After being indefinitely suspended by Churchill Downs Inc. last May after two of his horses died mysteriously while racing Derby week, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., cleared of wrongdoing after an investigation and reinstated last summer, is back at Churchill Downs. The Florida-based horseman will run longshot Catalytic in the 150th Kentucky Derby (G1) May 4.
His planned Derby participant last year, Lord Miles, did not get that opportunity, having been scratched by the stewards after his trainees, Parents Pride and Chasing Artie, were sudden deaths in the days leading up to the classic. Sudden deaths apply to incidents such as heart attacks and other non-catastrophic musculoskeletal injuries that occur during or within two hours of exercise. Such deaths are infrequent, and it is rarer still for a single trainer to experience two in a week.
Such was the case with the two Joseph horses. Then June 30 of last year, after investigations found Joseph to not be in violation of any rules, CDI reinstated Joseph from his indefinite suspension from the tracks it owns. A couple of weeks earlier, the New York Racing Association—which Joseph said had been reluctant at the time for him to compete at their tracks—cleared him to run in New York.
The necropsies of the two Joseph horses, both owned by Ken Ramsey, indicated that tests for prohibited substances and therapeutic medications were negative above "regulatory threshold concentrations," and the veterinary work performed on the two horses in the 60 days before their deaths was "very minimal and routine."
The causes of sudden deaths are often difficult to determine.
Though Joseph was able to still compete at his principal base at Gulfstream Park during these restrictions, he felt the effect of the investigation—not only with stakes starters that could not run Derby Week but also in the transfer of his best horse, 2022 Florida Derby (G1) winner White Abarrio, to another stable. The Race Day colt had been one of Joseph's intended starters in the Churchill Downs Stakes (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
White Abarrio, aimed toward the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park early last June, was sent by his owners to trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. in New York, to ensure the horse would have a chance to start in that prestigious race. White Abarrio would ultimately finish third, and owners C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable kept him with Dutrow. Months later, the gray/roan would win the Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course and the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita Park. White Abarrio ran 10th in the Saudi Cup (G1) in his only race this year.
Speaking April 26 at Churchill Downs with several reporters, including publicist Jennie Rees of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, Joseph described his experience, saying he does not know if he will "ever get past it, mentally, what you have to go through. It knocks you down."
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He said he does not fault White Abarrio's owners for transferring White Abarrio from him. He compared his experience watching White Abarrio's achievements for Dutrow to how a divorced father might watch a son perform in an athletic event when the young man lives with a stepfather.
"Are you gonna resent that? No," he said. "I mean, at the end of the day, we couldn't run into him because all this was going on. The owners are very supportive of me. I have a lot of horses for them. ...The reality of it is: It wasn't the right scenario for the horse to be penalized. The Met Mile was his main target."
In announcing Joseph's suspension last May, Bill Mudd, president and chief operating officer of CDI, said in a release: "Given the unexplained sudden deaths, we have reasonable concerns about the condition of his horses, and decided to suspend him indefinitely until details are analyzed and understood."
Similarly, a statement from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and its board of stewards said: "For the betterment of racing, the health and welfare of our equine athletes, and the safety of our jockeys, all horses trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. are scratched effective immediately and until further notice."
The spring meet at Churchill Downs would ultimately be transferred in early June to Ellis Park after a dozen equine fatalities that occurred during the meet and in the days leading up to it. Of the equine fatalities involving a number of trainers, one came during training, another from a paddock accident, eight from musculoskeletal injuries, and Joseph's two from sudden deaths. Investigations found no single explanation for the deaths.
Joseph told WDRB Television last spring he felt he was a "scapegoat" for a spike in fatalities that occurred at Churchill Downs Derby week, which led to negative media attention and unfounded cries of horse mistreatment by anti-racing groups.
Asked if he still felt he was a scapegoat, Joseph said: "Last year is gone. ...You can sit down and make excuses and blame and look for sympathy, but at the end of the day, that's not going to get you anything. Last year spoke for itself, how it was handled. I thought we did everything in the right way, and we're thankful to be back."
He is back, not only at Churchill but also in terms of his stable's overall success. His stable flourished this winter at Gulfstream Park, where he topped the Championship Meet. It was his third straight training title for that meet following an 18-year span dominated by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.
Now Joseph brings the Florida Derby (G1) runner-up Catalytic to Churchill Downs with hopes of a Derby surprise. The 37-year-old Joseph, a Barbados native, has previously run two Derby horses: Ny Traffic, eighth in 2020, and White Abarrio, 16th in 2022.
A victory from Catalytic would be a monumental upset after the colt was beaten 13 1/2 lengths by the Pletcher-trained Fierceness in the March 30 Florida Derby. Before that race, he had been second in a March 8 allowance optional claiming race at Tampa Bay Downs and first on debut last fall against maidens at Gulfstream.
trains April 27 at Churchill Downs
The Catalina Cruiser colt races for owners Tami Bobo, Julie Davies, and George Isaacs. Jose Ortiz will have the mount for the Derby.
Asked to make the case for his horse winning the Derby, he chuckled and replied: "You dream. That's it."
