Breezes Saturday for First Time Since Second in G1 Met Mile
Bosserati, The Addison Pour Possible for Laurel’s July 14 Stakes
$100,000 Big Dreyfus, $75,000 Miss Disco Nominations Close Sunday
Jockey Horacio Karamanos Registers Saturday Hat Trick

BALTIMORE – Hillwood Stable’s multiple graded-stakes winner Post Time, exiting a runner-up finish in the Met Mile (G1) June 8 at Saratoga, may be headed back to upstate New York for another Grade 1 try next month.

Laurel Park-based trainer Brittany Russell said Saturday that the 4-year-old Maryland-bred, who first earned graded credentials in Laurel’s Feb. 17 General George (G3), is under consideration for the $1 million Whitney (G1) Aug. 3.

Bred by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman and Milton Higgins III, Post Time had his first recorded breeze since the Met Mile Saturday, going a half-mile in 48.80 seconds over a fast main track at the Fair Hill Training Center in company with multiple stakes winner and Grade 3-placed 4-year-old filly L Street Lady.

Among several horses on the work tab for Russell, who also maintains a string at the Elkton, Md. facility, the time under assistant trainer and exercise rider Emma Wolfe tied L Street Lady and stablemate Bosserati – being pointed to the $75,000 Jameela for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares on the grass July 14 at Laurel – for the fourth-fastest of 19.

“He’s doing really good. He actually went out solo last week just to kind of get him back doing something, and he’s eager. Everything went great today and Emma’s really happy with him, so we’re going to march forward,” Russell said. “Honestly, we’re looking at the Whitney. We’re going to see who shows up and who’s coming, but he kind of deserves his chance to kind of keep stepping along.”

Post Time has never been worse than third with $817,910 in purse earnings from 11 career starts, eight of them wins, including the Carter (G2) April 6 at Aqueduct and Laurel’s Jan. 28 Jennings, 2023 City of Laurel and 2022 Maryland Juvenile.

Maryland’s champion 2-year-old male of 2022, Post Time has finished second in each of his last two starts, both in New York. He was beaten less than a length by three-time Grade 3 winner Messier in Aqueduct’s May 3 Westchester (G3), then rallied to edge millionaire Hoist the Gold by a neck for the place behind 2023 Preakness (G1) winner National Treasure in the Met Mile.

“We have to wait and see what a couple of them are doing. I know National Treasure is possible; maybe he stays in California,” Russell said of the Whitney. “There’s going to be plenty of good horses to come, but we just feel like off his last run it’s good timing as long as he’s doing good. I think we might consider it.”

Post Time has yet to race beyond one mile, the distance of each of his last two races as well as the Jennings, with his two graded victories coming at seven furlongs. The Whitney is contested around two turns at 1 1/8 miles.

Frosted, the sire of Post Time, followed up a record-setting victory in the 2016 Met Mile by winning the Whitney. Frosted also won the 2015 Wood Memorial (G1) and Pennsylvania Derby (G2) around two turns.

“Maybe he does have a little bit more time to just kind of get his feet under him going two turns,” said Russell, who saddled Running the Dream Stables’ Kake’s Arrow ($4.60), a 4-year-old first-time gelding by Arrogate, to victory in Laurel’s Race 6 Saturday. “I’m excited to try it.”

Post Time’s Saturday workmate, L Street Lady, is entered to make her first start in 12 months in a third-level optional claiming allowance July 11 on opening day at Saratoga, where she ran third in last July’s Coronation Cup in her most recent start. In 2023 L Street Lady won Laurel’s Xtra Heat and Monmouth Park’s Jersey Girl and was third in the Miss Preakness (G3) at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“Good horse to work with,” Russell said. “She’s doing great. He’s a good work horse, but he needs to work in company to keep him honest. They were a great matchup. They did it well and galloped out nice together, just what they both needed.”

Another of Russell’s Saturday Fair Hill workers, The Elkstone Group’s 5-year-old Maryland homebred The Addison Pour, went a half-mile in 50 seconds. Beaten a length or less in six of his last seven starts, he is under consideration for the listed $100,000 Prince George’s County for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the Laurel turf July 14.

Last time out, The Addison Pour was second by three-quarters of a length in a second-level 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance on the Laurel turf June 15 behind Hardspun Reason, also being pointed to the Prince George’s County. Hardspun Reason, trained by Graham Motion, breezed four furlongs in 50.80 seconds Friday at Fair Hill.

“He’s doing good,” Russell said of The Addison Pour. “Maybe we’ll take a swing, and maybe I’ll just wait on him. I don’t know yet.”

The July 14 program will also feature Taste at the Track: Tacos & Tequila, from 1-4 p.m. For tickets and more information click here.

$100,000 Big Dreyfus, $75,000 Miss Disco Nominations Close Sunday

Free nominations close Sunday for two stakes, one each on the turf and dirt, worth $175,000 in purses scheduled for Sunday, July 21 at Laurel Park.

Co-headlining the July 21 program will be the $100,000 Big Dreyfus for fillies and mares 3 and up, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the grass, and $75,000 Miss Disco for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-old fillies.

Entries will be taken and post positions drawn for both stakes on Monday, July 15.

Nominations can be made by contacting Maryland Jockey Club stakes coordinator Eleanor Albert at Eleanor.Albert@marylandracing.com or 443-695-0962, or by calling the racing office at 301-725-0400.

In addition to live racing, Laurel will play host to Taste at the Track: Rosé on the Rail, from 1-4 p.m. For tickets and information click here.

Notes: Jockey Horacio Karamanos registered a hat trick Saturday aboard Graft ($5.40) in Race 1, Golden Charm ($5) in Race 7 and Goodbye Note ($9) in Race 8 … Golden Charm covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:48.14 over a fast main track in the entry-level allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up to earn her second straight victory for trainer Linda Albert … Facing older horses for the second consecutive race, 3-year-old Goodbye Note held off Stellar Lute through the stretch for a one-length victory in the entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up. The winning time was 1:41.22 over a firm Exceller turf course … There will be a carryover of $2,414.57 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) Sunday. Post time for the first of eight races is 12:25 p.m.