Saffie Joseph Jr.

Saffie Joseph Jr. is easy to pick out. It's got to be the hair. He talks about the long locks he has on his head and what it would take for him to cut it off. He talks about Skippylongstocking going for his third straight win in the Charles Town Classic. He compares the weather of Saratoga to Florida. And, it might surprise you what actor he picks to play himself if ever there was a movie made about his life. He sat down with the TDN's Tim Wilkin to...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When the question came out on the rail at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning, trainer Miguel Clement smiled. But he was not about to give an answer to who is his favorite horse in his barn. That will stay with him. When the name of 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel) was suggested, Clement smiled some more. "He is definitely up there," Clement said. As well he should. Far Bridge, owned by LSU Stables, shows up whenever Clement puts the saddle on the 5-year-old....

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Two years ago, the GI Whitney Stakes was a whiteout. As in White Abarrio (Race Day), who crushed the field by 6 1/4 lengths. Fast forward to now and White Abarrio is back for another run in Saturday's $1 million Whitney, the premier race for older horses at the 40-day meet at Saratoga Race Course. The 6-year-old horse will look to shrug off a disappointing fourth place finish in the GI Met Mile last month and prove to his trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. that he deserves...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-'TDN Rising Stars' Fierceness (City of Light) or Mindframe (Constitution) in the GI $1 million Whitney Stakes? Will one of them be running or will it be both? Those questions got definitive answers Saturday morning outside Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. When entries are taken for the meet's marquee race for older horses on Sunday, both horses names will be front and center, but it will be Fierceness who carries the flag for Pletcher and the ownership group of Mike Repole's...

Even with a lack of it for this running of the GII Honorable Miss Stakes in Saratoga, the Sunshine State was well-represented as Halina's Forte (Mitole) outbattled fellow Florida-bred R Disaster (Awesome Slew) to earn her first graded stakes win. Given the cold shoulder by the betting public, she went off at 24-1 long odds for this sloppy (sealed) running of the contest, and was content to watch R Disaster set the pace as she saved all the ground on the rail in fifth. Still in midpack behind an opening...

SARATOGA SPRINGS--When Neil Poznansky, sitting on the back of GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes champion Sovereignty (Into Mischief), saw jockey Junior Alvarado early Friday morning, he wore a wide smile. "How'd I do?" Poznansky said. Alvarado grinned back. No answer necessary. Sovereignty did what Poznansky, Alvarado and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott wanted to see as he had his second work since winning the Belmont last month. Working in company with 4-year-old stablemate Jefferson Street (Street Sense), Sovereignty and Poznansky, Mott's assistant, covered four furlongs in :48.99...

OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, condensed to two days this year, opened with a day of steady trade Tuesday in Central Florida. A colt by Yaupon, consigned by Julie Davies, brought the session's top price when selling for $300,000 to trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. The session topper was one of six to sell for $200,000 or more on the day, matching the figure from the opening day of last year's three-day auction. "Good solid day," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski....

Saffie Joseph Jr. is no stranger to rejection. In the early years of his training career, there were moments when he wondered if chasing his dream had been a big mistake. In what is now a familiar part of Joseph's origin story, his father had warned him against leaving Barbados to launch a stable in America. Joseph came anyway. He arrived at Calder Race Course in 2011 only to be told that there was no stall space available, but he went back to the racing secretary week after week until...

If one could look up the word 'workmanlike' in racing's lexicon, it surely would have a picture of Alonso Daniel's Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator). And the 6-year-old one again proved that he fits the bill with a professional one-length score over Midnight Mammoth (Midnight Lute) in the GII Hollywood Gold Cup on Santa Anita's Memorial Day card. Installed the 4-5 choice following a third in the nine-furlong GII Oaklawn Handicap Apr. 19, the two-time GII Charles Town Classic winner broke cleanly and settled in an even-tempo fifth as Packs a Wahlop (Creative...

Mike Ryan's Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) kicked off the graded stakes action on the holiday card at Santa Anita Monday with a wire-to-wire victory in the GI Gamely Stakes, giving trainer Saffie Joseph his first-ever win at the Arcadia oval. The Florida-based Joseph doubled up in the very next race when Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) won the GII Hollywood Gold Cup. Sent off at 2-1, Be Your Best bound out to the early lead and was under a snug hold from Irad Ortiz, setting fractions of :22.99 and :46.15 while...

Godolphin's GI Kentucky Derby-winning homebred Sovereignty (Into Mischief) returned to the work tab Saturday at Saratoga Race Course, breezing a solo half-mile over the Oklahoma dirt training track for trainer Bill Mott in preparation for the GI Belmont Stakes next month. Guided through the work by Eclipse Award-winner Neil Poznansky, Sovereignty stretched his legs with a gallop around most of the oval first before assuming position on the backside to break off into his work and post splits of :12.88 seconds, :25.02 and the half-mile in :49.76. He galloped out...

The name of the book recently released by Simon & Schuster is "Death of a Racehorse," which might lead one to believe that author and CNN Reporter Katie Bo Lillis is the latest to jump on the anti-racing bandwagon. That is not the case. This is a book that truly can't be judged by its macabre cover or title. It's not that Lillis is a cheerleader for racing. A graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start program, she clearly understands the sport and seems pained by what ails it--breakdowns, overuse of...