Joseph continues to produce winners

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – Barbadian trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. tasted success both in the Upper South and the United States southeast on Thursday, as his barns continued to churn out impressive winners in the respective summer meets.

The 34-year-old found himself among the cash at Churchill Downs here when his 4-1 chance Rock Along edged the field by a neck to win the US$100 000 race three.

And at Gulfstream Park in Florida, 2-1 choice Doc Amster also carved out a narrow victory in the US$47 000 race four, to hand Joseph added success.

Joseph, who arrived in Florida from Barbados in 2011, has rapidly built an impressive reputation for himself, and also boasts several stalls at Belmont Park in Long Island, New York.

At the storied oval here, Joseph watched as the bay filly Rock Along got the better of the two-year-old maiden fillies with a front-running effort in a five furlong dash.

Under Florent Geroux, Rock Along posted decent fractions of 22.63 and 46.10 with favourite Bali Dove chasing from second and 12-1 bet Awesome Hope stalking.

Rock Along carved out a near two-length advantage inside the eighth pole but was then forced to hold off a strong finish from 56-1 longshot My Lily Mae, before getting home in 58.49.

At Gulfstream, jockey Emisael Jaramillo guided four-year bay colt Doc Amster to victory over the three-year-olds and upward in a six furlong sprint.

Four-to-one bet Kalu produced splits of 22.59 seconds and 45.01 but was never able to escape the rapt attention of Doc Amster.

The pair came off the turn level and Doc Amster just had enough left in the tank to out-duel his rival and win in a time of one minute, 9:49 seconds.
(CMC)