HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saffie Joseph Jr. has already all but sewed up yet another Gulfstream Park Championship meet training title, but he still has plenty of business to attend to before the session ends on March 29.
Joseph will be at his busiest in the paddock late Sunday afternoon, having entered four fillies to go up against the prohibitive favorite Lennilu in the Melody of Colors Stakes, a five-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies. The group is led by the once-beaten Mystical Belle and also includes Jetty’s Holme, Canton, and Secane.
“Right now I’m planning to run at least three of them, with Secane the only possible scratch. I might hold her out to run longer next week,” Joseph said. “Obviously the favorite will be very tough, but after her it’s a very wide-open race.”
None of Joseph’s entrants will have started on grass prior to the Melody of Colors. Mystical Belle is the most accomplished of the quartet, having won her last two starts, with both wins coming over the Tapeta course.
“Mystical Belle should be very competitive if she handles the grass,” said Joseph. “She’s run well on the Tapeta, but there can be a big difference between the Tapeta and turf sometimes.
“Jetty’s Home breezed on turf and handled it well. But there’s also a big difference between breezing and running in a race.”
Joseph also has two horses in each of Friday’s co-featured optional-claiming and allowance races, both of which are restricted to Florida-bred fillies and mares. City Minute and Sapphire Girl go 7 1/2 furlongs on turf in the fourth race, while Love Like Lucy and Jestina are among the key contenders in the sixth, which will be decided at six furlongs on the main track.
“City Minute will be trying a distance for the first time, and I’ll probably scratch her if the race comes off the grass because it will be run at a mile and 70 if it’s switched to the Tapeta,” Joseph said. “Sapphire Girl will be cutting back to 7 1/2 furlongs off a series of mile races. She got taken really wide last time with the rail out very far that day over a speed-favoring course.”
Love Like Lucy will be getting some class relief. She will be trying allowance opposition for the first time after having been stakes-placed in the opening two legs of the Florida Sire Series at 2 and finishing a competitive fourth making her 3-year-old debut earlier this winter in the Gasparilla at Tampa Bay Downs. Jestina finished a distant second to the now stakes-placed Sweet Ember in her most recent start.
“This is definitely some class relief for Lucy, although I think the six furlongs is probably better for Jestina,” said Joseph.
Joseph talks stakes plans
Although Joseph will be conspicuous by his absence in the $1 million Florida Derby here on closing weekend of the Championship session, he does have a major player, My Miss Mo, for the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks earlier on the card. My Miss Mo finished a well-beaten second to She Be Smooth when stretching to a mile for the first time here last month in the Grade 2 Davona Dale.
“I always thought distance is what she wants, and she made a good jump in the numbers in the Davona Dale despite winding up along the inside against the bias much of the way,” Joseph said of My Miss Mo. “And I think she’s going to love two turns.”
Joseph has Holy Bull runner-up Bravaro nominated for the Florida Derby but has opted to run him the following week at Aqueduct in the Wood Memorial. The New York-bred Bravaro is exiting a disappointing fourth-place finish, beaten 11 lengths by Commandment, in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
“He’s two for two over the [Aqueduct] track and The Wood is 100 percent an easier spot, at least on paper, than the Florida Derby,” said Joseph. “He checked early into the first turn, again a bit later, then got a little keen early on in the Fountain of Youth. But he was in a perfect spot at the three-eighths pole just behind the two leaders and didn’t go on with it from there. But we’ll try it [a Derby prep] one more time and see what happens.”
Joseph will also be busy at Oaklawn Park in the weeks ahead. On Saturday, Pegasus World Cup winner Skippylongstocking figures to be a heavy favorite in the Grade 3 Essex. Pegasus runner-up White Abarrio is still on target for the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 18.
“All our plans changed for Skippy after we missed the Santa Anita Handicap, but by running in the Essex on Saturday it puts us on a good schedule to go to the Alysheba [at Churchill Downs] later this spring,” Joseph explained. “As far as Abarrio is concerned, we’re ahead of schedule with him right now.
“He had a nice blowout last weekend, we’ll come back with a half mile this week, and all the signs are showing us he is going to move forward from the Pegasus. And if he does, he should be hard to beat at Oaklawn.”
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