Russell gives Post Time a home game in Deputed Testamony
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Trainer Brittany Russell is keeping Mid-Atlantic star Post Time close to home in the $125,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park. Bringing the 5-year-old horse back to Maryland is part of a strategy to keep him in the winner’s circle while he rounds into form.
“The goal for us this year is to just keep him winning,” Russell said. “Looking at his schedule and what’s available, we know he likes it at home.”
After kicking off his 2025 campaign with a 13 1/4-length victory in a Laurel allowance in May, Post Time shipped to Churchill Downs at the end of the month for the Grade 3 Blame. He took a nice step forward to contend that day but finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan.
“He ran great,” Russell said. “Honestly, I wonder if I threw him into it a little faster this year than he was ready for. It’s a different step up running against the big boys out of town, and he probably still needed that race.”
If the goal for now is to keep him comfortable, then the Deputed Testamony is an ideal race. The Maryland-bred graded stakes winner is perfect in eight starts at Laurel and has not lost in ungraded stakes competition since October 2023. Only two rivals in the field of six on Saturday seem capable of giving him serious trouble.
Offaly Cool, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Jacinto Solis, has won two stakes at Parx Racing and is coming off a $55,000 allowance win at the Pennsylvania track, for which he earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.
Speedyness, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Jamie Ness, is a talented local front-runner who won the $100,000 John B. Campbell in February. He struggled to find the winner’s circle in several stakes starts thereafter but broke through in a Parx allowance earlier this month.
Alma North
Nearly 14 months after finishing last in the 2024 Kentucky Oaks, 4-year-old filly Fiona’s Magic will make her first start for trainer Ned Allard in the $125,000 Alma North Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park. The trainer is looking forward to seeing her run, even if he doesn’t know what to expect.
“Rather than keep her in Florida for a hot summer, they decided to come to Maryland for a hot summer,” Allard said. “But anyway, the filly has been training very well for me since I’ve gotten her.”
In March 2024, Fiona’s Magic took a big step forward on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks when she won the Grade 2 Davona Dale in a gate-to-wire performance. The fairy tale ended there, however, as the filly lost the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks and Kentucky Oaks by 114 1/4 combined lengths.
Though she trained throughout the summer for Michael Yates, the filly did not run again in 2024. She entered Allard’s barn earlier this year and began training at Delaware Park in April. Allard has been happy with her progress and believes she’s ready to re-enter stakes competition.
Fiona’s Magic is not the only graded stakes winner in the Alma North field this year, as Saffie Joseph Jr. will bring 4-year-old filly Mystic Lake to Laurel as he tries to ease her back into deeper waters.
The filly made a splash in her 2025 debut when she won the Grade 2 Inside Information at Gulfstream Park, but a poor effort in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff in May forced Joseph to regroup. He found a softer spot for her in the $100,000 Memorial Day Sprint at Lone Star Park later that month, where she immediately bounced back to win by two lengths.
Prince George’s County
Trikari, a 4-year-old colt trained by Graham Motion, will step out of graded stakes competition for the first time since March 2024 when he runs in the $125,000 Prince George’s County Stakes on Saturday. Motion doesn’t want this to be the colt’s new normal.
“I need to get him back on track,” Motion said. “I need to regroup, and this seemed like a logical spot to do that.”
After winning two Grade 2 stakes and the Grade 1 Belmont Derby in his 3-year-old season, Trikari turned in another encouraging performance in his 2025 debut when he finished third in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile behind turf division leader Carl Spackler.
Coming off that performance, the colt went off as a tepid 7-2 favorite in the Grade 3 Dinner Party in May, but he faded badly in the closing stages and finished ninth. Taking him to the Prince George’s County on Saturday should help him get back on track, even if others in the field also are dropping from graded stakes company.
Kingmax, an Irish-bred 6-year-old horse trained by Jorge Delgado, is coming off a layoff going back to March 2024, when he finished a half-length behind in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida. The horse is the wild card in the field after nearly 16 months on the shelf.
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