79-Year-Old Russo Runs Pair in Claiming Crown

At the age of 79, Frank Russo is enjoying his time in the sun. That doesn't mean he's content to just watch the time go by.

Far from it. The Brooklyn native is in his 46th year training Thoroughbreds, a career that has touched parts of six decades dating back to the mid-1970s. This week it has brought him to seasonable South Florida, where he will send out two strong contenders in the Claiming Crown Dec. 4 at Gulfstream Park.

The 23rd edition of the Claiming Crown is being held for a 10th consecutive year at Gulfstream. Created by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association in partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the Claiming Crown rewards and pays tribute to the horses and horsemen that provide the foundation for day-to-day racing programs at tracks around the country.

No one exemplifies that more than Russo, who is taking part in the $810,000 Claiming Crown for the second straight year. Both his horses, Belgrano  in the $90,000 Canterbury Tom Metzen Memorial and Aequor  in the $75,000 Express, earned automatic berths with Preview Day victories Oct. 10 at Laurel Park.

"We're all set. It's going to be nice," Russo said. "I've got five horses. I walk down the barn and this is the first time they all won their last race, and some of them have won their last two. It feels good to look at that after dealing with lesser horses."

Peace Sign Stables' Belgrano has developed into the best horse Russo has ever trained. Claimed at Gulfstream for $16,000 out of a third-place finish in February 2020, the 7-year-old War Front   gelding has six wins, three seconds, and two thirds in 17 subsequent starts, including stakes victories in the 2020 Virgil 'Buddy' Raines Stakes and Aug. 28 Rainbow Heir Stakes at Monmouth Park.

Belgrano finished seventh of 12 in last year's Canterbury, beaten 4 1/4 lengths by Fiya . He enters Saturday riding a three-race win streak, rallying for a 3 1/4-length decision at Laurel to earn a second straight bid.

"We got lucky with him. He came back about a month after we claimed him and then just went on winning starter races and stuff like that. He's a nice horse," Russo said. "He's as honest as they come. I really like him.

"What I liked about him is, I looked at his back numbers, his closing numbers, and that he could run 1:10 and change. He wasn't doing it and I said there's got to be a reason," he added. "We took him back and found a couple of nicks and crannies with him and we got him to go. He really turned out to be a nice horse."

Morning Moon Farm's Aequor , a gelded 6-year-old son of Flatter  , has won each of his last two starts, by a nose Sept. 19 at Monmouth and a neck at Laurel. Both came in similar fashion, sitting just off the early lead before digging in late to prevail.

Aequor has been to the Claiming Crown before, finishing ninth in the 2019 Jewel for previous trainer Oscar Gonzalez. Russo haltered him for $6,250 out of a fifth-place finish Jan. 29 at Gulfstream, and he has gone 4-0-2 in 10 starts since.

"It's nice," he added. "It's great when you can claim a horse for $6,200 and he's got a shot to run in something like this."

Russo has enjoyed a similarly steady existence in racing, going back to his days visiting the New England fair circuit as a teenager.

Russo worked as an exercise rider, galloping horses at Aqueduct Racetrack and Belmont Park, and ultimately eschewed a more lucrative career opportunity in favor of staying with the game he has grown to love.

"I just stayed with it all my life. It just took priority. I could have been a millionaire in the printing business, but I let it go to be with my horses," Russo said. "It was a family business—me and my brother. It had to be 40 years. We came down to Florida originally with the business and I brought a couple of horses down, and from that point I just stayed more and more with the horses. Finally my brother bought me out and that was it."

Though Equibase statistics only date back to 1976, Russo said he ran his first horses in 1974 at defunct Calder Race Course. "I didn't even win a race," he said.

"But, we had a couple of seconds and we enjoyed it. That's when I really got indoctrinated to the horses."

To date, Russo has 138 wins and $2.1 million in purse earnings from 1,730 starters. His 13 wins this year from only 37 starters mark a career-best; he went 12-for-132 in 1985. His $349,365 in purses earned are, by far, a personal best, accomplished with only five horses.

Russo credits exercise rider Finley Bishop with having a large hand in the trainer's success this year.

"I've got to say, without him it's rough," Russo said. "He's probably the best I've ever seen. I've known him since we were young, since we came down to Florida in '74. He was with (trainer) Harry Benson. He's very good on a horse, he can tell you something and he listens, and that's important.

"I've got a farm up in Pennsylvania. Usually I take the winter off and I turn horses out on my farm up there, and this year I didn't do it. We just came back down," he added. "I love it."

The Canterbury, a five-furlong turf dash for 3-year-olds and up which have started for a claiming price of $25,000 or less in 2020-21, drew an overflow field of 13. The six-furlong Express attached nine runners.

Despite the depth of the opposition, Russo comes to the Claiming Crown with confidence in each of his entries.

"I'm really excited about it," he said.