Saffie Joseph Jr. collected his 10th consecutive Gulfstream Park training title Sunday as the 2024 summer meet came to a close.
Joseph broke his own summer meet record with 93 victories, eclipsing the 71 winners he sent out during the 2021 stand. Jose D’Angelo, with 43 winners, finished a distant second behind Joseph, who has won the past three winter-meet titles.
Edgard Zayas regained the top spot in the jockey standings for the summer meet with 112 winners. Zayas rode 137 winners in 2020 and 119 winners in 2021 to win summer meet titles before finishing behind Miguel Vasquez and Leonel Reyes in each of the past two seasons, respectively. Emisael Jaramillo was second best with 91 visits to the winner’s circle.
Joseph and Zayas had wrapped up their respective titles long ago, but the owner’s title was far more competitive among Ken Ramsey, Vicente Stella Stables and Moshe Mark, who ended the meet in a three-way tie.
The Joseph-trained Comedy Team suddenly emerged as a main-track attraction. The 6-year-old gelding, who had run his first 24 races on either turf or Tapeta for a number of trainers with moderate success, established himself as unexpected dirt specialist while winning three straight races on the main track, including the Smile Sprint and the Benny the Bull Stakes.
Drayden Van Dyke, who scored aboard Comedy Town in the Benny the Bull, has fit in very nicely since joining the jockey colony at Gulfstream in early June, clicking at a 23-percent winning rate with 31 trips to the winner’s circle.
Victor Barboza Jr.-trained Beth’s Dream dominated the older fillies and mares division while winning three straight races, including the Aug. 17 Sheer Drama, all by open lengths. Bobby Dibona-trained Fly the W, an 8-year-old gelded son of Ghostzapper, won four straight starter allowances during the meet before finishing second last time out while carrying 130 pounds.
