Gulfstream: Grade 1 winners star for Delgado, Joseph in Rampart

It has been a dream year for trainers Saffie Joseph Jr. and Jorge Delgado, both of whom followed a familiar path to find success in the U.S. Each based at Gulfstream Park, they are bringing back their Grade 1-winning stable stars for a chance to end 2024 on a winning note.

Soul of an Angel, whose 19-1 upset of the Filly & Mare Sprint last month at Del Mar gave Joseph his first Breeders’ Cup victory, and 3-year-old Alabama (G1) heroine Power Squeeze, the benefactor of Delgado’s first Grade 1 triumph, headline Thursday’s $140,000 Rampart Stakes.

Click here for Gulfstream Park entries and results.

The 46th running of the one-mile Rampart for fillies and mares 3 and up is the first of two stakes on a 10-race, day-after-Christmas program along with the $140,000 Via Borghese for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for 1 3/8 miles on the grass. The first post is at 12:20 p.m. EST. The Rampart is scheduled to go at 3:10 p.m.

A third-generation horseman who has won 11 consecutive training titles at Gulfstream including three straight championship-meet crowns, Joseph came to the U.S. in 2011 from Barbados, where at age 22 he became the youngest trainer to sweep its Triple Crown.

Joseph, who turns 38 Jan. 5, earned his biggest win yet when Soul of an Angel came from the clouds to capture the seven-furlong Filly & Mare Sprint by a half-length. The 5-year-old mare campaigned by C2 Racing Stable, Agave Racing Stable and Ken Reimer earned her place in the Breeders’ Cup through her victory in Gulfstream’s Sept. 21 Princess Rooney Invitational (G3).

“For sure it’s a dream come true,” Joseph said. “She gave us our first Breeders’ Cup win. It was quite spectacular, especially for how far back she came from. When you watch the replay over, you still kind of don’t believe it’s going to happen. As a kid growing up, you dream about winning Breeders’ Cup races, and for it to finally become a reality, it was a blessing.”

Soul of an Angel, a winner of six races and $1,192,675 from 41 starts, got a well-deserved break after returning from California to Gulfstream, where she got back on the work tab with a three-furlong move in 38.18 seconds Monday. She had another half-mile breeze Sunday in 53.71 seconds.

Joseph is using the Rampart as a possible springboard to the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) on Feb. 22, which is run at 1 1/8 miles but contested around one turn at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. Soul of an Angel, sixth in the 2022 Rampart for former owner Rodney Lundock and trainer Joseph Catanese, drew outermost post 8. Jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who was up for each of the last two wins, has the ride.

“If we wanted to go to Saudi, this race is mainly to keep that on the table,” Joseph said. “It looks like a good spot. If she fires a good race, she should be very competitive. She should be tough to beat.”

Joseph also entered 5-year-old, multiple stakes winner Intrepid Daydream, who ran in the Dec. 21 Sugar Swirl, and maiden 3-year-old Save Time, who has four seconds and a third in seven starts for trainer Chad Brown.

“She was a private purchase, and she’s trained very well,” Joseph said. “She’s a maiden, and it’s kind of unusual to put that kind of horse in a stake, but even if she picks up stakes placing it will enhance her value. She has run some good races.”

Delgado, 34, followed his father into training in Venezuela, never saddling a horse there. Then he followed his uncle, Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning trainer Gustavo Delgado, to the U.S. in 2013. He won nine graded stakes including the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) and Delaware Oaks (G3) with Power Squeeze before her breakthrough victory in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama at Saratoga.

“It was unreal. It was one of those things that you dream of all your life since you are a child and teenager. You see the same people that you used to follow and admire, and you get to compete against them,” Delgado said. “This filly in the Gulfstream Oaks, she beat Ways and Means. In the Delaware Oaks she beat a good Juddmonte horse (Sidamara). At Saratoga she beat Candied and Todd Pletcher.

“She made me proud every time she went out there. Every day we’re more in love with her. She’s a very sweet filly to be around and the most beautiful filly I’ve ever seen in my life. She’s definitely our queen. We’re happy to see her back. She’s very healthy, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Power Squeeze, owned by Lea Farms, will be making her first start since finishing seventh in the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion (G1) on Sept. 21 at Parx. She lost to Thorpedo Anna, the top 3-year-old filly in the country and a candidate for horse of the year who most recently won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

The championship races at Del Mar were not an option for Power Squeeze, who also ran behind Thorpedo Anna when she wound up sixth in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and third in the Acorn (G1).

“The plan was whether she won or finished last in the Cotillion to give her a break. She was never going to the Breeders’ Cup. That wasn’t part of the discussion. She had a hard year last year. She basically ran every other month, and she performed really well,” Delgado said. “I’m very happy with the way she’s been training. I think the layoff has been really good for her. She feels refreshed, and she’s gained weight, and she’s training every day better.

“We are very excited to see her back in the races. The post position is not ideal, but it won’t be an excuse. She’s training good enough to win the race.”

David Egan was named to ride Power Squeeze for the first time, breaking from post 2. It will be her first time going one mile since winning Gulfstream’s Cash Run on New Year’s Day.

“I know the filly on her good day, she can beat anybody,” Delgado said. “We’re hoping she can have a good day.”

Delgado also entered Unsolved Mystery, who is owned by California Racing Partners, Ciaglia Racing and Seacoast Racing. She has one win, one second and a sixth behind Soul of an Angel in the Princess Rooney in three starts for him.

“The race came up a little tougher than it was supposed to, and we want to give the best chance to each horse. It is a pretty nice race,” Delgado said. “That’s why I do this. I like the competition. I like to compete at a high level, and every time we get a chance to compete at the high level, we try to win. That’s what makes me wake up every day.”

Royalight Racing’s 4-year-old filly Charlie’s Wish, a stakes winner on turf, dirt and Tapeta at Gulfstream at one and two turns; Sonata Stable’s twice stakes-placed Dazzling Move; and Richard Perkins’s homebred Windy Walk, a winner of three straight, complete the field.