By Bill Finley
Though he won the 2022 GI Florida Derby with White Abarrio (Race Day), Saffie Joseph, Jr. isn't necessarily thought of as someone to fear on the roads to the GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Kentucky Derby. His bread and butter remains claimers and tough older horses like the now 5-year-old White Abbario and Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator), who won this year's GII Oaklawn Handicap and the GII Charles Town Classic Stakes.
But that may be about to change. It's early yet and Todd Pletcher has yet to send his first string to Palm Beach Downs and Bob Baffert will be welcomed back this year at Churchill Downs, where his starters could include GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Citizen Bull (Into Mischief). But Joseph appears to have at least two 2-year-olds who will certainly be heard from again. On back-to-back days he had two 'TDN Rising Stars'.
On Friday, Rojo Rita (Volatile) won a maiden special weight race by 16 1/4 lengths. The time was 1:11.43 and she got an 83 Beyer. Neither of those numbers are that exceptional, but the way she ran was. With Edgard Zayas aboard, she opened up by two lengths down the backstretch before exploding in the stretch to pull away.
“She was training well,” Joseph said. “She worked within herself. We never really let her run in the mornings because she is so quick. You never think you're going to win first time out by 16 lengths. Sometimes you think you're going to win first time out and it doesn't happen. She ran well and she ran beyond our expectations.”
The daughter of freshman sire Volatile (Violence) hasn't yet convinced Joseph that she is the type of horse who can make the nine-furlong Kentucky Oaks.
“That's hard to say,” he said. “She's by Volatile, so you think speed and sprinting. So I wouldn't say just yet that she will go long. Going forward she'll need to show us she can go a distance. She looks more like a sprinter type.”
Joseph said he hasn't yet mapped out a schedule for Rojo Rita, but said the Jan. 1 Cash Run Stakes at Gulfstream,, which is run at a mile, is a possibility.
Some 24 hours later, the rumor out of Gulfstream was that Grayscale (Frosted) was Joseph's best 2-year-old colt, and he lived up to the hype. Sent off at 3-10 and ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, he won by 4 1/2 lengths and was never really challenged. Grayscale is owned by e Five Racing and cost $240,000 at Keeneland September.
“He had worked very quick,” Joseph said. “He always showed promise. In his first breeze he got beat and he never got beat in a breeze again. He has a lot of talent and has learned quickly. We're excited to have gotten him started. This is a very promising horse. He's push button. He will go as fast as you want or as slow as you want. He can gallop as slow as you want and fast as you want when he turns it on. Obviously, his future is very bright.”
Grayscale was given an 86 Beyer figure.
The workout pattern on Grayscale was a tip off. He had had four bullet workouts including a four-furlong move on Oct. 20 in 44.80.
“It was supposed to be a strong work,” Joseph said. “Drayden worked him that day and he couldn't believe he went in :44 4/5. They were letting him run, but within reason. But the time is legit.”
Joseph isn't sure what's next for Grayscale, but don't be surprised if he eventually winds up in races like the GII Fountain of Youth Stakes or the GI Florida Derby.
“The next race will let us know what kind of talent we really have,” Joseph said. “He'll have to face winners and that's where you find out if they are real prospects or just OK prospects. We are very optimistic with both of them.”
Joseph said he has at least one more 2-year-old that bears watching. That is the unraced colt Thought Control (Gun Runner).
On Tamara, The Jury Is Out
Certainly it was disappointing to see 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) lose in her comeback race on Friday at Del Mar, even if she did get beat by the undefeated filly Sandy Bottom (Omaha Beach) and only lost by a nose. Tamara, the daughter of the great Beholder (Henny Hughes), was all the rage after she won the 2023 GI Del Mar Debutante by 6 3/4 lengths. The 4-5 favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, she finished seventh in that race. After the race it was discovered that she had a fractured splint bone in her left leg.
Sandy Bottom (right) defeats Tamara | Benoit
So Tamara was coming off an injury and had had a year off, reasons why she might not have been at her best on this day. But there can be no excuses next time when she starts in the Dec. 26 GI La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita. She needs not only to win but to win impressively to get the hype machine going again.
Meanwhile, the winner, Sandy Bottom (Omaha Beach) is also being pointed to the La Brea. Also coming off a long layoff of more than a year, the winner of the Anoakia Stakes for trainer Michael McCarthy could very well be the real deal.
Nobals Shows Some
Coming into Saturday's GII Kennedy Road Stakes at Woodbine, it appeared that Nobals (Noble Mission {GB}) had lost a step. After winning the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, he had failed to hit the board in all three of his starts this year. Now it looks like the mojo is back. He won the Kennedy Road by three-quarters of a length and beat the star Canadian sprinter Patches O'Houlihan (Reload), who came into the race with a record of 11-for-13, in the process.
What's next? Perhaps a Dec. 8 trip to Hong Kong's Sha Tin Racecourse to compete in the HK$26-million ($3.35-million) G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint.
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