Maryland-bred champions announced

Starting Wednesday, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association has been announcing the Maryland-bred champions of 2024.

Two horses – Post Time and Future Is Now – have doubled up with wins in two categories. In addition, the late R. Larry Johnson is the breeder of three winning horses in Future Is Now, Mindframe, and Call Another Play. Maryland-bred Horse of the Year has yet to be announced.

Here are the winners to date:

Champion 2-year-old male: Studlydoright. Bred by Glenangus Farm and campaigned by David Hughes (Mens Grille Racing), Studlydoright won the $150,000 Tremont in June and $150,000 Nashua in November and was second in the Grade 3 Sanford at Saratoga and the Laurel Futurity. He ended his season with a record of 3-2-0 from seven starts for earnings of $279,680.

Champion 2-year-old filly: Shkhara Fire. Bred and owned by Barak Farm and Dino’s Thoroughbreds, Shkhara Fire went from last of 12 to first in the $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie at six furlongs. A daughter of Country Life Farm stallion Friesan Fire, Shkhara Fire sported a record of 2-1-0 in seven starts while earning $104,090.

Post Time powered home to win the 2024 Grade 3 General George. Photo by Jim McCue.

Champion 3-year-old male: Mindframe. Bred by the late R. Larry Johnson and owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables, Mindframe finished second in the Grade 1 Belmont and Haskell after dominating his first two career starts earlier that year. The son of Constitution ended his season with a record of 2-2-0 from four starts and earnings of $647,360.

Champion 3-year-old filly: Call Another Play. This Larry Johnson-homebred filly made her stakes debut a winning one last April in Laurel Park’s Weber City Miss Stakes. She followed with a third in the Grade 2 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico in May. A daughter of Audible, Call Another Play finished with a record of 3-1-2 in 10 starts last year, with earnings of $214,755.

Champion older male: Post Time. This busy son of Frosted hit the board in all nine starts last year, all stakes, including winning efforts in the Carter-G2, General George-G3, Polynesian and Jennings and hitting the board in three Grade 1s – the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Metropolitan and Whitney. Bred by Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman & Milton P. Higgins III, Post Time is owned by Ellen Charles of Hillwood Stable and trained by Brittany Russell. He was the richest MD-bred runner of the year with $975,000.

Future Is Now
Future Is Now (#5) held off Roses for Debra to win the G2 Intercontinental. Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk.

Champion older female: Future Is Now. She earned stakes victories in the Franklin-G2, Intercontinental S-G2, Smart N Fancy and The Very One. She had a record of 5-1-1 in nine starts, earning $513,155 on the year. Bred by the late Larry Johnson, Future Is Now is by Northview Stallion Station’s Great Notion.

Champion turf runner. Future Is Now. A winner of four stakes on the year, all on the turf, she ranked as one of the nation’s top female turf sprinters. From May to August, she ran once a month, and concluded her campaign with a stakes record-setting victory in the Grade 2 Franklin at Keeneland in October.

Champion sprinter. Post Time. Post Time earned the first two graded stakes of his career in consecutive starts in the Grade 3 General George at Laurel and the Grade 2 Carter Stakes at Aqueduct, both at seven furlongs.

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