ost Time remains unbeaten at Laurel Park
St. Benedicts Prep earns first stakes victory
Wolfie’s Dynaghost sets new course record

LAUREL, MD –- Jockey Horacio Karamanos celebrated his 50th birthday in grand style as he guided Subrogate to a rallying victory over pacesetter Celtic Contender in Saturday’s $175,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash for 3-year-olds and upward at Laurel Park.

It was a “birthday boy” exacta in the De Francis Dash. Celtic Contender’s jockey, Victor Carrasco, turned 33 this afternoon.

Subrogate settled off the early leaders as Celtic Contender carved out fractions of 22.64 and 45.55 while prompted by 2024 De Francis Dash winner Dean Delivers.

Dean Delivers dropped back on the turn, and that left Celtic Contender alone on the lead into the straight. Subrogate rolled on the outside in the final furlong, however, to score by a length in 1:10.53 over the fast track. Caramel Chip advanced through traffic to finish third, three-quarters of a length behind the runner-up. Dean Delivers faltered to fourth.

Petingas Twin, Faster Gator, Super Chow, and Happy Is a Choice scratched. Favored Subrogate paid $5.40 to win.

“We had a little foot problem last year. We got over that. We gave him the time, and he’s here,” said winning trainer Jorge Duarte Jr.

Subrogate won despite failing to change leads in the stretch.

“It’s something he’s done before,” Duarte said. “We’ve tried different things, but he’s comfortable, he keeps running, and we don’t want to change anything.”

A 5-year-old son of Arrogate out of a half-sister to Grade 1 turf winner Lochte from the family of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Black Tie Affair, Subrogate was bred in Kentucky by Grantley Acres and Molly Schabel.

Initially purchased for $150,000 as a weanling, he sold to Colts Neck Stable for $250,000 as a yearling. Unraced at two, Subrogate won once from four tries in 2023 before reeling off three consecutive victories to begin last year. He earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure when besting a high-level allowance field at Aqueduct last summer.

After finishing last of six in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes, Duarte gave Subrogate the rest of the year off.

“He had a quarter crack in his foot,” Duarte said earlier in the week. “It was a little bit more severe than your regular quarter crack. He needed time to grow the foot out. We were debating to take him to Florida [for the winter], but those extra two, three months [off] probably were going to do him better.”

Subrogate returned to the races with a runner-up effort in last month’s Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth.

“I thought the race at Monmouth set up well for him,” Duarte said. “I liked the spacing for this race. We always wanted to bring him here.”

Subrogate has won half of his ten starts, earning $377,600.

*Post Time remains unbeaten at Laurel Park

Post Time remained unbeaten from nine starts at Laurel Park as the reigning Maryland-bred Horse of the Year squeezed through in between rivals at the three-sixteenths pole to best Offaly Cool by 3 ½ lengths in the $125,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward at 1 1/8 miles.

Owned by Mrs. Ellen Charles’s Hillwood Stable, the popular Post Time went off the prohibitive 1-10 favorite against four rivals brave enough to face him on a hot summer day at Laurel.

Post Time didn’t break the best under jockey Sheldon Russell, and he was immediately behind the eight ball from a pace perspective as multiple stakes-winner Speedyness set glacial fractions of 25.79 and 51.16 seconds.

Russell nudged Post Time into third position at the half-mile pole, and they opted to save ground in the pocket instead of racing outside in the clear.

Speedyness completed six furlongs in 1:15.57 as Offaly Cool slowly turned up the pressure on the outside. Meanwhile, Post Time raced in behind those foes and was in jeopardy of being bottled up when the real running started.

Russell spied a hole in between Speedyness and Offaly Cool, maneuvered his gray mount through, and Post Time’s class took over from there.

The favorite completed the distance in 1:51.36 and paid $2.20 to win. Speedyness finished third, a length behind Offaly Cool. Tell ‘Em I’m Comin and Curlin’s Malibu were next.

“It’s never going to be easy for him,” trainer Brittany Russell said, referencing Post Time’s late-running style. “Sometimes, these five-horse fields are the harder ones to win. He just gets the job done. I just am relieved.”

Post Time finished third in the Grade 3 Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 31. The Blame was the local prep for today’s Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes, but Brittany Russell understands Post Time’s special connection with the racing fans in Maryland.

“It’s just nice to bring him home, and it’s just nice for Ellen,” Brittany Russell said. “She loves to win with him here. It’s cool that he’s done what he has here. He’s done a lot outside of Maryland as well, but if we bring him back, we know that it’s hopefully an easier spot for him to win a race. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Bred by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman, and Milton Higgins III, Post Time is a 5-year-old by Frosted out of stakes-winner Vielsalm by Fairbanks. A stakes-winner at two and three, Post Time took his show on the road last year, winning the Grade 2 Carter Stakes at Aqueduct and cracking the top three in such prestigious Grade 1 events as the Metropolitan Handicap and Whitney at Saratoga and the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar.

Brittany Russell mentioned the Grade 2, $1,000,000 Charles Town Classic at 1 1/8 miles on August 22 as a short-term goal for Post Time.

“I know it’s a little curveball from what he did last year, but we’re looking at what’s out there,” Russell said. “None of these spots are going to be easy, but I think it makes sense to try it. It’s not far from home. We can take him down there and work him under the lights.”

