Brittany and Sheldon Russell win Grade 2 Honorable Miss with Maida

LAUREL, MD—Striker Has Dial’s gate-to-wire victory in the Skipat Stakes highlighted Horacio De Paz’s Preakness meet at Laurel Park, where he won 5 of 26 starts. His runners finished in the top three 61% of the time.

De Paz, who maintains a string of 35 horses at Laurel and keeps a base in New York, used that momentum to launch a successful Saratoga summer, winning with 6 of his first 16 runners at the prestigious boutique track.

De Paz lit up the Saratoga toteboard with a pair of juvenile debut winners, both bred in New York. B Yutiful Carly, a filly by Greatest Honour owned by Triple B Stables, rallied from off the pace to win a restricted maiden special weight race at 35-1 odds on July 11.

The following afternoon, De Paz scored at 18-1 with Professor Plum, a colt by Solomini owned in partnership with John Foster and Dennis O’Neill.

“I figured they were ready to get started. As far as talent went, I wasn't sure where we were. We were just trying to get them to their first race and develop from there. Mentally, they seemed fine, but you never know when you come up to Saratoga. We never really laid them down or worked them with older horses. They did everything perfectly to the point where they were just ready to get started.”

After Pimlico Race Course is rebuilt, Laurel Park will become the state’s main Thoroughbred training center. Both B Yutiful Carly and Professor Plum prepared for their winning debuts at Laurel Park.

“We always thought Laurel was a good surface to develop horses,” said De Paz, who credits “the space and a little bit of economics” for training at Laurel. “It’s a nice quiet setting. It’s not as busy as it is at Belmont.”

De Paz masterfully conditioned Striker Has Dial to win the Skipat after almost eight months on the sidelines. The 5-year-old Dialed In mare finished second in the 2025 Skipat and trained at Laurel upon returning to the races this year.

“I was originally targeting an allowance race at Laurel, and that was going to be a prep for the Skipat Stakes.”

De Paz has kept a string of horses at Laurel since his days as a private trainer for Sagamore Farm.

“I like the surface there,” De Paz continued. “It’s a 1 1/8-mile racetrack. It’s a wide racetrack. It’s an essential location to get to Kentucky, and you can also get to New York. If certain races don’t go, you’re able to move them around.”

*Brittany and Sheldon Russell win Grade 2 Honorable Miss with Maida

Continuing the theme of Laurel-based horses enjoying prosperity at Saratoga, Maida blitzed the field in the Grade 2, $250,000 Honorable Miss Stakes on July 26, while Striker Has Dial finished a solid fourth.

Trained by Brittany Russell, Maryland’s perennial leading trainer, and ridden by her husband, Sheldon, Maida has been based at Laurel Park since before her career debut at Pimlico last year.

A 4-year-old filly by Improbable, Maida, owned by Harry Papaleo, is unbeaten in three Laurel starts, winning those races by a combined margin of 28 lengths.

She earned her first stakes victory at Laurel last summer, dominating the $100,000 Weather Vane Stakes by eight lengths.

Maida returned from a layoff to win the $125,000 Alma North Stakes at Laurel on June 27, earning a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure. She received a 98 Beyer in the Honorable Miss.