Joseph hoping to get Haulin Ice back on track in Rehoboth
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Last year, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. shipped several of his top female runners to Delaware Park in search of vulnerable stakes fields. Haulin Ice is next in line to take the trip and should be an overwhelming favorite in the $100,000 Rehoboth Stakes on Saturday.
“They have quite a bit of stakes at Delaware, and the last couple of years, we try to run them,” Joseph said. “I feel like it’s a good spot to get her back on track and then hopefully lead to something bigger down the line.”
Earlier this month, the 5-year-old mare went back to turf for the Grade 2 Unbridled Sidney at Churchill Downs, but she came up empty in a nine-length defeat. Joseph was encouraged by her runner-up finish in the $100,000 Abundantia at Gulfstream Park in December, but it’s clear that dirt will be her preferred surface going forward.
“We wanted to try it one more time, but it doesn’t look like the turf,” Joseph said. “So back to the dirt, and we’re trying to find a spot to get her back to her winning ways.”
Joseph won the 2025 edition of the Rehoboth with R Disaster, a similarly daunting favorite who cruised home to win the six-furlong sprint by 6 1/2 lengths.
Before her switch to turf in May, Haulin Ice made the most of a stint at Oaklawn Park, the Arkansas-bred’s home track early in her career. Following an 11 3/4-length statebred stakes romp in February, she became the first accredited Arkansas-bred to surpass $1 million in earnings and then came back to win the $250,000 Matron with a 97 Beyer Speed Figure the following month.
“She definitely has an affinity for Oaklawn,” Joseph said. “We’ve taken her about every year and she’s been flawless there. She definitely likes home and she became the highest money earner there. She’s not a big filly, but she’s a filly with a lot of speed and a lot of class.”
The other contenders in the Rehoboth’s field of nine fillies and mares will have to step it up to seriously contend with the likely favorite.
Several runners have participated in graded stakes in the past, but none of them have seriously contended in such fields. Haulin Ice, an eight-time stakes winner, won two Grade 3 races last year, and Joseph said he plans to target similar races this summer.
Mega Mil could give Haulin Ice a fight on the front end early, as the John Servis trainee has run on all three surfaces in her last three starts and led in all of them. She nearly won the $125,000 Queen at Turfway Park in March and led into the stretch in the $150,000 License Fee on the turf at Aqueduct earlier this month.
My Magic Wand is another potential pacesetter for trainer Gregg Sacco, though the 5-year-old mare has finished behind Joseph trainees Mystic Lake and Grammy Girl in her last two starts.
Beyond Belief, a 4-year-old filly trained by Kelly Breen, finished 5 3/4 lengths behind R Disaster in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie at Gulfstream in March. She improved to finish second in a third-level allowance at Keeneland last time out.
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