Post Time, never off the board from 18 starts, has banked $1,363,600.

*St. Benedicts Prep earns first stakes victory.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

That’s been St. Benedicts Prep’s motto since she started campaigning in stakes races last fall. In her first eight starts against stakes and graded stakes company, St. Benedicts Prep finished second four times and third once.

Her perseverance paid off in the $125,000 Alma North Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 ½ furlongs. Ridden by John Velazquez for trainer Linda Rice, St. Benedicts Prep settled at the back of the pack after breaking from the inside post position, angled to the outside, made a sweeping bid on the far turn, and then stayed strong in the stretch despite failing to change leads.

Alani finished two lengths behind in second, a nose in front of Easy Red. Then came pacesetter Happy Clouds and Fiona’s Magic.

Favored St. Benedicts Prep raced the distance in 1:17.50 and returned $4.60 as the favorite. Admiral Hopper, Jeanne Marie, and Mystic Lake scratched.

“I didn’t love the post position,” Rice said by telephone after the race. “She backed out of there, but they went fast. Once she got into the outside, she was in great shape.”

Hall of Famer Velazquez won his first race at Laurel since he booted Coast Line home in the 2005 John B. Campbell Stakes.

“I wasn’t expecting that she would be on the lead, but I thought I’d be [among] the leaders,” Velazquez said. “All of a sudden, [the speeds] went, and it set up perfectly for me. I got her into the clear at the three-eighths pole. I made sure I kept her mind on running. She gave me everything. Once she got head-and-head with the other horses, she was pretty game.”

Bred in Kentucky by Claiborne Farm, St. Benedict’s Prep is a 5-year-old mare by Flatter. Her second dam, Wend, was a multiple Grade 2 winner on turf.

A $75,000 yearling purchase, St. Benedicts Prep was claimed by Rice on behalf of owner Ronald Stewart for $80,000 out of a win at Keeneland last spring. Based in New York, St. Benedicts Prep raced twice before at Laurel, finishing second by a nose in the What a Summer Stakes on January 18, and third in the Barbara Fritchie Stakes on February 15.

St. Benedicts Prep earned a Grade 3 placing three starts back in Aqueduct’s Distaff. She finished last of seven in a tough edition of the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses at Saratoga on June 6.

“For me, it’s very important for her broodmare value,” Rice said. “She’s graded-placed several times, but to get that win. I think it’s very important.”

Rice describes St Benedicts Prep as a “bull of a filly. She’s not the easiest horse to train, but we love her. She’s been so good to us.”

*Wolfie’s Dynaghost sets new course record

Sheldon Russell notched his second stakes victory on the card after brilliantly nursing Woflie’s Dynaghost on the lead in the $125,000 Prince George’s County for 3-year-olds and upward at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Woflie’s Dynaghost, a half-brother to Grade 1-winning millionaire Sadler’s Joy, went right to the front under Russell, set uncontested fractions of 24.08 and 48.02 seconds, had the chasers off the bridle after a sharp third-quarter in 23.66, then sprinted home to win by 4 ½ lengths in a course record time of 1:45.83 over the firm going.

Crystal Quest rallied from last to place second, a length ahead of favored Trikari. Kingmax, Summer Cause, Siege of Boston, and Omni King completed the order of finish. Passioned, entered Main Track Only, scratched.

Wolfie’s Dynaghost paid $14.20 to win as the public’s third choice.

“He broke [and] put me in a great position,” Russell said. “He’s gone around that first bend, ears pricked. He was happy. Coming around the turn at the three-eighths pole, I made sure I had him in high gear and didn’t get caught flat-footed because I knew we had gone easy. I wanted to make sure I had first run on them.”

A homebred owned by Rene and Lauren Woolcott’s Woodslane Farm, Woflie’s Dynaghost is a 7-year-old gelding by Ghostzapper and has won on dirt, synthetic, and turf. A debut winner at Aqueduct in 2020 for trainer Tom Albertrani, Wolfie’s Dynaghost transferred to Thomas’s care during the winter of 2022. His signature victory came in Woodbine’s Grade 2 Autumn Stakes at 1 1/16 miles over Tapeta in 2023.

Woflie’s Dynaghost only ran once last year, finishing seventh in Turfway’s Kentucky Cup Classic on March 23. He returned from a 435-day layoff to finish fifth in his Prince George’s County prep, a third-level allowance over Woodbine’s inner turf course on June 1.

“He had a minor injury that required time off,” trainer Jonathan Thomas said by telephone after the race. “Then, to be a little extra careful, we gave him some more. The owners are very, very patient people. We got a race under his belt [at Woodbine], but I didn’t expect anything like that today. Sheldon gave him a really beautiful ride.”

The veteran has 11 wins from 28 starts for $969,647.

“We’ve won some nice races with him, but I think I’m the most proud of him coming back off that much time [away]. That was a fast race, no matter where it was. He set a reasonable pace and really looked like he picked it up. Everything clicked all the way around there.”

*Around the track:

Live racing resumes Sunday for the final racing program of the 2025 Summer Meet at Laurel Park. There will be mandatory payouts of all wagers with carryover potential including the Jackpot Super High 5 (Race 6; $42,329.85 carryover). The first post time for the ten-race card is 12:10 pm ET.