NEW YORK CITY, CMC – Ace Barbadian trainer Saffie Joseph Jr was smiling to the first leg of the Triple Crown after 59-1 outsider Lord Miles stunned a 12-horse field to score an upset win in the U.S. $750 000 Wood Memorial Stakes on Easter Saturday at the Aqueduct Racetrack.
Lord Miles, trained by Joseph and ridden by Paco Lopez, prevailed by the narrowest of margins – a nose – in a wild and unpredictable finish in the featured and final event on the 11-race card at New York’s primary racing oval.
The Grade 2 stakes race over 1 800 meters was the third and final qualifier for the Kentucky Derby on May 6 at Churchill Downs in the American city of Louisville, and Joseph was thrilled with the run from his trainee.
“You dream, and sometimes it doesn’t happen,” Joseph said in a post-race interview. “We dreamt about getting this horse in the Kentucky Derby, and it didn’t look suitable for a while, but now our dreams have become a reality.
“The owner (Peter Vegso) wants to go to the Kentucky Derby, so (Lord Miles) will leave for Florida (this past Sunday), and if he checks out well, we’re going to the Derby.”
On the first turn in the Wood, there was a big traffic jam, and Lord Miles was one of seven runners with a note in their chart of being bumped in the early stages when there was a scramble for early racing room.
Under Jorge Vargas Jr, Arctic Arrogance was led by half-length after the opening quarter, but Lord Miles and runner-up Hit Show, under Manuel Franco, was just behind after six furlongs.
Turning for home Lord Miles and Hit Show made their moves for the lead and came together with Dreamlike, under Jose Ortiz, at the eighth pole and engaged in a furious battle with some bumping and leaning by each trio.
At the wire, Lord Miles, on the outside, got the nod with a time of one minute, 51.17 seconds, confirmed after the stewards reviewed the tapes and let the result stand.
“At the quarter pole, I thought we could hit the board,” Joseph said. “At the eighth pole, I thought we had a chance to win, and we got there.
“Looking at the head-on, I thought we were OK, but you are dealing with opinion, not facts. You’re in a tricky spot and feel uncomfortable until that official sign goes up. It took a while, so it was scary.”
Lord Miles, a son of Curlin out of Lady Esme by Majestic Warrior, was unplaced in two graded stakes tries and had only one win in four career starts, all in Florida – but the move to New York seemed to have agreed with him.
“We believed in the horse,” Joseph added after Lord Miles safely secured 100 points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. “We had success in the Wood (previously), maybe not winning, but running well at crazy odds.
“Early in my career, I was scared to take a chance. But I learned from (owner) John Fanelli, who pushed me to run Math Wiard in the (2019) Pennsylvania Derby, and he won (at 31-1 odds). I learned I have nothing to lose by taking chances and a lot to gain.”
Lord Miles was shipped to the Big Apple from the Sunshine State after running fifth behind winner Tapit Trice in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby, which came on the heels of a sixth in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
“I thought he could be a Derby horse after his first race, and then he was a close third in the Mucho Macho Man (Stakes), and the Holy Bull was a disaster,” Joseph said. “He never runs in the bridle, and I thought he’d be last in the Tampa Bay Derby as I watched the race, but when he finished fifth, we decided to try the Wood.”
The win was part of a highly successful Easter weekend of racing for Joseph after he logged three wins – one engineered by ace Barbadian jockey Patrick Husbands – over two days at Gulfstream Park in the city of Hallandale Beach in the state of Florida.
On the 11-race Saturday card at Gulfstream, Joseph saddled odds-on favorite Gran Andrews, that won by three-quarters-of-a-length, under stable jockey Edgard Zayas, in the U.S. $17 000 sixth race over one mile on the dirt track, after drawing past a pair of foes to win in 1 min, 38.27 sec.
On the same day, Joseph, trainee and 5-1 chance English Painter under Husbands won by a neck in the U.S. $51 000 eighth race over 1 700 meters on the turf course after rallying hard to get up in the final strides for a time of 1:41.96.
The following day, Joseph saddled 3-1 choice The Iceman Runneth, under Zayas, clocked a two-length win in the U.S. $43 000 fourth race over six furlongs on the dirt after holding sway in the closing stages to finish in 1:12.13.
There was also a victory by a neck for Romero Maragh aboard the odds-on favorite Capturethelaughter, trainer by Aubrey Maragh, in the U.S. $25 000 fourth race over five furlongs on the all-weather track on Saturday. The winning time was 57.50 secs.
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