When Maryland-bred -- but not Maryland-sired -- graded stakes winner, millionaire and Breeders' Cup runner-up Post Time appeared among the pre-entries for Jim McKay Maryland Million Day, seeing him in the starting gate seemed like a longshot.
He was among 17 horses aiming for the Classic and 19 looking for a spot in the Turf. Surely, eight Maryland-sired runners would enter and keep the 2024 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year in the barn (and in deeper races).
Then again, maybe just his name made trainers consider other options because there was Post Time as the 3-5 favorite on the morning line against seven underdogs for the $150,000 Milton P. Higgins III Classic at Laurel Park Oct. 11. Program scratches reduced the field to six, bettors backed him to 1-10 and the gray 5-year-old carried a 10-for-10 record at Laurel Park while looking for one more signature hometown win on the 40th Maryland Million Day.
Barbadian Runner didn't read the script.
The 3-year-old son of former Shamrock Farm stallion Barbados scored for AJ Will Win Stable, trainer Henry Walters, jockey Forest Boyce and Maryland Million eligible horses everywhere. Sent off at 6-1, Barbadian Runner stalked from third early, took the lead in the stretch and won by three-quarters of a length over the favorite.
Call it an upset if you want, but Barbadian Runner delivered performances like that all year. The win was his fifth of 2025, to go with three seconds and a third in 10 starts.
"He gives you everything he has," said Boyce, who won her third Classic and 10th Maryland Million race. "He's just so reliable. You can't ask for anything more than that. He tries so hard. I love this horse. It means a lot that he gets to win a race like this -- I feel like that gives him a little more street cred. Post Time is a big deal."
When he made his pre-entry Sept. 28, and the entry a week later, Walters didn't count on facing Post Time -- whose foes over the last two seasons included champions Sierra Leone, National Treasure and Fierceness, Kentucky Derby-G1 winner Mystik Dan and sprint star Book'em Danno.
"I knew he was nominated," the trainer said. "I didn't think he'd be entered or he would even run, but what are you going to do?
Reminded that some trainers scratched, Walters defended the decision behind his first Maryland Million win -- sort of.
"Eventually, he'll have to meet some older horses along the line if he's this caliber of horse," Walters said. "Naturally, you don't ever think you can beat him."
Like Boyce, Walters figured his horse would try. Maybe that was enough.
The dark bay gelding, bred in Maryland by Shamrock, brought his form with five consecutive 1-2 finishes including a win in the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town Aug. 22. Still, he was taking on older horses and trying 11⁄8 miles for the first time against a foe who placed in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile-G1, Whitney-G1 and Metropolitan Handicap-G1 last year. While not quite up to his 2024 form, Post Time came in with three wins (an allowance and two stakes at Laurel) this year and two graded-stakes placings including a third in the Woodward-G2 at Aqueduct Sept. 27.
They were the field's only stakes winners.
Looking for a fourth consecutive win, Blue Kingdom bounded to the front leaving the gate and was followed by Hittheroadjak as Boyce let Barbadian Runner settle while inside and third from post two. Post Time retreated to fifth, just behind All the Hardways and outside Mugatu.
Blue Kingdom led by 41⁄2 lengths through a quarter-mile in :24.98. The field bunched after a half in :50.31. Boyce asked Barbadian Runner midway on the turn and he responded, easing out from behind the leader as Post Time revved up on the rail. They passed the eighth pole three abreast -- Post Time inside, Barbadian Runner outside, Blue Kingdom in the center and finally starting to weaken. Barbadian Runner surged past, leaned in a little, put a quick half-length on Post Time and saw out the win in 1:51.09. Blue Kingdom stayed for third. After that slow first half, they covered the final 5 furlongs in 1:00.78.
Boyce loved every inch.
"It was a perfect trip," she said. "He's very tactical. You can put him where you need him. It really is rare to have a horse that is so good that way. I feel like you could put him on the lead, you could drag him back to last. You could do anything with him."
With Blue Kingdom in the two path around the turn, Barbadian Runner beat Hittheroadjak to a spot outside the leader -- leaving the rail as the only option for Post Time and Sheldon Russell.
"That's where I wanted him to go, I'm glad he went there," said Boyce, counting on at least some intimidation inside two rivals.
Running back on two weeks' rest, Post Time fought past Blue Kingdom, but didn't have enough for Barbadian Runner.
Owner Scott Groh all but rode along with Boyce, and was overjoyed on the walk to the winner's circle.
"Man, he was so game, because you know he's getting tired," Groh said. "He just fighting, fighting, fighting. Man, that was really cool. He's our boy."
Purchased by Groh and Walters at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's yearling sale in 2023, the winner has earned 146 times -- and counting -- his $5,000 purchase price. Barbadian Runner won once in eight starts last year, but placed in the Maryland Juvenile and Heft stakes in December. He came out firing in 2025, winning the Spectacular Bid in January and Miracle Wood in February. Off a short freshening he finished third in allowance company in April and was fourth in the James Murphy Stakes on the turf at Pimlico in May. Two weeks after that, he dominated two rivals in the off-the-turf Jersey Derby at Monmouth Park, then finished second in three stakes -- the Delaware Derby at Delaware Park and the Star de Naskra and Petramalo Mile at Colonial Downs.
"We just took baby steps at the time," said Walters. "He has progressively gotten better and better. I think he took his biggest jump in the Monmouth race, even though it was a short field. It's the way he did it. He looped around the field, won with authority that day. I guess that was the day that he accelerated getting better. The races at Colonial, I think it was a speed-biased track. It was hard for him to make up any ground on those horses and they were good horses that beat him."
Barbadian Runner further announced his quality in the Hilton, a quirky 7 furlongs at Charles Town, where he defeated Kentucky Derby starters Owen Almighty and Neoequos among others 13 days after the Petramalo. Off the win, Walters eyed the Maryland Million.
"He ran back in 13 days when he won at Charles Town," the trainer said. "If this was a target race, I couldn't run it in between. He got a little break, and we just trained him, progressed in his training as we got closer to the race. Yesterday morning, I blew him out through the lane because I wanted that kind of run from him today, and that's what he did."
Walters' saddled his first runner in 1980, won his first race as a trainer the next year and has been at it ever since. Forty-five years in, he trains the best horse of his life -- a surprise, but not necessarily a shock. Groh studies pedigrees and liked something about Barbadian Runner. His sire sprinted. His dam Quiet Run never raced. Her sire Northern Afleet won going two turns, but short distances were his jam. Barbadian Runner started out at short trips, and gradually earned his opportunities to try longer.
"His sire couldn't run an inch over seven-eighths of a mile," said Walters. "You have to go back to the second, third dam of his dam to find distance. Over time, he surprised me. When we purchased him, we never dreamt that he would turn out to be this good, but he's gotten better each time, and we're just thrilled."
Before Barbadian Runner, Walters' top horse was Tommy Shelby. The $2,000 yearling purchase won his first two in 2018, placed in two stakes, scored twice more and got claimed away for $8,000.
"I've never been in it for saying, 'Hey, I need a stake horse,' " Walters said of training. "I just like winning races -- cheap, whatever. As long as the owners are happy, it makes me happy. But this is icing on the cake, when you get a horse like this. Fortunately, he's been pretty hickory."
