Curlin Florida Derby News & Notes: Saffie Joseph Jr. Seeks 2nd Florida Derby Win with Catalytic

By David Joseph —-

Curlin Florida Derby News & Notes

Saffie Joseph Jr. Seeks 2nd Florida Derby Win with Catalytic

Gun Song Steps Up, Stretches Out for G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks

Track Record-Holder Quality G Returns in $150,000 Appleton

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. enjoyed a career highlight two years ago when he saddled White Abarrio for a victory in the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park – an achievement that remains a vivid memory.

“It means everything. It still means a lot today to win with White Abarrio. It was our first Florida Derby. It’s our home track. It’s a race you grew up watching,” Joseph said. “It was a race you dream to win. For it to come true, you’re thankful you can experience a moment like that. Hopefully, we can win more of them.”

Joseph, who is just a few days away from officially winning his third consecutive Championship Meet training title, will make a bid for his second triumph in the Curlin Florida Derby Saturday with Tami Bobo, Julie Davies and George Isaac’s Catalytic.

While White Abarrio entered the Curlin Florida Derby with a solid resume that included a victory in the Holy Bull (G3), Catalytic will bring only two-race experience into the 1 1/8-mile centerpiece of Saturday’s 14-race program with 10 stakes, five graded, worth $2.425 million in purses.

The 3-year-old son of Catalina Cruiser turned in a most impressive debut at Gulfstream Park Oct. 7, winning going away by 5 ½ lengths before going to the sidelines. He returned to action March 8 at Tampa Bay Downs, where he closed from far back to finish second, beaten less than a length, in a six-furlong entry-level optional claiming allowance.

“He got sick, and he missed some time. We had to back off. He got sidetracked. He got behind schedule,” Joseph said. “We got a race into him at Tampa. I thought everything went wrong and he still ran well. He was restless in the gate, he didn’t break well. At the quarter-pole it looked like he was going to be a distant fourth at best, and then he really flew home and just got beat. He was never going to win visually, but he just got beat [by three-quarters of a length] and galloped out well.”

In addition to making his stakes debut in the Florida Derby, Catalytic will be making his first start around two turns Saturday.

“The two-turn thing – you never really know until you run around two turns. From his running style, you would say he should handle it,” Joseph said. “The hardest part is that he’s giving up a lot of seasoning racing against these kind of horses and going up in class. I think he’s a quality horse.

“Can he overcome the lack of experience? Last time I thought he got a lot of experience. The first time he got a perfect trip. Last time things didn’t go well, and he was still able to run a decent race,” he added. “Can he improve that much? We’ll find out. That’s why we run the races.”

Julien Leparoux is scheduled to ride Catalytic for the first time in the Florida Derby, in which the lightly raced colt will clash with 2023 2-year-old champion Fierceness and Holy Bull winner Hades in an 11-horse field.

Gun Song Steps Up, Stretches Out for G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks

R Lee Lewis’ Gun Song, an eye-catching winner of her most recent start over the track last month, steps up to stakes company and stretches out around two turns for the first time for Saturday’s $200,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) presented FanDuelTV.

The 1 1/16-mile Oaks is the last of Gulfstream’s series of Championship Meet stakes for 3-year-old fillies and carries 200 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis.

Gun Song is a chestnut daughter of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, who capped his career with a victory in the 2018 Pegasus World Cup (G1) at Gulfstream. Gun Song’s mare, Nicole H, was a six-time stakes-winning sprinter including the 2011 Distaff Handicap (G2).

Never worse than third in four starts, two of them wins, Gun Song stalked the pace for a half-mile before taking over the lead and drawing away to a 5 ¾-length optional claiming allowance victory Feb. 9 at Gulfstream. It was her longest race to date and first time over a fast main track.

Trainer Mark Hennig opted to skip Gulfstream’s one-mile Davona Dale (G2) March 2 and point for the Oaks, a race he won in 2011 with Tap Dance.

“She’s doing great. She came out of the last race very well,” Hennig said. “She’s done well. I considered the Davona Dale, but I just didn’t want to come back that quick with her. It’s a long season, especially if we get lucky and wind up in some of those bigger races down the line.

“She’s out of a pure sprinter and yet she’s a real leggy filly,” he added. “I always kind of felt like she wanted to stretch out, so I was happy to see the way she performed when we got her out to a mile. Hopefully when we stretch to two turns, she does the same.”

