Taj Mahal looked every bit a wonder in the $100,000 Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday, winning his second career start like a seasoned professional over even-money favorite Let’s Go Lando. Trainer Brittany Russell’s profound confidence in the precocious colt certainly seems justified now. On Feb. 6, the day of his 4 1/4-length maiden score at Laurel, Russell nominated Taj Mahal for the Miracle Wood with every expectation that he could handle it. Two weeks after his six-furlong debut, the trainer was asking him to take on stakes rivals at a mile. It was a huge request. With a newfound burst of early speed, jockey Sheldon Russell urged Taj Mahal to a 2 1/2-length lead through an opening quarter-mile in 24.31 seconds. He was still in command after completing the half-mile in 48.15, but when Let’s Go Lando came calling on the far turn in his own stakes debut, it appeared like the front-runner was on his way to a highly understandable defeat. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Eerily familiar by now, jockey Yedsit Hazlewood had his Gary Capuano-trained favorite in a perfect stalking position and cruised up to challenge Russell entering the stretch. But when Let’s Go Lando tried to take command, Taj Mahal dug in, refusing to let him past. Taj Mahal and Let’s Go Lando matched strides all the way to the wire, but the second-time starter never yielded and prevailed by a neck. He completed the mile in 1:39.47 and paid $6.60 to win. “Luckily enough, he broke good enough where I could just tap him a little bit and move him up,” Sheldon Russell said in the winner’s circle after the race. “Soon as he cleared them, I just put him in park and tried to reserve him. He’s a really smart horse and he’s done everything I asked him to do today.” Brittany and Sheldon Russell combined to sweep the two stakes at Laurel on Saturday, as Taj Mahal followed Peach Tie’s victory in the $100,000 Wide Country. Close the Gate, runner-up in the $100,000 Spectacular Bid, ranged behind in third for trainer John Salzman Jr., but he only got within 3 3/4 lengths of the top pair. Balboa, who scratched from the Miracle Wood, will likely run for Russell next week in the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct. Following Taj Mahal’s stakes triumph, the decision to split the two runners already seems to be a wise one. Wide Country Only four fillies stuck around for the $100,000 Wide Country Stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday, and it didn’t take long for Peach Tie and Law School to turn the race into a one-on-one bout. Like most meetings between trainers Brittany Russell and Jamie Ness, the showdown felt inevitable from the starting gate. The two last-out stakes winners received considerable attention from bettors, but the dynamics of the race changed dramatically when all four 3-year-olds in the field went for the early lead. With a better trip under Sheldon Russell, Peach Tie surged ahead and got the jump on Law School around the far turn, running on to win by three lengths. She paid $3.20 to win. “There’s something about this filly that just gives me a lot of confidence,” Brittany Russell said in the winner’s circle. “I knew that Sheldon would have her in a good spot, and she just does whatever she has to do.” Peach Tie, now a five-time winner in six career starts, has taken down three straight fields featuring five horses or less since November. The competition has been sparse but strong for the two-time stakes winner, who defeated Just Philtored and Slewperstitus in the $100,000 Gin Talking in December. In the Wide Country, 22-1 longshot Velocity Girl was the nominal pacesetter through an opening quarter-mile in 24.08 seconds. The field was separated by less than a length in the early going before Peach Tie extended around the far turn, taking a two-length lead through a half-mile in 48.26. Law School, a seven-length winner for Ness in the $100,000 Future Stars filly division at Parx Racing last time out, backed out of the four-horse duel entering the far turn, as jockey Yedsit Hazlewood hoped to swing to the outside and close down the center. The 8-5 second choice made a strong move to get back within striking range, but she could not make up the ground on her key rival. Peach Tie completed the seven-furlong sprint in 1:27.80. Momaxie, in the mix from the beginning, finished five lengths behind Law School but easily held on for third ahead of Velocity Girl, who was spent after trying to take command out of the gate. Taking both stakes at Laurel marked a massive turnaround for Brittany Russell, who entered Saturday with just two victories in 27 starts at the winter meet. With nine victories at the meet so far, Ness might still be in a prime position to win another training title, but Russell was expected to challenge him and is now back in position to do so. A top trainer in Maryland since 2022, her Saturday sweep was an emphatic return to form, one which could set the tone for a resurgent stretch moving forward. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.