Collaborate, Saffie Joseph Jr. have a lot on the line in Florida Derby

Collaborate is trying to go from an unstarted maiden at the beginning of February to a prominent Kentucky Derby contender in less than three months, a meteoric rise that’s a microcosm of that of his trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr.

Joseph, 34, made consistent, steady progress his first few years in South Florida after he and his father arrived a decade ago from their native Barbados, but in recent years Joseph has gone from strength to strength. He won 35 races in 2017, 57 in 2018 – when his runners earned more than $1 million for the first time – 95 in 2019, with purse earnings of more than $3.8 million, and 128 last year, with earnings just shy of $5 million, ranking him 12th among trainers nationally for wins and 19th for earnings. Also last year, Joseph had his first Derby runner with Ny Traffic, best known for giving Authentic a scare in the Haskell.

This year, Joseph currently is ninth nationally in wins, and 12th in earnings, his stable headed by stakes winners like Mischevious Alex, who won the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint last month and makes his next start in the Grade 1 Carter on April 3 at Aqueduct, and Drain the Clock, who won the Grade 3 Swale in February, was second in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth last time out, and will cut back to a sprint for the Grade 3 Bay Shore on April 3 at Aqueduct. Joseph entered Wednesday’s racing at Gulfstream in second place in the trainer standings, seven wins back of perennial leader Todd Pletcher, 54-47.

Joseph’s success has resulted in both the numbers of horses he trains – about 65-70 at this time last year, more than 100 at present – and the quality of horses he’s attracting, both heading north.

Collaborate, who will be one of the top choices in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on Saturday at Gulfstream, is a prime example. By super sire Into Mischief, Collaborate was a $600,000 yearling buy, making him the most expensive horse Joseph has trained. He looks the part.

“He’s a grand-looking horse,” Joseph said earlier this week on a national teleconference. “The way he stands, his presence, his height and size; he’s definitely the most talented horse we’ve ever had in our hands.”

His early works were promising, and much was expected when Collaborate finally debuted Feb. 6 at Gulfstream, as he was hammered to 7-5 in a field of 12.

“Every time we worked him before he ran he would impress more and more,” Joseph said. “Each time he would deliver. It wasn’t fazing him. He just did things so effortless.”

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But Collaborate got off poorly, and though he made a strong rally, he could only get up for fifth in a blanket finish, beaten a little more than a length for it all.

“When he got beat first out it was a big disappointment, just because he had touted himself so much I didn’t think he’d get beat,” Joseph said. “But I thought that day he got valuable experience. You try to look for the positive, and the positive was he got valuable experience and he showed he had talent.

“Getting beat first time out was a blessing. In hindsight, it was a blessing. He got a lot of education from that.”

Three weeks later, and in his lone start since then, Collaborate pummeled 10 other maidens in a one-turn mile, cruising home 12 1/2 lengths best, validating the high praise Joseph had been relaying to the colt’s owners, the Three Chimneys Farm of Goncalo Borges Torrealba and the Edwards family’s e Five Racing.

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“You want the horse to justify that. Thankfully, he did second time out,” Joseph said.

“It was more a relief the second time because we thought he had that kind of talent.”

Nearly five hours later on that Feb. 27 card, Greatest Honour won the Fountain of Youth.

On Saturday, Collaborate will have to take on Greatest Honour in the Florida Derby. It will be just his third start, and he’ll be making his stakes debut when facing winners for the first time and trying two turns for the first time.

“We’re a little behind schedule, so we’re asking him to do something that is gonna be a tall task, but it seems like he has the ability to overcome it,” Joseph said. “He has a high cruising speed, and he stays pretty strongly.”

If Collaborate is successful, he’ll move on to Churchill Downs, and try to emulate what Justify accomplished in 2018, win the Derby in his fourth start after debuting in February. That too is a tall task. But he is moving up the ladder in lockstep with his trainer, and neither appears to have hit their plateau.