Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: It's Post Time for Russell in Whitney Stakes

SARATOGA SPINGS, N.Y. – It's 'Post Time' for the 97th running of the $1-million GI Whitney Stakes.

Well, actually, the race is still a week away, but if you are trainer Brittany Russell, you're darn right it's Post Time.

As in Post Time (Frosted), the 4-year-old colt that will make a return trip to Saratoga Race Course. Last month, Post Time, owned by Hillwood Stable, LLC, won the race for second in the GI Metropolitan Handicap. Post Time beat Hoist the Gold (Mineshaft) by a neck.

No one was going to beat National Treasure (Quality Road), who won the Met Mile by 6 1/4 lengths for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

Assuming National Treasure goes in the Whitney–Baffert said he would make a final decision after his colt works Sunday in California–Russell would welcome the chance for the rematch.

“National Treasure is a very good horse,” Russell said by phone from Maryland. “We are going to have to really put our running shoes on. (National Treasure) will be hard to beat. We will show up and we'll give it our best.”

Post Time, a Maryland-bred, has eight wins, two seconds and a third in 11 career starts. The Met Mile was his first start in Grade I company. He has a pair of graded stakes wins on his resume in the GII Carter Stakes at Aqueduct and the GIII General George Stakes at Laurel.

Russell knows that when she gives a leg up to her husband/jockey Sheldon Russell, she is going to get the absolute best that Post Time has. He has never disappointed her.

“He is just a good, honest horse,” Brittany Russell said. “He loves his job, he trains, he doesn't miss a beat. He just shows up to the track and does his work every day. Sometimes we wonder if we are doing enough with him.”

Post Time had his final Whitney work Saturday at the Fair Hill Training Center, going four furlongs in :49 (7/28) with Russell's assistant Emma Wolfe on board.

“He went very good,” Russell said. “He's ready to go.”

And he will go to Saratoga on Tuesday. Russel said that Wolfe will accompany Post Time on the trip to the Spa and expects that he will go to the track on Wednesday.

Brightwork Ready to Get Back to Work in Test

Brightwork, with Daniel Ortiz aboard and trainer John Ortiz ponying, trains at the Spa | Sarah Andrew

Last year, Brightwork (Outwork) had herself a summer at Saratoga.

As a 2-year-old, the filly romped to a five-length win in the six-furlong GIII Adirondack and then won the 6 1/2-furlong GI Spinaway by a half-length.

Trainer John Ortiz and owner Bill Simon hope a return to the Spa will bring more success to the filly. She will make her first start since November in the $500,000, GI Test Stakes next Saturday. The Test is seven furlongs.

Once she left the Spa last year, there was a fizzle as Ortiz stretched her out. Brightwork was fifth in the GI Alcibades Stakes at Keeneland and then sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. Both of those races were at 1 1/16 miles.

Those two losses followed four straight wins to start her career.

“We tried her at two turns twice and she didn't seem to want to do that,” Simon, the former President and CEO of Walmart, said outside Ortiz's barn on the Saratoga backstretch Saturday morning. “She decided she wanted to be a sprinter.”

And here she is in the Test. Ortiz didn't flinch when deciding this would be the landing spot for Brightwork. Since the Breeders' Cup, she was given designed time off and then had a minor issue (bone bruise) that kept her out a little longer.

After working at Keeneland earlier in the spring, Brightwork has had two works at Saratoga and is scheduled to have her final pre-Test breeze on Sunday.

“We really wanted to give her a good break,” Ortiz said at the barn. “We really squeezed the lemon on her for her 2-year-old year. She really has not missed a beat since we got her back. Look at her, she is as tight and fit as you want a horse going into a race like this.”

Trainer John Ortiz and Brightwork | Tim Wilkin

Simon, who was preparing to feed Brightwork some carrots on this gorgeous Saturday morning, marveled at the way she looked. He has owned horses since 2017 and Brightwork is easily the best he has ever had.

“She is a dreamboat,” he said. “You want to see a horse improve from two to three and she has. You want to see them get bigger and she has. She has given us every indication that she will be a better version of herself this year than last year.”

Jockeys Ready To Stretch The Vocal Chords For PDJF

No one is ever going to confuse Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez with Frank Sinatra.

Johnny V and the rest of the jockey colony at Saratoga will swap their goggles and riding crops for microphones and duets Sunday night when the annual Jockey Karaoke event is held at Vapor Night Club in the Spa City.

It is the biggest fundraiser of the season for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

“It means a lot,” Velazquez, also the President of the Jockey Guild, said while making the rounds on the Saratoga backstretch Saturday morning. “I am a horrible singer, but I do it for a great cause.”

Velazquez said he will perform with his wife, Leona (who, Johnny V says, carries the duo). He would not give away the song they'll sing but did drop a hint when he said it will be a number from the movie “Grease.” And there will costumes.

John Travolta? Olivia Newton-John? Johnny V would only smile.

General admission tickets for the event are still available at $75. The event begins at 8 p.m.

“Every year we get a good crowd and it's fun,” said Velazquez, who said Junior Alvarado and Jose Ortiz might be the best crooners in the group. “We're hoping to continue to have a great show and raise more money for a good cause.”

Clerical Error Leads to Late Scratch

The John Ortiz-trained Master of Arms (Mastery) was scratched from Saturday's third race, a $25,000 claimer, due to a clerical error. “Based on the conditions of the race, Master of Arms was required to carry 123 pounds,” NYRA spokesman Patrick McKenna said in a statement. “Due to a clerical error, the horse was provided the first allowance of three pounds and was weighted at 120 pounds in today's program. Upon discovery of the incorrect weight, the horse was scratched by order of the stewards.”