Russell confident Taj Mahal can keep improving ahead of Federico Tesio
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When Taj Mahal won his stakes debut in February, 15 days after a commanding maiden score, trainer Brittany Russell challenged fans and pundits to consider what the colt might be capable of with more time to train. The wait will end in the $150,000 Federico Tesio Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park.
“He’s done really well,” Russell said Thursday. “He had a really nice work last week, and he bounced out of it in good shape. He looked good coming by this morning. We have one more day to get through.”
The Tesio is the co-feature on a 12-race card featuring five stakes on Saturday at Laurel. The Tesio winner gets an automatic berth in the Preakness Stakes on May 16 at Laurel.
A sharp debut winner Feb. 6, Taj Mahal hardly wasted a second before leaping into stakes company in the $100,000 Miracle Wood. If anything, the stretch to a mile helped the colt, who went straight to the front and held off Let’s Go Lando to win by a neck. He earned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure.
Because he skipped the $100,000 Private Terms last month, Taj Mahal will have to take another bounding leap forward to 1 1/8 miles. He drew the far outside post in the field of 10 3-year-olds, which will force him to go to the front yet again. Most of his rivals have far more experience and have already been tested at 1 1/16 miles.
But while several questions linger around the top local contender, Russell’s original point still stands. Much has been asked of the precocious talent already, and he has not yet faltered.
“I think it’s an unknown,” Russell said of the distance test. “We don’t know, but I think it’s a really nice spot to try it. He stays home on a track he’s been good at and trained well over. It’s a question mark, but I feel good about trying it.”
Russell also entered Hixon, who will make his stakes debut after taking a first-level allowance by six lengths March 6.
Volendam, the 3-1 morning-line favorite trained by Mike Maker, is the only horse in the Tesio with less experience than Taj Mahal.
In his debut March 21, Volendam won a $100,000 maiden special weight by two lengths on synthetic at Turfway Park, earning a 78 Beyer Speed Figure. He will stretch out from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles on a new surface Saturday, and Maker said he expects him to be involved on the front end.
Trainer Gary Capuano will enter Wild Warrior and Let’s Go Lando, two improving 3-year-olds who finished first and third in the Private Terms last month. Wild Warrior, the distance specialist in Capuano’s crop of 3-year-olds, overcame late trouble to steal the spotlight from his stablemate.
“They both ran real well in the Private Terms,” Capuano said. “Let’s Go Lando was down on the inside a little bit and just acted like he hesitated a little bit to go up in the hole when it got tight. But Wild Warrior ran an exceptional race.”
Close the Gate and Code of Silence, who have come up just short in recent stakes efforts behind Capuano-trained runners, will both return with outside chances.
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