Taj Mahal Gets Class Quiz in Miracle Wood
At 0h03, on February 21, 2026 • By Laurel Park
SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Bashor Racing, Determined Stables, Golconda Stable, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan’s Taj Mahal, an impressive debut winner on February 6, steps right up into stakes company for Saturday’s $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds over a one-turn mile at Laurel Park.
The Miracle Wood shares top billing on the nine-race program alongside the $100,000 Wide Country Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs.
The first post time is 12:00 pm.
Taj Mahal, a $525,000 yearling purchase, recorded several workouts at Los Alamitos while trained by Bob Baffert, but was transferred to Brittany Russell’s stable last fall.
“He’s been a bit of a project since he came over,” Russell said after the debut victory. “I’m happy [the owners] were so patient because I think he’s worthwhile. I think he just hadn’t progressed. When I got him, he had one little thing we had to take a little bit of time with, and he got over it pretty quickly.”
Taj Mahal, who had kept morning company with the quality older stakes horse Prince of Jericho, didn’t break the best in the six-furlong maiden special weight, but swept past the field on the turn with an eye-catching turn of foot.
“I wasn’t expecting him to break like that,” she said. “It’s funny because he breaks pretty well in the morning. I saw a little immaturity in how he was acting today. He was good, but [jockey Sheldon Russell told me] he learned something today.”
Taj Mahal is by far the least experienced runner in the Miracle Wood.
“It’s definitely not a move for me to run one back this quickly off a maiden run,” Brittany Russell said Wednesday morning. “I haven’t had a chance to breeze him, but he’s been training right along. He came out of the race great. He came by me this morning with his head between his legs, bucking and playing. He’s obviously happy, and his energy is good. They were bred to be stakes horses, so I’m trying to step up and see what he’s made of.”
