Post Time comes home seeking class relief in Polynesian repeat bid
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Caught in one of the toughest older dirt horse divisions in the last decade, trainer Brittany Russell said Thursday that Post Time will not return to the Breeders’ Cup in 2025. Opportunities on the national stage have spelled disappointment for the Maryland-bred in his 5-year-old campaign, but not all is lost for the Mid-Atlantic star. There are always opportunities to make history at home.
Coming off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Whitney, Post Time will return to Laurel Park on Sunday as an overwhelming favorite in the $100,000 Polynesian Stakes. He will enter the race, which he won by 11 1/2 lengths last year, with a flawless nine-race record at his home track.
“We love bringing him home,” Russell said. “He loves the track at home and I think he has a lot of fans here. Anything can happen, but you hope it works out how you think it’s going to.”
In the past 35 years, many horses have enjoyed historic careers at Laurel. Between 2009 and 2018, Maryland-bred gelding Classic Wildcat won 21 races in 74 starts at the track, more victories than any other horse since 1991. In May 2016, turf sprinter Ben’s Cat won his 11th and final race at Laurel, where he had eight stakes wins in the prior six years.
There are countless success stories along these lines at the track, from iron horses like Bay Capp and Carolina League to bright flames like Smart ’N Noble and Alwaysmining. But none of these runners stack up to Post Time. His nine-race undefeated streak at the track stands alone in Laurel’s modern history, and he now has the chance to extend it even further in the Polynesian.
Not only has Post Time consistently managed to take care of business at his home track over the years, but he has often done so in devastating fashion. His average margin of victory in races at Laurel is just over 5 1/2 lengths.
Last year, Post Time used a blowout victory at a mile in the Polynesian as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, where he finished second in the biggest race of his career. He didn’t race at home again until May, when he earned a 13 1/4-length allowance victory in his 2025 debut.
After a hard-fought third to Mystik Dan in the Grade 3 Blame at Churchill Downs, Post Time came back to Laurel in June to win the $125,000 Deputed Testamony. He delivered a similar effort in the Whitney last time out but was simply overwhelmed by Sierra Leone and others in that stout field. The going will be much easier in a field of five on Sunday.
“We’re just trying to get through this weekend,” Russell said. “We don’t have the Breeders’ Cup on our radar this year, but there’s some other spots we can take a look at.”
Inveigled, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Jane Cibelli, is easily the second classiest runner in the field coming off a runner-up finish in the $100,000 Reigh Count at Colonial Downs. He is still looking for his first stakes victory, though he has ample experience in that company and has finished in the money in 10 of 15 career starts.
Light the Way, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Linda Rice, will make his stakes debut after a salty four-race stint at Saratoga this summer. Both of his allowance victories since June were in races taken off the turf, but he outran his odds in August to finish a length behind Baby Yoda at seven furlongs.
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