The past two months have not gone well for Saffie Joseph, Jr., the Florida-based trainer looking forward to getting back to the winner’s circle this weekend.
On May 4, two days before Lord Miles would have been Joseph’s first starter in the Kentucky Derby (G1), the trainer was suspended indefinitely by Churchill Downs after two of his horses died in a 72-hour span before the Run for the Roses.
With Joseph suspended, his Wood Memorial (G2) winner Lord Miles was scratched from the Derby by racing stewards. The suspension was lifted this past Friday (June 30), and while Joseph has been running his horses primarily at Gulfstream Park and Belmont Park in New York, he’s won 2 of 31 races from June 19-July 2, according to Equibase statistics.
He’s hoping Prairie Meadows, in Altoona, Iowa, will supply a much-needed boost to his stable. On Saturday, he’ll be sending out multiple grade-stakes winner Skippylongstocking in the $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap (G3), Imonra in the $225,000 Iowa Oaks (G3), and West Coast Cowboy in the $250,000 Iowa Derby.
During a five-week period before and after the Derby, 12 horses died at Churchill Downs. The two trained by Joseph died under unexplained circumstances, but after an investigation by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and inconclusive necropsy reports, the suspension was lifted.
During that time, one of Joseph’s top horses, $1 million earner and 2022 Florida Derby (G1) winner White Abarrio, was transferred to the barn of Rick Dutrow, Jr., who was just coming off a 10-year suspension for numerous violations.
Joseph is a third-generation trainer from Barbados and in 2021 and 2022 his horses had combined earnings of nearly $20 million. The 36-year-old ranked 10th among trainers in earnings in 2021, and 11th in 2022.
Skippylongstocking finished third in the 2022 Belmont Stakes (G1) behind Mo Donegal and Nest. The 4-year-old is a slight 3-1 favorite in a field of 10 for the Cornhusker. He won the Challenger Stakes (G3) in March at Tampa Bay Downs and ran fifth in the Ben Ali (G3) on April 22 at Keeneland.
West Coast Cowboy won an allowance optional claimer on June 4 at Gulfstream and is 6-1 in the Iowa Derby.+-9
Imonra is the slight 5-2 favorite in the Oaks. The Violence filly has won her last two starts heading into her first stakes race.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
