Post Time retires with a win * The Racing Biz

“I never really get choked up. But then again, I’ve never ridden a horse like him,” jockey Sheldon Russell said Saturday afternoon at Laurel Park.

Moments earlier, Russell had struggled with emotions after riding Post Time, his horse of a lifetime, to 13th.^e and the final triumph of the five-year-old’s brilliant career.

Now Post Time, an intact son of Frosted, is headed to Northview Stallion Station and his new job as a stud.

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Russell wasn’t the only one struggling with the emotions of the moment. His wife Brittany, Post Time’s trainer, wiped away tears after sharing a big hug with owner Ellen Charles, who races as Hillwood Stable. For her part, Charles said she has run out of tears on a journey that seems almost predestined.

Charles’ grandmother was Marjorie Meriweather Post, the famous businesswoman and philanthropist. Post Time’s maternal grandmother was the Opening Verse mare Merriweather.

“Originally I thought about pairing him with Cary Frommer,” said Charles, who bought Post Time for $85,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale. “But when I saw who his grandmother was, I said, ‘A Merriweather has to come home with me.’ So it was the most fantastic trip.”

It’s a journey that includes two stakes victories, a second-place finish in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and a bankroll of nearly $1.6 million.

All it took for the racing portion of the trip was a good finish, but in October’s Maryland Million Classic, the Henry Walters-trained Barbadian Runner shrugged off Post Time’s mid-range bid to score the upset and delay the retirement celebrations.

Today the same duo met again, but Post Time turned the tables.

“We knew he still had a run left in him,” Brittany Russell said after this afternoon’s game. “And I think he enjoyed walking out here today and doing that, and it was fun for everyone to see him come out on top.”

However, it wasn’t easy.

Post Time continued to lag well behind the early pace. Teachintherelease, the dominant winner of October’s Sam Huff West Virginia Breeders’ Classic, ran the first fractions while fending off long shot Hittheroadjak, covering the half mile in 48.14 seconds and three-quarters in 1:13.49.

Rounding the far turn, jockey Forest Boyce had Barbadian Runner down the rail and off a speed trio, as Russell and Post Time crept closer to the action.

As the field straightened for home, Barbadian Runner slid forward along the rail to reach the front, and Post Time found that a seam between the horses was the only threat. The Post Time accelerated willingly and pulled away to win by 1 ¼ lengths in 1:44.54 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast main circuit.

“I felt like I was on my best journey, and it was all about just making the right move,” Sheldon Russell said. “Forest was forced to go in, which helped me because if she doesn’t go in, I’d probably have to go that route.”

Barbadian Runner was more than 15 lengths ahead of show horse Pay Billy, while Teachintherelease slipped to fourth. Post Time returned $3.00 as the 1-2 favorite, and the exacta paid $2.30 for the dollar.

“We competed in multiple Grade Ones. He showed up every time,” Brittany Russell recalled. “You know, these horses are hard to find, and it’s hard to put it all into words, to be honest.”

But despite all the big races Post Time ran, Charles remembered another moment.

“It was when he ran here in the summer, and after he won, everyone clapped for him and thanked me for racing him,” Charles said. “I just never expected that.”

NOTES Post Time’s victory was trainer Brittany Russell’s second victory of the day. She and Sheldon Russell also teamed to win the Carousel with Golden Lion Racing’s Complexity Jane, who earned her second straight stakes win… Final Turn Racing Stable’s Kasey K Racing Stable, Michael Day and Takethemoneyhone erupted to take her second stakes win in the Politely for Maryland and Virginia-limited fillies and mares. Eliseo Ruiz was in the irons…