Undefeated multiple stakes winner Taj Mahal enjoys his role as the rising star in a deep stable of talented horses trained by Brittany Russell based at Laurel Park, where the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) will be held May 16.
Taj Mahal earned an automatic entry to the middle jewel of the Triple Crown for his dominant 8 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio Stakes April 18, which improved the bay colt's record to 3-for-3 lifetime. All his races, including a determined front-running neck triumph in the 1-mile Miracle Wood Stakes Feb. 21, have come at Laurel.
"After he ran in the Tesio, he seemed to know. He had that air (about him). We all came back to the barn and he was just posing," Russell said. "He's funny in the morning. (Regular exercise rider) Alex (Beitia) spoils him a little bit, as all the good horses seem to get. He takes his time walking to the track, stops, looks around, loves for everyone to have a look at him. He's that guy."
The plan is to give Taj Mahal a second work since the Tesio May 9 at Laurel, weather permitting. Russell moved last weekend's work from May 3 to May 2 to give her some wiggle room.
"He came out of the last work good," Russell said. "I do plan on working Saturday. If I had to push it back to Sunday, it wouldn't be the biggest deal."
Taj Mahal had a regular jog and gallop day May 6 with Beitia, who was up for a bullet 5-furlong breeze in 1:00 2/5 last Saturday, fastest of 12 horses including fellow Preakness contender The Hell We Did.
"We'll have a couple mile and a halfs at the end of the week into his work. That was kind of my plan," Russell said. "He does a lot in his gallops and that was a pretty good work the other day, not that it took anything out of him."
SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Bashor Racing, Determined Stables, Golconda Stable, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan's Taj Mahal shares identical ownership to fellow Preakness contender Cherokee Nation, a $1.15 million Not This Time yearling bought during the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert.
Taj Mahal began his career on the West Coast with Baffert but was later moved to Russell—a move the connections have made with several other horses in recent years—and won his Feb. 6 unveiling just 15 days before the Miracle Wood. The ease with which Taj Mahal put in and exited his breezes got Team Russell excited.
"That's kind of what caught our attention from the beginning," she said. "Then I started putting him up beside some good horses and I'm like, 'Hmm, is that other horse just not doing good or is this horse stepping up?' He's just always kind of handled everything we've thrown at him."
After breezing solo last weekend, Taj Mahal is scheduled to have a workmate this weekend. He is a son of 2015 champion 2-year-old male Nyquist , who won the 2016 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Florida Derby (G1) before running third in the Preakness. The colt is out the stakes-placed Quality Road winner Oola Gal, who is out of the immediate family of multiple grade 1 winner Strategic Maneuver. Taj Mahal's full sister is being offered as Hip 402 in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Top Line Sales will offer the juvenile filly during the May 19 session.
Grade 1-Placed Talkin in Good Form
Trainer Danny Gargan said he's thrilled with how Talkin, a grade 1-placed son of Good Magic , is doing ahead of the Preakness.
Talkin has continued training at Keeneland in Lexington since he finished a well-beaten third in the April 4 Blue Grass Stakes (G1). Further Ado won by 11 lengths that day, with Talkin 1 3/4 lengths behind runner-up Ottinho.
"He's doing really, really well," Gargan said by phone Wednesday. "He's not a huge horse, but he's eating really well. He's put on weight (and) he's put on muscle since his last race. We were behind the eight ball when they brought him back, because he came in after being sick and needed some time off. We had to give him a race to get him started in Tampa."
Talkin finished fifth in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) March 7, his season opener, a race won by The Puma with Further Ado second. The 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass was his second start of the year and fifth overall.
"He ran good in the Blue Grass," Gargan said. "He kind of got stuck down on the rail. I think it kept him from running even better. I think he'd have been second easy if he'd had a better trip. He's come out of that race better than he went into it. He used to swap leads, used to crossfire a lot in behind. He's gotten stronger and stopped doing that lately, and that's a big encouragement to move forward. He's just getting more mature."
Talkin is owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding, and R.A. Hill Stable. The colt was purchased for $600,000 from the Indian Creek consignment during the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Talkin is out of the winning Tiznow daughter Rote and is a half brother to grade 2-placed winner Royal Obsession (Tapit ).
Gargan said he doesn't yet have a rider confirmed, but he will be "one of the top riders in the country." Joel Rosario, who rode Talkin in his two starts this year, is back in California, the trainer said.
While Talkin could have made the Kentucky Derby field, Gargan said his target all along has been the 1 3/16-mile Preakness.
"I never really planned on running in the Derby all year," he said. "We had enough points to get in, but we stuck with our game plan. We know we have a horse that's coming around. I want to go to the Derby more than anybody, but I want to win the Derby. I thought the best move for him was to give him the time to let him fill out a little more and shoot for the Preakness. … If I move forward five or six Beyers (speed figures) and move forward one or two points on the sheets, I could be in the winner's circle. And I know I'm going to move forward."
As a jockey Gargan's late father, also named Danny, won the 1973 Kentucky Oaks (G2), now a grade 1, on C.V. Whitney's Bag of Tunes and Pimlico's Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G3)—now a grade 2—aboard Fish Wife two weeks later.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
