Saffie Joseph Jr.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--In his last eight starts, Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) has run at eight different racetracks. If trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. chooses the $1 million GI Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course for the 5-year-old's next start, it will be nine. Joseph said he is mulling over what is next for Skippy, who was last seen finishing third--missing second by a head--in the GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 29. That was his first start since winning the GII Oaklawn Handicap on April 20. Besides the Whitney, Joseph...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Trainer Jeremiah Englehart has some time to figure out what to do next with GIII Sanford Stakes winner Mo Plex (Complexity). The 2-year-old colt came out of his one-length Sanford win last Saturday in good shape, Englehart said Thursday outside his barn at the Oklahoma Annex. Now he has to decide when we'll see Mo Plex again. The options are the six-furlong, $200,000 Funny Cide for New York-breds on Aug. 25 or the seven-furlong, $300,000 GI Hopeful on Sept. 2, closing day. "I am definitely not ruling out...

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This column is highlighted by the victory of Godolphin's Cinderella's Dream in the Belmont Oaks.   Slipper Fits For Godolphin Miss Flawless in her first four starts in England and Dubai prior to a seventh in the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas, Cinderella's Dream (GB) (Shamardal) handed breeder Godolphin and Charlie Appleby a victory in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes during the final days of the Belmont at the Big A meeting...

Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) will miss the John A. Nerud Stakes at Belmont's Aqueduct meet according to a report from C Two Racing Stable. The 5-year-old, who was moved back to trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. after finishing off the board in both the G1 Saudi Cup and the GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap for trainer Rick Dutrow, had been targeting the July 6 cutback but is still getting over an illness following his start in the Met Mile. "We are not going...

Drayden Van Dyke was quick out of the gate in his first weekend of riding at Gulfstream Park, finding the winner's circle on five of nine mounts, all of whom are trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. The 29-year-old jockey, who switched his tack from Santa Anita for a 30-day trial run at Gulfstream, won aboard his only mount Friday before winning on two of four mounts Saturday. Sunday, he won with Novo Sol in the second race and with Practically Dark in the eighth. Van Dyke earned the Eclipse Award...

With the better-known 'Mystik' still in the barn, Mystic Lake (Mo Town) went to the front end and never looked back, rolling home a 4 1/2-length winner over favored Youalmosthadme (Oxbow) in Friday's Miss Preakness S. at Pimlico. A second-out winner at Woodbine last fall, she was runner-up in that venue's Glorious Song S. on the synthetic in October before weakening late to be third in the GIII Mazarine S. in November. Kicking off 2024 with a win in Tampa's seven-panel Gasparilla S. on the dirt Jan. 13, the Florida-bred...

Proxy (Tapit) provided Godolphin with its first winner of the GII Oaklawn H. just 12 months ago and the progressive Highland Falls (Curlin) has legitimate claims to double that tally when he squares off with 10 others in the nine-furlong contest. Trained by Brad Cox--who somewhat surprisingly has never saddled an Oaklawn H. winner--the homebred son of GI Breeders' Cup Distaff upsetter Round Pond (Awesome Again) won three of his first four trips to the post in maiden and allowance company back east and was scarcely disgraced last time in...

The Gulfstream Park Championship Meet ended Sunday with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. and trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. defending their respective titles. Ortiz finished the meet with 119 winners, a mark that saw him top the rider's standings for the fifth time in the last six seasons. "It went very good for us," said Ortiz. "It means a lot to win another title here. They make me feel at home here. The owners, everybody training here, the whole organization-- security and the people who work here--they make me feel good. I...

R Harper Rose (Khozan) represented her fellow Florida-breds well in Saturday's GIII Forward Gal S. over the Hallandale strip as she dropped the hammer down the lane to win. The OBS March grad made her debut a winning one as she streaked to a gate-to-wire finish by 6 1/4 lengths at Gulfstream Park in early August. Stepping into optional claiming company over the same surface Sept. 22, the filly was equally as potent when she won by 5 3/4 lengths. On her home floor last fall, the bay took on...

Named for the owner, an immigrant from Scotland who realized a Carnegie-kind of American Dream, it began as a 12-furlong turf race. Five years later in 1964 it was cut back to nine and moved to the dirt. The roll call of Donn H. winners through 2016 at Gulfstream Park reflects a roster of unique equine and human personalities, which is peppered with some magnificent performances that shouldn't be forgotten. Hall of Fame jockey Braulio Baeza won his first of three victories in 1969 aboard Funny Fellow and took home...

In a race meant as a prep for next month's GI Pegasus World Cup, O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman) staked his claim for potential favoritism with a gusty win in the GIII Harlan's Holiday S. Favored in this same race a year ago, the Chilean import disappointed when fourth behind MGISP Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) and was thus never a factor as Art Collector (Bernardini) cruised to the Pegasus win to kick off 2023. O'Connor has spent the rest of his 6-year-old season hitting the board in graded-stakes races around the East Coast and...

Gulfstream Park's Saturday program will offer four stakes races-- three graded--including the GIII Harlan's Holiday S., a prep for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and the GII Fort Lauderdale S., a prep for the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. The Harlan's Holiday drew a field of 11, including last out GII Hagyard Fayette S. winner and 5-2 morning-line favorite O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman); last year's GII Remsen S. winner Dubyuhnell (Good Magic), who returned from the shelf with an optional claiming win at Keeneland Oct. 28; and the streaking...