HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida – Barbadian Saffie Joseph won the million-dollar Florida Derby with 5-2 choice White Abarrio at the weekend, to crown his first-ever capture of the Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park.
The 34-year-old, who wrapped up the meet title on Friday, sent out White Abarrio under jockey Tyler Gaffalione in the feature over a mile and eighth on the lucrative 14-race card 24 hours later, and watched as the colt brushed aside the three-year-olds by 1-¼ lengths in a time of one minute, 50:64 seconds.
Three-to-one choice Charge It finished second while favourite Simplification ran a length back in third.
With the victory, White Abarrio earned 100 qualification points and all but sealed his place in the famed Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs next month.
“This is icing on the cake. Winning this race meant the world to me,” an emotional Joseph said afterwards.
“The Florida Derby is up there with the Kentucky Derby because we’re based at Gulfstream. The meet is history, but if I could trade the Florida Derby for [winning] the meet. I would trade it. That’s how big the Florida Derby is.”
Gaffalione broke White Abarrio sharply from post number seven, partnering Charge It up the backstretch as 7-2 chance Classic Causeway posted the early fractions of 23.67 seconds for the quarter and 47.24 for the half, with 2-1 bet Simplification tracking from second and 16-1 outsider Pappacap lying third.
With half-mile left to run, Classic Causeway ran out of steam and Simplification and Pappacap stormed through to pick up the running, Gaffalione snatching the opportunity to chase as Charge It also made a bid.
White Abarrio was full of running off the final turn and swept by the leaders into the stretch and even though Luis Saez brought Charge It with a late surge, Gaffalione got his colt to hold comfortably.
“Tyler, as I said, when he started, I only had like 12 horses, but I rode him on my first ever good horse, a horse named Saraguera,” Joseph said.
Gaffalione added: “Like Saffie said, we’ve been together for the past eight years now, and we’ve had a lot of success. We work well together, great communication.
“I have a lot of confidence in him and vice versa. I just feel so blessed and thankful to be given this opportunity, especially with them.”
The Derby win was Joseph’s 57th winner of the season, finishing top of the pile to halt an 18-year dominant streak by Todd Pletcher, the Hall-of-Famer finishing second with 46.
While White Abarrio’s success was Joseph’s lone win in 11 starts, he managed to make his mark in several of the supporting features on Saturday’s card.
In race nine, his 8-1 chance Novo Sol finished third under Irad Ortiz Jr in the US$200 000 Pan American Stakes for four-year-olds over 1-¼ miles while his 2-1 choice Collaborate was second under Junior Alvarado in the $100 000 Sir Shackleton Stakes in race 10 for four-year-old and upwards over seven furlongs.
Joseph’s Beechnut Trophy, in at odds of 4-1 and ridden by Ortiz, finished third in the $100 000 Sanibel Island Stakes for three-year-old fillies over a mile and sixteenth in race 11.
Gaffalione also partnered Joseph’s three-year-old filly Running Legacy to third in the $250 000 Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Oaks in race 12 over a mile and sixteenth. (CMC)
