Saffie Joseph Jr. won his 10th consecutive Gulfstream Park training title on Sunday as the 2024 Royal Palm Meet concluded after a string of stellar performances from both horse and rider.
Joseph broke his own record at the Royal Palm Meet with 93 wins, surpassing the record of 71 winners he had at the 2021 event. Jose D’Angelo with 43 winners finished second to Joseph, who has won three championship titles at the last Championship Meet.
Edgard Zayas has reclaimed the lead in the rider standings for the Royal Palm Meet with 112 wins. Zayas rode 137 wins in 2020 and 119 wins in 2021 while winning the Royal Palm Meet title before being outpaced by Miguel Vasquez (2022) and Leonel Reyes (2023) in the past two seasons. Emisael Jaramillo is second with 91 wins in the winner’s circle.
While Joseph and Zayas had long since claimed their titles, the owner’s title was much more contested between Ken Ramsey, Vicente Stella Stables LLC and Moshe Mark, who finished the meet tied at three.
Joseph-trained Comedy Town has emerged as a major draw on the main track. The 6-year-old gelding, who ran his first 24 races on turf or tapeta for a number of trainers with moderate success, has established himself as an unexpected specialist on dirt by winning three consecutive races on the main track, including the Smile Sprint and the Benny the Bull Stakes.
Drayden Van Dyke, who scored on Comedy Town aboard Benny the Bull, has settled in well since joining the Gulfstream stable in early June, posting a 23 percent win rate with 31 entries into the winner’s circle.
Beth’s Dream, trained by Victor Barboza Jr., has dominated the broodmare and older broodmare division, winning three straight races, including the August 17 Sheer Drama, all of which were open races. Fly the W, trained by Bobby Dibona, an 8-year-old gelding out of Ghostzapper, has won four straight starts in the competition before finishing second in her last outing while carrying 130 pounds.
While the older horses held their own, the Royal Palm Meet was marked by excellence from the young horses. St. Elias Stable’s Rated by Merit made a sensational debut on July 13, winning by 9 ¾ lengths. The Michael Yates-trained son of Battalion Runner ran six furlongs in 1:10.50, posting a Beyer Speed Index of 92, the highest for any 2-year-old until the Todd Pletcher-trained Ferocious, a $1.3 million colt, achieved 96 two weeks later.
Win N Your In, trained by Carlos David, made a name for himself with a 7 ½-length debut win on July 6. Win Win Win’s colt won the Sharp Susan Stakes on August 10 by 4 ¾ lengths. Win N Your In and Rated by Merit both qualified for the upcoming FTBOA Florida Sires Stakes.
The D’Angelo-trained Gabaldon won the $100,000 Royal Palm Stakes, a five-furlong turf sprint for 2-year-olds on May 11. The son of Gone Astray, who was exempt from entry into one of Royal Ascot’s colt races and received a travel allowance, failed to win when he finished second in the Windsor Castle Stakes on June 19.
The Mark Casse-trained Bullet won the $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies by 2 ¼ lengths after breaking from behind in a five-furlong sprint. The daughter of War Front went on to win the My Dear Stakes on Tapeta at Woodbine on her next start.
The 2024 Sunshine Meet will take place on Friday and run through Nov. 24. The first two legs of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series will be featured. The $100,000 Dr. Fager and the $100,000 Desert Vixen, a six-furlong division for 2-year-olds sired by a recognized Florida stallion, will kick off the series next Sunday, Sept. 7. The $200,000 Affirmed and the $200,000 Susan’s Girl will both be run over seven furlongs on Oct. 19. The final leg of the FSS series will both be run over 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 30 in the 2024-2025 Championship Series, which begins on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 28.
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