oh no i'm not an owner, just some small time bettor from nyc. working at home the path to 5pm punchout was slow so i figured why not try pimlico today.
that's a tough one. the jock on the 10 horse was going hard as russell on your 9.
brittany has potential to be one of the great trainers, whether male or female. i think the only female trainer that has ever handled about the same volume of horses is linda rice, and i think brittany may already have eclipsed her in many levels.
Nice. I thought you had horses in New York. Good hit. Maryland racing has been a favorite of mine for quite some time. Today is going to be more difficult with the weather being uncooperative. Here's wishing good profits for handicappers, fun and entertainment to be maximized and safety and success to all involved in the sport.
Brittany Russell is an outsider from PA who trained under
Brad Cox,
Jimmy Jerkens, Ron Moquett and Hall of Famer
Jonathan Sheppard (who passed last year). Good schooling. Her story caught my eye from the early stages which isn't uncommon when handicapping and seeing a newbie. Remember, some trainers are active in their 80s and a few in their 90s. Plenty will get their starts in the smaller and midlevel markets rather than the big leagues. She eventually married
Sheldon. The bubbling of a youthful trainer has grown to someone who is now in the early stages of something stronger. While Maryland isn't New York, Kentucky or Florida, she has extended her portfolio slightly. Their children are frequently in the winner's circle and it wasn't uncommon, when they were smaller, to see her hold one of them while tending to the immediacy of trainer obligations.
She seems composed and in interviews has always praised her staff including riders (husband or
Jevian Toledo are the go-to jocks -- same agent). She let her body of work sell itself. Getting
players like
Mike Repole is significant. As far as gender, she has seemingly downplayed the comparisons. While the most prominent of US races have limited field sizes, there are plenty of stakes that have female trainers and jocks throughout the year. Big-time owners tend to have comfort zones with trainers and it can be tough to crack that shell
(Seth Klarman/Klaravich Stables with
Chad Brown for instance) and that can be understandable when someone plops $400,000 for a foal or yearling.
Linda Rice, as you mentioned, is from a large and growing racing family and being in New York and for many years, she is well-known.
Kathleen O'Connell recently broke the record for most wins by a female trainer, a career that began in Michigan (a state now void of the sport) but rose to prominence in the great state of Florida where she has built countless connections through the years.
Racing isn't a pretty sport when the cameras aren't rolling. Having spoken to an abundance of insiders through the years, and having many as friends, the stories are bewildering. Being in sometimes cold places at 4:00 a.m. with a horse, having your staff caring for an animal 24 hours, cleaning stalls and all that comes with that responsibility, training, dealing with jockeys, agents, owners and them with trainers, the competition is mind-boggling. No guaranteed contracts in the sport. Teammates last minutes not years. One race the jockey is riding for you as a trainer, the next race, he or she is the opposition. It is a very complex sport and unique in some areas.
Horse racing gets stigmatized in certain segments or is totally avoided. There are many exceptional stories and that of the Russells is ongoing, to win Maryland titles, to come from scratch and elevate. I think her story would be beneficial nationwide and certainly in other quarters it would be household by now. However, the "less-is-more" standard can be applied as well. The average sports fan knows
Bob Baffert and probably everyone else is in the backseat.
With HISA's (fed gvt.) involvement, trainers' careers are under microscopes and the recent situation with
George Weaver in New York (potential two-year suspension) -- popular and seemingly with little shady history -- has intensified an already tough business with medications and over usage in some quarters. X (Twitter) has been on fire with this situation and an owner-baseball player
Alex Bregman (I don't follow baseball too closely but his account has been
forwarded to me) has been among the most vocal in support of Weaver and critical of the suspension.
Back to
Russell, and with all trainers, some will touch the border of maximum allowance and some will overstep it but the fear now is the slightest oversight can damage a person. Ultimately trainers are and always have been responsible for their barns. There are already a few doubters on places like X but that is not unsurprising as everyone from
Karl Broberg to
Cox have faced with their successes on differing levels. I think she is a superstar and have said so for a while but even superstars falter.