Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Joseph hopes stakes wins just the start to big season
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Saffie Joseph Jr. hopes Saturday’s three-win day at Aqueduct is just the start of a big year for his stable in New York.
The highlight of Joseph’s afternoon was Mischevious Alex winning the Grade 1 Carter Handicap by 5 1/2 lengths. It was the first Grade 1 win for the colt and the second career Grade 1 victory for Joseph, who in 2019 won the Pennsylvania Derby with Math Wizard. Mischevious Alex earned a 109 Beyer Speed Figure for his Carter victory, his third straight win.
On Saturday, both Joseph and owner Chuck Zacney said that Mischevious Alex would aim for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap going a mile on June 5 at Belmont Park.
While Mischevious Alex won the Grade 3 Gotham going a mile at Aqueduct last year, Joseph believes six- and sevenfurlong races are probably what he does best.
“A mile is going to be a tough test,” Joseph said. “I’m not saying he can’t do it, but it depends on who he is running against.”
The victory by Mischevious Alex came about an hour after the Joseph-trained Drain the Clock scored a 1 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes for 3-year-olds. Drain the Clock, who received an 86 Beyer Speed Figure, improved his record to 5 for 7, with all five wins coming in one-turn races. He will be pointed to the Grade 1 Woody Stephens, like the Bay Shore a seven-furlong race, at Belmont on June 5.
Joseph also won Saturday’s last race, a $40,000 maiden claimer, with Michael’s Bad Boy. The stable also won two races Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Sabine Langvad, assistant to Joseph, said Sunday at Belmont that Mischevious Alex and Drain the Clock were scheduled to ship back to Florida on Monday before Joseph sends them back for their next engagements.
Langvad said both horses “ate all their food. They seem very happy with themselves.”
Joseph was assigned nine stalls at Belmont. He will be seeking a third stakes victory of the Aqueduct meet on Saturday with Queen Nekia in the $100,000 Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct.
Queen Nekia was a 29-1 upset winner of the Grade 3 Royal Delta Stakes on Feb. 20 at Gulfstream Park. On Sunday, she worked a half-mile in 48.80 seconds at Gulfstream.
Search Results to Ky. Oaks
While she may not have faced the division’s best in winning Saturday’s Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct, Search Results got the right type of race to make her a contender for the Kentucky Oaks on April 30, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday.
“I know it wasn’t a stellar field – that’s not her fault,” Brown said the morning after Search Results won the Gazelle by 2 3/4 lengths to remain unbeaten in three starts. “I thought she gained some valuable experience around two turns, gained some valuable fitness running a mile and an eighth on that track. I think she’s got now the bottom under her to run in a race like the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. It’s coming together now as a strong-enough field, and she’s one of the ones, so we’ll take our shot.”
Search Results added the Gazelle to a half-length victory in the Busher on March 6, which followed a six-furlong maiden win Jan. 3 at Gulfstream.
Search Results ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:54.14 over a slow Aqueduct main track and earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.
Brown said he may keep Search Results in New York for one workout before shipping her to Louisville for her final Oaks drill.
Brown said The Grass Is Blue, who won the Busanda in February, will not go on to the Oaks after finishing fourth in the Gazelle. Brown said The Grass Is Blue is likely to get a freshening after a busy winter schedule.
Maracuja, the runner-up in the Gazelle, will be considered for the Kentucky Oaks, according to her trainer Rob Atras.
Modernist hitting his stride
Modernist came out of his victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes “good, happy,” according to Leana Willaford, assistant to trainer Bill Mott.
After a slow break, Modernist was part of a slow but contested pace. He took the lead in upper stretch, and after switching leads at the sixteenth pole ran away from Haikal to win by 2 1/2 lengths. He earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
Modernist was making his second start off a lengthy layoff that followed a fifth-place finish in last July’s Peter Pan Stakes. He entered the Excelsior off a second-place finish in the Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
“The last couple of races last year he was looking like he was ready for a break, and he got one,” Willaford said. “It obviously helped him. He came back to me here much more mature physically and mentally. I thought he looked great going into the race.”
Modernist is a three-time winner at 1 1/8 miles, but Willaford indicated he may be a candidate for longer races. One such option is the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational at 1 1/2 miles on June 5 at Belmont.