Post Time’s back.

And better than ever? That remains to be seen, but surely his return voyage couldn’t have gone any better than it did.

The five-year-old Maryland-bred powered to a 13 ¼-length victory today in a third-level allowance/optional claimer that may have been even easier than that.

For a runner that competed in seven graded events in 2024 and ran second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, it was a congenial spot to launch his five-year-old campaign and one that, at two turns, should give him a boost in conditioning.

“Big relief to get him back and to have him win like that is what we wanted obviously,” said trainer Brittany Russell.

It also was a good place to experiment with blinkers, which he wore for the first time. Russell said the team had considered outfitting the Frosted horse with shades last year, but circumstances made that hard.

“It’s kind of hard when you’re showing up in Grade 1s to go and make an equipment change like that,” she said. “We kind of regrouped when we freshened him up, and I said, ‘Maybe this is the time: let’s play with the blinkers.’”

Despite his stellar record to date – he was 9-for-15 with earnings of more than $1.2 million entering today – Russell said that Post Time had had a tendency to lean on horses rather than go by them.

“Against a three-other-than group at home, you would like to think that he’s going to win like that anyway,” Russell said. “But [jockey Sheldon Russell] said he traveled better, and he was straighter, all the things we were looking for.”

Post Time’s stablemate Regalo made the early running in the 1 1/16-mile contest, leading by a half-length after an opening half in 47.08 seconds. Post Time, between horses, was just less than four lengths off the pace by then.

Post Time cruised up wide to the leaders rounding the turn, reaching even terms with new boss Shaft’s Bullet with three-eighths to go, and spurted away when Russell asked. He was five lengths in front with a furlong to go and widened readily from there. Running time on a fast main track was 1:43.31.

Union Fleet, a 32-1 outsider, rallied into second, a head better than Feeling Woozy, who finished third.

Post Time paid a paltry $2.80 as the overwhelming 2-5 favorite. The exacta returned $20.90 for a one-dollar wager.

Post Time is out of the graded stakes-placed Fairbanks mare Vielsalm. He was bred in Maryland by Dr. and Mrs. Tom Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman, and Milton Higgins, III, and is owned by Ellen Charles’s Hillwood Stable LLC.

Post Time took Mrs. Charles and the Russells on some trips last year: Saratoga for the Met Mile and the Whitney, Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup.

More could be in the offing: a tentative target for the barn’s star is the June 7 Grade 1 Met Mile, again at Saratoga, the trainer allowed.

“The Met Mile’s a little tricky because [it’s at] Saratoga and that kind of funny turn and the whole dynamic of that, but he’s done it before,” Russell explained. “I didn’t feel like he was ready for a war just yet. I felt like this was a good prep, and if he ran good, we would consider it.”

Part one of that equation is in the books, and the returns are positive. Now’s where it gets good.