid the $150,000 Federico Tesio, which could have sent him to the Preakness Stakes. To try the distance for the first time against older horses would have been a profound test, regardless of his company. “He got a little break, and we just rested in his training as he got closer to the race,” Walters said. “Yesterday morning, I blew him out through the lane, because that's what I wanted, that kind of run for him today. That’s what he did.” Blue Kingdom, who crawled on the front end through an opening quarter-mile in 24.98 seconds and the half-mile in 50.31, finished 1 3/4 lengths back in third for trainer Jamie Ness. His front-running performance made life difficult for those running behind him, but the top two runners were up to the task. Closing from fifth in the field of six, Post Time had his work cut out for him and momentarily seemed to be spinning his wheels around the far turn. But when jockey Sheldon Russell angled the 1-9 favorite through a gap on the rail, the eight-time stakes winner came alive and started after Blue Kingdom in earnest. While Post Time was advancing on the inside, jockey Forest Boyce, who had been aboard for all of Barbadian Runner’s prior stakes victories, guided him to the three path to challenge Blue Kingdom on the outside. He and Post Time drove past the early leader at the same time, setting the stage for a pitched battle to the wire. “It really is rare to have a horse that is so like, I feel like you could put him on the lead, you could drag him back to last,” Boyce said. “You could do anything with him. He gives you everything he has. He’s just so reliable.” After being forced to make up more ground on the turn but saving some in the process, Post Time seemed likely to prove his class in another dominant effort. But when Russell and Boyce asked their mounts for one last run, Barbadian Runner was the one who responded. In the gutsiest victory of his 10-race campaign, Barbadian Runner completed the 1 1/8-mile distance in 1:51.09 and paid $14.60 to win. During his post-race interview, Walters was interrupted when Boyce stepped in to hug him and thank him for the mount, one who has changed both of their careers. “I love this horse,” Boyce said. “It means a lot that he gets to, I mean, Post Time’s a big deal. I feel like that gives him a little more street cred.” The jockey said that because of the gelding’s small stature, one would look right past him in a lineup. In five stakes wins, he has never been favored. The competition keeps getting tougher, but he has not yet flinched. Maryland Million Sprint: Slam Notion powers home There were plenty of thrills and close calls on Maryland Million Day at Laurel Park, but Slam Notion did not display a flair for the dramatic in a rock-solid victory to close the card. The 3-year-old gelding took advantage of a perfect trip under jockey Jevian Toledo and powered home to win the $100,000 Maryland Million Sprint by 1 1/4 lengths. “He’s doing something that he didn’t used to do. Before, if he wasn’t right on the front end, laying right off of it, he’d still try, but he wasn’t this type of horse,” trainer Robert Bailes said. “Now, it looks like you can put him anywhere you want to put him.” In Bailes’s second stakes victory and Toledo’s third at Laurel on Saturday, Slam Notion settled into fifth on the backstretch while his two key rivals, 3-2 favorite Haileysfirstnotion and 3-1 third choice Twisted Ride, entered a duel for the early lead through an opening quarter-mile in 22.53. Toledo guided his mount into third while the top pair completed a half-mile in 45.95, and when those two inevitably wore one another out around the far turn, the rest of the race went along as predictably as it could have. Slam Notion circled the front-runners to take a short lead in the stretch and pulled away without further issue. He completed the six-furlong sprint in 1:10.17 and paid $7.20 to win. Twisted Ride, who dueled outside of Haileysfirstnotion all the way around the track, prevailed over that rival by a neck to finish second for trainer Mike Moore. Haileysfirstnotion, trained by Gary Capuano, was 3 1/2 lengths clear of the next finisher. In his last three starts on dirt, Slam Notion has made his own luck in three straight victories, including the $125,000 Star de Naskra at Colonial Downs in July. Adding a stalking dimension to his running style has paid dividends, and he continues improving for Bailes, with seven wins in 11 starts. Maryland Million Ladies: Worth A Dime springs upset Worth A Dime scored the biggest upset across all eight stakes races on Maryland Million Day, closing from well back at 11-1 odds to win the $125,000 Maryland Million Ladies by 2 1/2 lengths. It was her stakes debut for trainer Tim Keefe, and first victory since her debut in May. When early leader Precious Avary faded back to last in the stretch after completing the opening quarter-mile 23.20 and half-mile in 47.31, jockey Jorge Ruiz, aboard Worth A Dime, was one of several riders urging horses forward from the back of the pack. Touisset had the first crack at the front and led by a half-length at the top of the stretch for trainer Ned Allard. Worth A Dime was in fourth and advancing with momentum, and when Ruiz asked for her best in the stretch, she responded with a commanding burst past tiring rivals. The filly, a distant also-ran in her last three allowance starts in open company, completed the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:41.90 and paid $24.80 to win. Juniper Juice, another closer trained by Kevin Boniface, has not won since September 2024 but delivered a solid effort to nab second by a half-length over Touisset. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.