Popular Russell Road Wins for 30th Time

Russell Road, the most popular horse to race at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races since Onion Juice in the 1980s, won for the 30th time in a Sept. 19 state-bred handicap to move closer to the $2 million mark in career earnings.

Owned by Mark Russell and trained by James Casey, Russell Road, a 9-year-old Wheaton gelding, won the handicap for West Virginia-bred runners in gate-to-wire fashion by 4 1/4 lengths. The 1 1/16-mile event, called the Roger Ramey Handicap, was a prep race for the $500,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic Oct. 10 at Charles Town.

Russell Road, bred by Robert Lloyd, has won the Classic a record three times—in 2014, 2011, and 2009. After last year's victory, Russell said he hoped the gelding could shoot for a fourth win in the event as a 9-year-old.

Russell Road has had a relatively easy campaign this year, with only four starts so far. He won the Confucius Say Stakes for West Virginia-breds in his first start of the year in April, so he now has two wins on the year.

His earnings stand at $1,959,866, easily a record for a West Virginia-bred. Russell Road has made 57 starts, and along with his 30 wins, has 13 seconds and five thirds.

Onion Juice, owned and bred by Charles "Buck" Woodson and Donald Wilson, raced 65 times from 1982 to 1988, mostly at Charles Town, with 27 wins, 13 seconds, and six thirds. He won the inaugural West Virginia Breeders Classic in 1987.