Post Time wins General George, caps big day for Russells

LAUREL, MD - The husband-wife team of jockey Sheldon Russell and trainer Brittany Russell swept both Grade 3, $200,000 stakes races at Laurel Park on Saturday when Post Time displayed his patented late kick to take the General George for 4-year-olds and upward at seven furlongs.

One race earlier, the Russells won the Barbara Fritchie for fillies and mares with Apple Picker.

Post Time, sent away the odds-on favorite in the six-horse field, found his customary position at the back of the pack, but Sheldon Russell made a concerted effort to keep the 4-year-old colt within relative striking range.

“I handicapped the race before and there wasn’t a whole lot of speed,” Russell said after the race. “These jockeys in this race, they know how to beat him. Ideally, if they went slow the first three-eighths, these types of horses can sprint that last half-mile. It was in the back of my thought, if they do put in a 23 [opening quarter] or something slower and we’re all jammed in behind, they could turn, and he could get outkicked.”

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The early pace was very slow in the General George with Seven’s Eleven controlling an opening split of 23.81 seconds. Nimitz Class and Tenebris turned up the heat on the turn, and Seven’s Eleven completed a half-mile in 46.61.

Post Time split horses on the turn and Russell appeared like he wanted to go on through in between at the three-sixteenths. Steadied at that point, Post Time altered course to the far outside, then came with a strong rally to win going away by three lengths in 1:23.33. Seven’s Eleven gamely held second, 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Tenebris. Then came Nimitz Class, No Cents and Greeley and Ben. Cowan scratched.

Post Time returned $2.60 to Win.

“Yeah, 100%,” Brittany Russell said when asked if she felt anxious when Post Time steadied. “But you know what, he’s Post Time and he gets it done. He’s a racehorse.”

Post Time was named Maryland’s champion 2-year-old male after going unbeaten from three starts. He returned from a lengthy layoff to take two of three races in 2023, including the City of Laurel Stakes on Nov. 25.

In his first start this year, Post Time received a whopping 104 Beyer when winning the restricted Jennings Stakes traveling a one-turn mile over a sloppy track on Jan. 28.

“I don’t know that running him back in three weeks [and cutting him back to seven-eighths] was perfect,” Russell said. Both Brittany and Sheldon Russell believe the colt will do better at longer distances than seven-eighths.

Bred in Maryland by Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman and Milton P. Higgins III, Post Time was purchased for $85,000 as a yearling by octogenarian Mrs. Ellen Charles’s Hillwood Stable.

Charles, a legend in the Maryland racing industry, won the General George for the third time after Bandbox in 2014 and Cordmaker in 2022.

A son of Frosted out of stakes-winning turf router Vielsalm, Post Time has won 7 races from 8 starts for lifetime earnings of $417,910. He is unbeaten in six outings at Laurel Park.

*Nellie Morse Stakes

Charming Way ($6) made short work of the $100,000 Nellie Morse for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles, storming away from the field by 3 1/2 lengths in 1:47.04 seconds.

Ridden by Jaime Rodriguez for trainer Jamie Ness, Charming Way relaxed in second position as Hashtag Lucky cleared off to set splits of 24.00 and 48.57 seconds.

Rodriguez pushed the button on the far turn and Charming Way responded in the blink of an eye. She grabbed the lead after six furlongs in 1:14.35 and was simply too good for this field. Frosty O Toole was second, three-quarters of a length better than New Hire. Then came the favored Hybrid Eclipse, In My Opinion and Hashtag Lucky.

Bred in Maryland by Melissa Cantacuzene, Charming Way made her first 14 starts for trainer Madison Meyers before being claimed for $25,000 by Ness out of a winning effort on July 30, 2023.

Charming Way ran second in her first start for Ness and has now reeled off four consecutive victories. The Nellie Morse was her first stakes appearance.

“I really like that Blofeld breeding,” Ness said in a telephone interview about claiming Charming Way. “That’s going to be like a staple breeding in Maryland for years to come. “She was a Maryland-bred that had all her conditions.”

After saddling Charming Way to win her second-level allowance condition at Laurel on Feb. 4 in her first start of the year, Ness was hesitant to run in the Nellie Morse.

“Going from a two-other-than to a stake race, coming back in short [rest isn’t always ideal], but sometimes when a horse is running good, you run them,” Ness said.

Charming Way has won 7 of 19 starts for earnings of $325,311. She is out of the More Than Ready mare Ready Charm.

*John B. Campbell Stakes

Trainer Valrie Smith earned her first stakes victory when It’s Sizzling Time ($25.40) upset the $100,000 John B. Campbell for 4-year-olds and upward at 1 1/8 miles.

“It is wonderful,” Smith said. "It’s my first time winning a big race and I’m loving it.”

Smith, a native of Jamaica, scored her first race in 2018, and has now won 13 times from 184 starts for lifetime earnings of $519,234.

It’s Sizzling Time is the star of her four-horse stable, and the 6-year-old gelding is a prime example that persistence pays off. He made his first stakes appearance in the Campbell after 39 previous races, but signaled he was ready for the assignment when upsetting a high-level allowance at Laurel in his final start of 2023.

“[The last race] surprised me a little bit because the race was super tough,” Smith said. “He was training well, so we knew he was going to do well.”

Bob Marco went off favored in the Campbell after winning his four previous starts by a combined 25 1/4 lengths. As usual, he went to the lead under jockey Martina Rojas, and set fractions of 23.77, 46.94 and 1:11.93 while clear of his closest pace pursuers.

Grade 2 winner Double Crown confronted Bob Marco turning for home and wrested the lead away in upper stretch.

It’s Sizzling Time, who saved valuable ground throughout under Jean Briceno, charged up the inside, and battled Double Crown all the way to the wire, winning a desperate nose bob in 1:52.64 seconds.

Be Better was another five lengths back in third. They were followed by Bob Marco, Martini Martin, Vance Scholars, Ain’t Da Beer Cold and Yodel E. A. Who. Forewarned scratched.

“The older he gets, the more mature he gets,” Smith said. “We wanted to break well and sit, and just make one run. That’s what he loves.”

Bred in Florida by James W. Terdik, It’s Sizzling Time was purchased for $1,000 as a yearling by Smith and her husband, trainer Donnovan Haughton, on behalf of owners Chuckie Inc. and Mona Bowley.

A 6-year-old gelding by Not This Time, It’s Sizzling Time has won 7 of 40 starts for earnings of $307,766.

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