Saffie Joseph Jr.

R Harper Rose Basks In Forward Gal Win

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...

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History Astride As Pegasus Card Promises Once Again To Slay Graded Weekend

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...

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O'Connor Preps For Pegasus With Harlan's Holiday Win

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...

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Pegasus Preview Day at Gulfstream Park Saturday

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...

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Gulfstream Championship Season Graded Races Ready To Unwrap

A pair of graded stakes races will signal that the Gulfstream Park Championship season is officially underway on Saturday. First, the GIII Sugar Swirl S. for older females going six furlongs on the main track includes veteran mare Bluefield (Field Commission), who won by a neck against state-breds in a Tampa black-type race Dec. 9. "She went up to Tampa and it was nice to get a stakes win on her resume at this age," said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. "She came to us late but she just keeps getting...

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Ramsey Seeks to Add to his Record 16 Claiming Crown Wins

Edited Press Release Ken Ramsey is back at the Claiming Crown. If he has only three horses (in two races) running in the program designed to showcase American horse racing's blue-collar horses, it's not for a lack of effort. The 88-year-old Ramsey is the winningest owner in the history of the Claiming Crown, which will be staged for the 25th time this Saturday at the historic Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. But his last starter came with Peru (GB) (Motivator {GB}), whose victory in the 2018 Claiming Crown Tiara...

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Riding Six Tracks In Six Days, Conner's Mileage Surpassed Only By His Work Ethic

When Penn National shut down for a one-month planned break Sept. 23, Tyler Conner, the track's third-leading rider this year in both wins and earnings, wasn't sure what he'd do to keep his income flowing. Yet the 30-year-old jockey, who is soft-spoken but highly driven, managed to build enough out-of-town business to the point where he has just completed a demanding six-day run of riding at six different tracks in the Northeast and Canada. His whirlwind tour included more than 1,800 miles of driving, nearly all of which he accomplished...

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GII Presque Isle Downs Masters S. Serves As Monday's Feature

After a weekend of graded racing action from Aqueduct to Woodbine, the scene shifts on Monday to Presque Isle Downs as they host the Masters S., a Grade II event going six and a half furlongs over the Tapeta. Out of this field of 12, most of the gravitas will be directed towards Roses for Debra (Liam's Map). With seven wins over nine races, the 4-year-old gray filly won the GIII Caress S. at Saratoga July 22 and then followed that up over the same turf course with a victory...

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Exaggerator Colt 'Skips' to $1-Million Charles Town Classic Win

Last year's GI Belmont S. third Skippylongstocking (c, 4, Exagggerator--Twinkling, by War Chant), a three-time graded winner since, added Friday's late-night $1-million GII Charles Town Classic S. to his steadily growing CV. Under Tyler Gaffalione, the 7-5 favorite hustled straight to the front, set fractions of :24.82 and :48.88, and wasn't for catching, drawing clear in the stretch by five lengths. The winner's Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.-trained stablemate O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman), a Group 1 winner in his native Chile, closed from the rear of the field to finish second, while...

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White Abarrio Exits Whitney in Fine Fettle

C Two Racing Stable and Antonio Pagnano's White Abarrio (Race Day), a 6 1/4-length winner in Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, exited his victory in good order, according to trainer by Rick Dutrow, Jr. Sunday morning. "I don't know if it's sunk in yet," said Dutrow, Jr. who celebrated his 64th birthday Saturday. "I kept anticipating another horse to come challenge him. I felt extremely comfortable when he broke good and was laying off the speed horse--I felt any time that he wanted him, he could have him. I...

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After A Chilly Reception From Stallion Farms, Rombauer Is Making His Way Back To The Races

Back in early 2022 when John and Diane Fradkin announced that their homebred GI Preakness winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy) was being retired after suffering a soft tissue injury they went to work to find him his new home. The horse has a good pedigree and is a Grade I winner, so the expectations were that he'd stand at stud in Kentucky. Regional markets were also considered. Another option was Japan. But no matter where their horse might land, the Fradkins decided that Rombauer's racing career was over. That was the...

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Churchill Downs Reinstates Saffie Joseph, Jr.

After suspending trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. indefinitely just two days prior to the GI Kentucky Derby and ordering scratched his trainee Lord Miles (Curlin) from the Derby itself, Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has reinstated Joseph and will allow him to enter horses again at all CDI-affiliated tracks. Two of Joseph's horses, Parents Pride (Maclean's Music) and Chasing Artie (We Miss Artie)--both owned by Ken Ramsey--had died at Churchill during Derby week from sudden-death events. A total of 12 horses had passed away over a five-week span at Churchill, prompting the...

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