Just like trainers Jena Antonucci and Linda Rice, Brittany Russell also made horseracing history in 2023.
Russell became the first female to lead the annual trainer standings in Maryland with 118 victories at Laurel and Pimlico and nationally finished 11th in wins (177) and 16th in money earned ($7,996,867).
Victory No. 118 came on Dec. 31, when Point Dume romped by 11 lengths in a 6-furlong maiden claimer for 2-year-olds at Laurel with her husband, Russell Sheldon aboard.
“I’m just so proud of the team. It’s a huge accomplishment for everybody and they’ve been working so hard,” the 34-year-old Russell said after breaking the Maryland wins record. “Now that everybody pointed it out to us, we’ve been keeping an eye on it the last two days, and it feels really good to seal it up.”
Russell’s biggest win of 2023, though, came at Aqueduct, where she won her first Grade 1 with 17-1 longshot Doppleganger in the Carter Handicap on April 8.
“Obviously the highlight would have been Dopp winning the Grade 1. That was a pretty big accomplishment on the year,” Russell said. “We’ve had a lot of good horses and a lot of good winners this year.”
Antonucci became the first female trainer to win the Belmont Stakes (G1) with Arcangelo, and Rice broke the NYRA record for most wins in a year at its tracks with 164.
Russell opens her eighth year as a trainer – she was an amateur rider and worked for trainers Brad Cox, Jimmy Jerkens, Ron Moquett, and the late Jonathan Sheppard previously – this weekend at Laurel and the Big A.
Russell-trained Regalo set for Jerome, a Derby prep race
On Saturday (Jan. 6), Russell sends out Regalo in the $150,000 Jerome Stakes, a Kentucky Derby (G1) prep worth 10-5-3-2-1 qualifying points to the first five finishers.
Regalo, a bay son of Maximum Mischief, may not be the favorite in a short field of five, but he’s won 2-of-3 in Maryland in 2023, most recently a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claimer at Laurel on Dec. 9 by 4 ½ lengths. The colt was purchased for $280,000 by G. Harry Papaleo at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale.
Drum Roll Please, trained by Brad Cox, finished third in the Remsen over a muddy Big A track for 3 Derby qualifying points. The son of Hard Spun is the likely favorite with Javier Castellano traveling from Florida to ride.
Rice also has an entry in El Grande O, who is 3-3-1 from eight starts as a 2-year-old, including a pair of New York-bred stakes.
The Jerome, race 3 with a 1:19 p.m. ET post, is third of six races on the New York road to the Derby.
The picks: 1 Regalo 2 El Grande O 3 Drum Roll Please
The field for the $150,000 Jerome Stakes, from the rail out, with jockey, trainer, odds:
1 Drum Roll Please (Javier Castellano, Brad Cox), even
2 Khanate (Manny Franco, Todd Pletcher), 6-1
3 Sweet Soddy (Dylan Davis, Ray Ginter, Jr.), 8-1
4 El Grande O (Kendrick Carmouche, Linda Rice), 9-5
5 Regalo (Sheldon Russell, Brittany Russell), 5-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
