Ness, Russell neck-and-neck heading into final weekend
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Trainers Jamie Ness and Brittany Russell are separated by one victory entering the final weekend of the winter meet at Laurel Park, ensuring a tight finish in the race for the training title. Ness entered 14 horses for the final three days and has an obvious edge, but Russell has made the most of her starters all meet and has a chance to run the table with her four entrants.
“We have a couple live ones and hopefully they show up,” Russell said. “It’s cool because the last few meets, it seems like it’s been me and Jamie neck and neck. To just be there tied with him means that we must be pumping out some winners.”
Ness, a longtime powerhouse on the Mid-Atlantic circuit, has enjoyed a familiar rate of success since the meet began Jan. 17, winning with 22 or 86 starters. He shared most of those victories with jockey Jaime Rodriguez, who is well on his way to another riding title with 33 wins this meet.
“The camaraderie is fun,” Ness said. “I’ve been doing this a long time now, got over 40 training titles, and it’s nice when it comes down to the wire. She’s got horses in and I’ve got horses in, and we’ll see how it shakes out.”
Russell, one of the top trainers in the region since her 2018 debut, has only had 54 starters this meet, but her 21 wins nearly match Ness through exceptional efficiency. Ness’s 26 percent strike rate this meet marks him as an exceptionally successful trainer, while Russell’s 39 percent strike rate puts her in the stratosphere.
“I always give the credit to my team,” Russell said. “They’re doing the job helping me get these horses prepared.”
Last Sunday, Ness and Russell went head-to-head when Russell’s Rominski wore down Ness’s Spikezone in the stretch to win his sixth straight start in a $69,000 allowance.
“It was a good horse race with two really good horses,” Ness said. “They laid it down and, unfortunately, we were second best.”
Though Russell is up against it with limited starters this weekend, three of her four horses will face off against Ness runners. In the first race on Friday, Bold Ambition will run for Russell against two Ness horses, Mister Lincoln and J J Valentin. Russell’s High Paf and Ness’s Sassafrassness, both debut winners last time out, will face winners for the first time in the seventh race later that day.
In the fourth race on Saturday, Russell’s Magic Express will race against Ness’s War Master. Russell’s final runner of the meet, the 3-year-old filly Gotanothathingcomn, will race without any competition from Ness in the seventh race that day. If Russell leads after this, Ness will have five horses racing late Saturday and Sunday who can help him make up ground.
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