Apprentice Hazlewood, Trainer Russell Top MD Standings

Yedsit Hazlewood and Brittany Russell concluded 2025 in style, capturing the jockey and trainer titles at the Laurel Park fall meeting. Both Hazlewood and Russell also earned year-end honors as the leading jockey and trainer at The Maryland Jockey Club-operated racetracks. Hazlewood, 17, a leading contender for the 2025 Eclipse Award for outstanding apprentice jockey, ran away with the fall-meet title, which spanned from Sept. 5 to Dec. 28. Hazlewood won 73 races at the stand, 38 more than second-place finisher Jevian Toledo. Sheldon Russell and Jorge Ruiz tied for third with 33 wins each. Hazlewood's mounts earned $2,465,403 at the meet, well ahead of Toledo's $1,516,243. Hazlewood's meet highlights included three four-win afternoons, one on the high-profile Jim McKay Maryland Million program. He captured four stakes races during the meeting, won at least one race on 23 consecutive racing cards, and finished the year in Maryland by winning three races on each of the final three days of racing. Hazlewood, originally from Panama, earned his first career victory April 4. Despite a two-month injury layoff, he recorded 95 wins in 2025 at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, surpassing Sheldon Russell by 15 wins. Toledo and Jaime Rodriguez placed third with 75 tallies at TMJC-operated tracks. Hazlewood also earned riding honors at the Maryland State Fair Meeting at Timonium over the summer. Sheldon Russell won the earnings title at The Maryland Jockey Club-operated tracks. His mounts garnered $3,305,880. Hazlewood finished second with $3,241,308. Brittany Russell trained 48 winners at the fall meeting, 18 more than second-place finisher Jamie Ness. Michael Trombetta placed third with 24 victories. Russell-trained runners earned $1,825,980. Trombetta finished second in earnings with $1,091,183. She saddled 108 starters in Maryland this year, 25 more than Ness, who won the national title for most races won. Kieron Magee finished third at TMJC tracks in 2025, with 44 winners. Russell's starters earned $4,111,245, and Ness was second with $2,760,970. Married to jockey Sheldon Russell, Brittany Russell is often joined in the winner's circle by their daughter, Edy, and son, Rye. The 36-year-old Russell won a remarkable eight stakes races during the meet, including a double Dec. 20. She has won four consecutive meet titles at The Maryland Jockey Club-run properties and the year-end title for the third year in a row. After stints assisting trainers such as Brad Cox, Jimmy Jerkens, Ron Moquett, and the late Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, Russell ventured out on her own in 2018, winning with her first starter, Oh My, Feb. 25, 2018, at Laurel. The partnership group of Madison Avenue Racing Stable, Morris Kernan Jr., and Jagger scored the fall meeting's owner championship with 10 wins and $361,065 in earnings. Joanne Shankle finished second with nine wins, and Live Oak Plantation placed third with eight. The partnership also had 26 winners at TMJC-operated properties in 2025. Shankle finished second with 20 victories. Laurel Park's winter meeting begins Jan. 9 and runs through March 29. Live racing is held on Fridays and Saturdays in January and on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in February and March. The first post time is 12 p.m. ET. During opening week, all on-track patrons will receive a free 2025 Maryland racing calendar while supplies last.