South Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. plans to have group of about 16 to 20 horses at Oaklawn Park for the meet that runs from December to May.
The Oaklawn string will be a first for Joseph, who has shipped in for a handful of stakes in the past. Earlier this year, he saddled Skippylongstocking to win the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap.
Joseph said he had owners reach out to him about the possibility of setting up a division at Oaklawn.
“Obviously the purses are good and the stakes program is amazing,” Joseph said. “We figured it would be a good spot to have a small barn and kind of rotate in and out.”
Joseph said the Oaklawn string would include Haulin Ice, an Arkansas-bred who won the Azalea by nine lengths in July at Gulfstream Park.
“She’s one of the ones coming there,” Joseph said. “We’ll have variety. Obviously, the stakes program is really good and some horses will ship in and ship out. But we’ll have claimers, starter horses, a full variety of horses at Oaklawn.”
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Joseph is a perennial leading trainer at Gulfstream. He won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint earlier this month with Soul of an Angel.
The addition of Joseph and Mark Casse to the Oaklawn trainer ranks will give the track stables from four of the top five leading trainers in wins in North America. Steve Asmussen, who ranks first with 358 wins through Sunday, and Brad Cox, who ranks fourth with 212, regularly keep divisions at Oaklawn. Joseph is third in wins and Casse, fifth, in Daily Racing Form statistics through Sunday.
◗ The connections of Mystik Dan were scheduled to be honored Thursday by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a ceremony at the state capitol in Little Rock, said Oaklawn president Lou Cella. The horse’s ownership group is from Arkansas.
Cella said the owners’ Kentucky Derby trophy will be on display in the Arkansas state capitol rotunda on Thursday and in January. It will take up permanent residence in a display in the hotel at Oaklawn.
◗ Canterbury Park announced it has requested a 51-date meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses in 2025, from May 24-Sept. 20.
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