Gulfstream: Joseph, Ortiz repeat as top trainer and jockey
Tappan Street’s victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby placed an exclamation point on Gulfstream Park's 2024-25 championship meet, which came to a close Sunday.
The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief defeated Fountain of Youth (G2) winner Sovereignty by 1 1/4 lengths to earn 100 qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Tappan Street and Sovereignty, who added 50 qualifying points to the 50 he earned in the Fountain of Youth, both will bid to become the 26th Florida Derby starter to win the Kentucky Derby.
White Abarrio was the equine star of the meet, which opened Thanksgiving Day. The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained 6-year-old rolled to a decisive 6 1/4-length victory in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) on Jan. 25 and romped to a 5 1/4-length score in the Ghostzapper (G3) on the Florida Derby undercard.
Joseph collected his fourth consecutive championship meet training title with 70 victories and his 12th consecutive title overall at Gulfstream Park. He also topped the trainer standings with purses won, with more than $5.8 million.
“This has definitely been our best meet because this is the first time we’re going to lead in earnings and winners. I think last year we got beat by a small margin in earnings, so it just shows that we have some quality horses,” Joseph said. “All the credit to the owners for giving us the horses. We’re very thankful to them.”
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who was aboard White Abarrio for his Pegasus World Cup and Ghostzapper wins, collected his third straight championship meet title with 109 wins. He has worn the riding crown in six of the past seven championship meets.
“It feels great to have the support we need to win the title, all the support from the trainers and owners,” said Ortiz, who also gave credit to his agent Steve Rushing. “I love the weather down here in the wintertime. I have my family here. We’ve won some races with horses we followed down here.”
Ken Ramsey topped the owner standings for a second championship meet in a row with 18 wins.
Gulfstream's spring-summer will get underway Thursday and will run through Aug. 30. Racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday weekly. First-race post is set for 12:50 p.m. EDT.
The Royal Palm Juvenile and the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies will highlight the Royal Palm Meet stakes schedule May 10. The five-furlong turf sprints are designated qualifiers for Royal Ascot stakes in June. Last year, Jose D’Angelo-trained Gabaldon won the Royal Palm Juvenile and went on to finish a photo-finish second in the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot.