HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida - Barbadian trainer Saffie Joseph Jr ended a dominant 2022 in the same vein in which he started when his 3-1 choice Skippylongstocking brushed aside the three-year-olds and upward to win the US$150 000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes on New Year’s Eve.
One of the highly regarded entrants alongside stablemate and favourite O’Connor, Skippylongstocking with Irad Ortiz Jr aboard, stalked pacesetter Pioneer of Medina before grabbing the lead at the far turn and storming to the finish two lengths clear in a time of one minute, 42.76 seconds.
Saffie Joseph Jr
Pioneer of Medina, in at odds of 12-1, finished second while 2-1 chance Simplication ran third in the Grade III event over a mile and sixteenth at Gulfstream Park.
With the victory, Skippylongstocking all but clinched his place in the Grade I $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational here at month end.
“It was a game effort by Skippy. He’s a horse that tries and he runs hard,” said the 35-year-old Joseph, the defending champion in the recently minted Championship campaign at the south Florida venue.
“He had a perfect trip, except when he went to switch leads in the backstretch. It looked like something went wrong. Irad said that there was poop on the track and he jumped it. It scared me.”
He added: “O’Connor disappointed. He’s better than that. He’s much, much better than that. Seeing how the race unfolded and the speed kept going around, maybe that was it, but I can’t really buy that.
“He made up ground and hit a flat spot. Hopefully, he comes out well, and we’d like to give him a chance in the Pegasus also.”
Ortiz, who with the success pinched a record 50th graded stakes victory, said: “The trainer told me just ride him wherever he’s comfortable. He broke in a good position.
“I was in a good forward place – good position – and I go from there. When I asked him, he had plenty in the tank.”
Pioneer of Medina, under Luis Saez, produced fractions of 23.75 seconds for the quarter mile and 47.14 for the first half, with Skippylongstocking in pursuit and 118-1 bet Cooke Creek and Simplication stalking.
Once Ortiz swept his three-year-old bay colt to the front, however, the rest of the field was left battling for the remaining places.
