Saffie’s road to success

HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida – Gulfstream Park champion trainer Saffie Joseph Jr has praised his father’s contribution to his career, after capturing the million-dollar Grade 1 Florida Derby at the renowned oval last Saturday.

The 34-year-old Barbadian has made a meteoric rise since arriving here nearly a decade ago and headlined that success when his 5-2 choice White Abarrio stormed to the capture of the feature on the lucrative 14-race card.

For Joseph, the victory was his 57th win of the campaign, handing him his maiden capture of the Championship Meet at the south Florida venue, following up successes in the Spring and Summer campaigns.

“When I said I wanted to move here, my dad said I was crazy because I had been training the best horses in Barbados,” Joseph said after watching White Abarrio easily dispose of the three-year-olds by 1-¼ lengths over a mile and eighth.

“But he backed me and supported me.

“After six years, I said, ‘It’s not going to work out.’ He said, ‘We’ve come too far to go back now. We’re not turning back.’”

And the perseverance has paid off for Joseph, his latest success among a strong of achievements racked up in recent years.

In 2019, he won the million-dollar Grade I Pennsylvania Derby with Math Wizard at Parx Racing and also came to the fore with NY Traffic who finished an impressive second in the Haskell Stakes, and went on to historically feature in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, albeit without success.

In February, White Abarrio produced a dominant 4-½ length win in the Grade III Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream, and last weekend’s victory earned him 100 points towards qualification for next month’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

A fever before the Holy Bull nearly fractured preparations for White Abarrio and a similar setback leading up to the Florida Derby also left Joseph nervous about the colt’s chances.

“Going into the Holy Bull, we had missed time, we had missed two works,” Joseph explained.

“I didn’t believe in the Holy Bull we were going to win because he missed two key works in a big race. We were giving up a big fitness edge. To see him win that day, I thought it was remarkable.”

He continued: “After that, we talked it over. He ran such a big race, and we figured, if he’s good enough and able to win that race, he should be good enough to give him a good chance to win in the Florida Derby.

“Everything went perfect from then until 12 days ago, and we had a hiccup. In the back of your mind, you’re like, geez, we should have run him in the Fountain of Youth [last month], but it worked out.”

With any ordinary horse, Joseph believes the setback would have been costly but he said White Abarrio was special.

“Those are things average horses can’t overcome. That’s what separates him. That’s what makes him the horse he is. We’re blessed to have him. Onward it goes,” he said. (CMC)