Trainer Joseph gets OK to race at NYRA tracks; assigned 23 Saratoga stalls
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ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has been granted permission to race at New York Racing Association tracks and he could have a starter in next Saturday’s $150,000 Wild Applause Stakes at Belmont Park.
Further, Joseph has been granted 23 stalls for the Saratoga meet that begins July 13.
Joseph was banned from racing or stabling at Churchill Downs following the sudden deaths of two of his horses in a 72-hour period at the first two days of that meet. All of Joseph’s horses scheduled to run at Churchill the remainder of that week, including Lord Miles who was entered in the Kentucky Derby, were ordered scratched by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission pending an investigation.
Though Joseph was never officially banned from racing at NYRA, Joseph and NYRA officials came to a mutual agreement that he would not run horses at Belmont until further information became available on those deaths. Two horses trained by Joseph were moved by their owners to Richard Dutrow Jr., including White Abarrio, who finished third in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on June 10.
On June 3, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission reported that a necropsy performed on Parents Pride, one of the two Joseph-trained horses that died, was inconclusive, but the report stated that no prohibited substances were found in that horse’s system. The results of the other horse, Chasing Artie, who died on May 2, have not yet been released.
Joseph and NYRA officials remained in contact through the spring, according to both parties. Joseph has expressed an interest in running Violet Gibson in next Saturday’s $150,000 Wild Applause Stakes and, of course, participating at the Saratoga meet.
“As a result of productive discussions that have taken place between NYRA and Saffie Joseph Jr., we have reached a point where NYRA is comfortable allowing him to both train and race at NYRA tracks,” NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna said Saturday.
McKenna confirmed that Joseph has been granted 23 stalls for the Saratoga meet. McKenna did say that should results of the necropsy on Chasing Artie reveal any issues of wrongdoing on Joseph’s part “NYRA would adjust accordingly,” McKenna said.
Joseph said Saturday that he needed to talk with owner Michael Ryan about whether or not to run Violet Gibson in the Wild Applause, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies, entries for which will be taken Wednesday.
Joseph did say that he plans on having horses at Saratoga.
“We had come to a mutual agreement with NYRA I wasn’t going to run any horses until we got the results back,” Joseph told Daily Racing Form on Saturday. “We thought that would have been in two to three weeks. Obviously, we got one result back that showed no wrongdoing on our part. The second result, we expect the same thing. Unfortunately, it’s taken seven weeks and we’ve got no update and no answers.
“I appreciate NYRA using their best judgment to allow us to participate as there’s no [evidence] of wrongdoing on our part,” Joseph added.
In April, Joseph won the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct with Lord Miles. Joseph said he plans to run that horse in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown.
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