Serpe wraps up Florida stint on a high note

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Phil Serpe has been a fixture during the winter at Gulfstream Park for nearly three decades. But not since 1992, when Serpe won 18 races, has he had a season in South Florida like the one that ended over the weekend with a pair of victories, including Lady Joan’s front-running half-length triumph over the odds-on Thewayiam in an optional claimer on Saturday.

“She always runs hard like that,” Serpe said of the New York-bred Lady Joan. “She got a little pooped out her last race last year so we freshened her up a bit. Speed seems to be a good thing over this course. I like to give my horses those long, slow works, and she gallops like two and one-half miles a day, so I figured she had plenty of bottom off the layoff. I knew [Thewayiam] would be running late, but I told [jockey Paco Lopez] ‘With this filly, don’t worry. If somebody collars you, she’ll keep running.’ And that’s what she did.”

Lady Joan, a Hilly Fields Stable homebred, won a pair of allowance races against open company and was stakes-placed against New York-breds twice in 2018, but had never raced outside her native New York until Saturday.

“There’s a race for her in five weeks at Belmont against New York-breds, so the timing of this one was perfect,“ said Serpe. “She had to run hard today, but she can take that.”

When Dance Til Dawn was placed first via disqualification in Sunday’s finale, it gave Serpe his 11th win from 35 starters at Gulfstream since early December.

Serpe said he was a little sad to be leaving town this week.

“I am very happy with the winter we had,” said Serpe. “I’m trying to pick up more clients for down here because I love Florida and I’d love to keep a string here year round.”