Her last race was the second straight since adding blinkers for Gun Song, who debuted with a neck victory sprinting six furlongs last October before finishing a troubled third in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance in December, both under jockey Dylan Davis at Aqueduct.

“She was a filly that never was really focused. When we put the blinkers on her, that helped a lot, but the light just hadn’t completely gone on for her and I think in that last race it definitely did,” Hennig said. “When she broke her maiden, Dylan said she was just kind of toying around between the two horses. She had a horse on either side of her and was just kind of looking at them rather than running forward.

“The second race she ran kind of flat, but she came out of it with a really bad bruise on her foot and we missed about 10 days with her because of that,” he added. “When we came back down to Florida, I ran her a little quicker than I wanted to but that’s when the race came up. Finally last time everything kind of came together.”

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, aboard for each of her two Gulfstream races, gets the return call from Post 6 in a field of nine. They are rated as second choice on the morning line at 4-1 behind 8-5 program favorite Ways and Means, making her first start since running second in the Spinaway (G1) Sept. 3 at Saratoga.

“She just kind of ran away from them down the stretch last time, which was good to see. The race before she kind of got stuck as the one in front and she didn’t get to stalk. She was the stalkee rather than the stalker,” Hennig said. “With her not really understanding what it was all about yet, I think that kind of hurt her that day, but she came back and made a good showing.

“It’s a lot tougher race. The road gets tougher all the time, so we’ll see how we go, but we’re confident in our horse” he added. “She couldn’t be doing better. Hopefully she performs the way we think she can.”

Track Record-Holder Quality G Returns in $150,000 Appleton

Robert LaPenta’s Quality G, a record-setting winner over the course four weeks ago, returns to Gulfstream Park chasing a third straight win and first in stakes company in Saturday’s $150,000 Appleton for 4-year-olds and up going one mile on the grass.

The 72nd running of the Appleton is among 10 stakes, five graded, worth $2.425 million on a blockbuster 14-race program, and immediately precedes the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa for 3-year-olds, one of the country’s premiere Triple Crown preps.

By Quality Road, who won the 2009 Fountain of Youth (G2) and Florida Derby and 2010 Donn Handicap (G1) at Gulfstream, Quality G will be making his fourth start of the Championship Meet in the Appleton. He was beaten a neck as the favorite in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Dec. 9 then came back to win the same condition by the same margin going 1 1/16 miles Jan. 6.

Most recently, Quality G rallied from far back to get up by a nose despite encountering some late trouble in 1:25.98 for 7 ½ furlongs, breaking the mark of 1:26.78 that dated back to 2016. The runner-up, multiple stakes winner and Grade 1-placed stablemate Never Surprised, is also entered in the Appleton.

“He’s coming off a big win going 7 ½ [furlongs],” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He seems to be enjoying himself at Gulfstream, so we thought we’d try and step it up a notch.”

Quality G began his career on the main track in February 2022 and, after breaking his maiden over Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta course next time out, has raced exclusively on grass. Overall, he has been third or better in 11 of 12 starts and placed in two previous stakes attempts, beaten a half-length each time, when third in the one-mile Jersey Derby and second in the 1 1/16-mile Tale of the Cat in 2022 at Monmouth Park.

“He just seems to have matured and been in good form and likes the course,” Pletcher said. “I think [his success] is a product of all those things.”

DATTT Stable’s Smokin’ T is looking to rebound off a seventh-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Canadian Turf (G3) March 2 at Gulfstream, where he has two thirds in four career tries over its turf course. The 5-year-old won of War Front was third or better in all eight of his starts last year with three wins, two in stakes, capped by the 1 1/8-mile River City (G3) in November.

The Appleton also drew the Christophe Clement-trained Big Everest, a multiple turf stakes winner making his 6-year-old debut 4 ½ months since defending his title in Aqueduct’s one-mile Artie Schiller; the Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained pair of County Final, winner of the Jan. 27 Carousel Club on Gulfstream’s Tapeta, and Saratoga Flash, fourth in the Canadian Turf; 2023 Highlander (G2) winner Lucky Score and multiple graded-stakes placed Ice Chocolat from Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse; Churchtown, second in last year’s Appleton; Tidal Forces, riding a three-race win streak; and Skyro, winner of Gulfstream’s Dec. 2 Sabal Palm.

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