Post Time breezed a half-mile Saturday at Del Mar, his final major activity prior to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile November 2.

“Just a maintenance half, really, just to let him feel the track,” trainer Brittany Russell described it a few minutes before the four-year-old Frosted colt rattled off four furlongs in 48 ⅗ seconds under Russell’s assistant Emma Wolfe.

It was the second-fastest of seven works at the distance Saturday. Russell appeared on Saturday’s Off to the Races Radio, which airs weekly on ESPN Richmond and ESPN Harrisonburg.

Post Time will arrive at Saturday’s contest with an overall record of nine wins and no finishes worse than third in 13 career outings. He has won two graded stakes and placed in a pair of Grade 1 races, having finished second in the Met Mile and third in the Whitney.

In his most recent start, Post Time returned home to run in Laurel’s one-mile Polynesian, which he won by over 11 lengths at odds of 1-20. It must have been something of a relief after he’d made five consecutive starts in graded company, including wins in the General George (G3) and Carter (G2), and it’s perhaps a different tack than many trainers take.

“I just kind of thought I wanted him to pick his head up and know that he won, you know, more from a mental standpoint,” Russell explained. “I just wanted him to mentally kind of go into this race, thinking he was the man, you know, let him kind of go over there with loads of confidence.”

Since the September 14 Polynesian, Post Time has recorded four half-mile works, three at Fair Hill and the latest at Del Mar.

“We’ve leaned on him pretty good in the morning,” Russell said. “So from a fitness standpoint, I think we’re in a good spot.”

Post Time was bred in Maryland by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman and Milton P. Higgins III. He is out of the stakes-winning Maryland-bred Fairbanks mare Vielsalm, winner of the 2014 All Brandy at Laurel. Vielsalm later earned graded black type when second in the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico.

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Post Time hit the ground running in his racing career, winning three times as a two-year-old, including a season-capping score in the Maryland Juvenile Stakes. He missed most of his sophomore campaign but did add another stakes win, in the City of Laurel, late that season.

This year, the waters have gotten much deeper, but Post Time has more than held his own, winning four of seven starts. Russell said that the idea of running him in the Breeders’ Cup began to crystallize after he ran second in the Met Mile June 8.

“That was kind of his first big, big test, right?” the trainer said. “You know, we had shipped him up to New York prior to that. But taking a swing in a grade one, and, look, I know National Treasure beat him by many that day, but you know, he ran his race and he showed that he belongs.”

National Treasure has been ruled out of the Breeders’ Cup because of a foot issue.

In the days following Post Time’s arrival at Del Mar, Daily Racing Form photographer Barbara Livingston caught a picture of Post Time bucking and playing with Wolfe aboard. He is, Russell said, a playful sort.

“I’m sure he was airborne one step after that picture was taken,” Russell laughed. “That’s him: He had loads of energy. But I think everyone’s seen when it’s time to get down to business, he goes to work and does his job, but Emma does such a fantastic job of letting him be a happy horse. And I think that it plays into his personality and [is] what kind of keeps him ticking.”

Post Time’s late-running style and local connections have made him a Maryland fan favorite. Brittany Russell’s husband Sheldon is Post Time’s regular jockey, and the horse is owned by longtime local owner Ellen Charles, who races as Hillwood Stable. 

Post Time’s dam, Vielsalm, is out of the Opening Verse mare Merriweather. Charles, whose grandmother was Marjorie Merriweather Post, said she’d always wanted a horse out of or descended from Merriweather for that reason; this one has turned out better than any other of her many equine purchases.

“My grandmother was a remarkable woman,” said Charles after Post Time won the Carter. “And you know what? I do believe that Post Time has gotten something from her.”

“[Post Time] has kind of brought us into this situation, and I know it means a lot to her, and there’s no one that deserves it more,” Russell said. “You know, she’s been doing this for a long time. She’s Maryland strong… But to have a horse going to the Breeders’ Cup is a big deal for all of us, and we’re certainly enjoying the ride together.”

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