One race prior, in the City of Laurel, Post Time bounced back from the first loss of his career to run down Ninetyprcentmaddie to win by a head. It was his fifth win from six outings.

Howl impressed on debut, winning a Keeneland maiden event by almost eight lengths for trainer Brad Cox and LNJ Foxwoods. She found the sledding tougher here but had enough to get the money.

It was Toledo’s second stakes win of the weekend and seventh overall victory in two days. He won Friday’s Politely aboard Intrepid Daydream among his four winners, and with today’s victory reached the 100-stakes win milestone from 678 stakes starts.

How to celebrate?

“With my family,” the 29-year-old rider said after smooching his two-year-old daughter. “I’m really happy to be here healthy, and my agent for a great job and all the trainers and owners that give me the opportunity. I really, really appreciate everyone.”

Howl, as Post Time had the race prior, went off at 2-5. Toledo kept the Practical Joke filly perched just behind and outside of early pace-setters Unified Alliance and Liquidator. She went clear in upper stretch but was green in the lane, shifting out and then in while switching leads, but she had enough to prevail over a hard-trying Apple Picker by one length in 1:24.61 for seven furlongs on a fast main track.

“[Cox] said she’s a big filly so warm her up good,” Toledo said. “She got a good outside post, and there’s some speed on the inside. Just follow them, and when I’m ready, let her go, and that’s what I did. When I asked her to go, she responded right away – nice filly.”

She may have been a bit late to the party, but now two-for-two, Howl should have plenty of chances to make up for it.

Another horse heading in the right direction looks to be Post Time. The Maryland-bred Brittany Russell trainee had made pretty short work of his local rivals in a spotless two-year-old season, but after winning last December’s Maryland Juvenile, missed almost the first nine months of this year. After an easy allowance win at Pimlico, he had been a closing third in the Perryville at Keeneland.

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“He looked so good here at home. He’s beaten Maryland-breds,” Brittany Russell said. “He always did things so easy, but really, like, today he got down on his belly. He had to.”

Longshot Byk (35-1) made the early running in the City of Laurel with Post Time, with Brittany Russell’s husband Sheldon aboard, five lengths or so back while three wide. In a similar position but on the rail was the Butch Reid-trained Ninetyprcentmaddie, with Abner Adorno up. As Byk began to tire, those two moved, with Ninetyprcentmaddie getting the jump on his rival and going clear.

But as Sheldon Russell implored his mount for more, he found it, rallying to prevail by a head in 1:24.23 for seven-eighths. Ninetyprcentmaddie, the runner-up earlier this spring in the Federico Tesio Stakes over the strip, finished second, and it was more than four lengths back to show horse Praetorian Guard, who rallied from the clouds for third.

“It’s like when we had Hello Beautful,” an emotional Brittany Russell said. “There’s just something special about them. The wins – it’s not like just another race – they mean something.”

Ellen Charles, who races as Hillwood Stable, has been around a lot of good horses over the years. That roster includes the millionaire Cordmaker and now-sire Bandbox; both won the Grade 3 General George, which takes place in February at Laurel, at today’s seven-furlong distance.

“I think we’re gonna think about [the General George],” Charles said with a laugh. “Whether we’re going to do it or not… It would be nice to do it again, but they were both older and more mature.”

Post Time, a Maryland-bred son of Frosted out of the stakes-winning Fairbanks mare Vielsalm, is now five-for-six in his career, with only the Perryville third-place finish – by 1 ¼ lengths – as a blemish.

Charles had made the trip down to Kentucky for the Perryville, she said, and called it “wonderful.”

“It was fascinating,” she added in words that could equally have applied to Saturday’s race, “and he showed off really well. As Sheldon said, they saw him coming. [The other riders] continued to look behind because they knew how he runs.”

NOTES In the 1 ⅛-mile Richard W. Small Stakes, King Kumbalay, with Abner Adorno up, found a seam between rivals in the stretch and went on to prevail by 1 ¾ lengths for trainer Butch Reid and Kingsport Farm. It was his second stakes win of the year and seventh overall victory in his career. Longshot Forewarned rallied into second, and post time favorite Be Better was third… Toledo won three races on the day…