×
×
homepage logo

Trainer and husband set standards in Maryland, branch out to Charles Town

By Bob Madison - For the Chronicle | Jan 26, 2024

Russell

CHARLES TOWN — Learning her thoroughbred training trade from the likes of Brad Cox and Johnathan Sheppard, trainer Brittany Russell ventured out on her own just before her 30th birthday.

Her credentials were well documented. Her growing reputation as a supreme care taker and watchful mentor were well known by many in the thoroughbred racing industry. Thoroughbreds got the best of care, best of feed, meticulous visits from vets and cleanest of shedrows no matter their status as stakes or claiming runners.

Russell is the mother of two small children and she often uses her jockey husband, Sheldon, as the rider on her mounts.

Maryland tracks Laurel Park and Pimlico are basically her headquarters, but she branches out to Delaware, New York, Florida and Charles Town on occasion.

She launched her “on her own” training career in 2018 and actually won with her first-ever starter Oh My.

Probably the most accomplished of her charges is Doppelganger, once a winner of the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct in New York.

Recently she won a race at Charles Town with Run Raegan Run, ridden by jockey Jevian Toledo and owned by John Middleton. Run Raegan Run posted a front-running victory on Jan. 13 in a 10-horse claiming race where his odds were 4-5 and he paid $3.80 to his backers.

Russell now has about 70 horses in training, a burgeoning amount of thoroughbreds that has grown since she was voted the Maryland Trainer of the Year for 2022 and was that state’s leading trainer in number of wins in 2023. Her winnings totaled over $8 million in 2023 when she saddled 177 inners.

A stakes-winning thoroughbred named Prince of Jericho has won at Charles Town as her priciest horse at the county track.

In the calendar year 2020, she won an almost unheard 29 percent of her races, her first year of winning over $1 million in earnings. That was the year she won the riding title for the fall meet at Laurel Park.

One of Russell’s favorites, Hello Beautiful, “just launched me” she was quoted as telling a national racing publication of her earliest training days.

Last year, she had 15 stakes wins in Maryland alone.

Sheldon Russell has a recognizable resume of his own, finishing high up in the Maryland jockey standings in a number of meets at Laurel Park and Pimlico.

The Russell’s have effectively become one of the top racing families in Maryland . . . and are now branching out to other states. Brittany has even run her thoroughbreds at Gulfstream Park in Florida.

Taking the best of care of thoroughbreds has brought recognition from owners all over the mid-Atlantic. And now a stacked-high number of wins and earnings have followed in the wake of hard work, attention to detail and the always-important welfare of the thoroughbreds.