Collaborate trainer hopes to beat legendary trainers with a victory in the Florida Derby

Bob Baffert has a horse running in Saturday’s Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. So do Todd Pletcher, Shug McGaughey and Bill Mott.

Collectively, those four trainers have accounted for 10 Kentucky Derby victories, including five of the past seven winners.

“Just to be among them is gratifying,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “But as a person that’s competitive, I want to be able to beat them.”

Joseph, a 34-year-old native of Barbados, will have his chance when he saddles Collaborate for the $750,000 stakes, the top thoroughbred racing event on the Florida calendar and a major springboard to the May 1 Kentucky Derby.

Greatest Honour, trained by McGaughey, is listed as the 6-5 favorite. Spielberg, trained by Baffert, is listed as the second choice on the morning line at 4-1. Known Agenda — Pletcher’s hope to win a record sixth Florida Derby — is 5-1. Nova Rags, trained by Mott, is 12-1.

And then there’s Collaborate, the fourth program choice at 6-1. The 3-year-old colt, which is owned by Three Chimneys Farm and e Five Racing, has raced just twice and lost his first one. But he opened eyes in his second outing, a race for maidens at Gulfstream on Feb. 27. He won by 12 1/2 lengths and posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 90.

Among the 11 horses entered for the Florida Derby, only Spielberg — named for movie director Steven — has recorded a figure as high. Greatest Honour notched back-to-back 89 Beyer figures when he won the Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream.

But those horses have far more racing experience than Collaborate. Spielberg will be making his ninth career start; Greatest Honour his seventh.

“So we’re lacking in experience,” Joseph said. “But we feel like he’s got the talent to make up for it.”

Winning the Florida Derby would represent a major achievement for Joseph, who started out with just two horses when he came over from Barbados in 2011 and began training in South Florida. But success on the track brought Joseph new clients and more horses. His stable now numbers more than 100 head. He currently ranks second (behind Pletcher) in Gulfstream’s trainer standings at the current meet, and he finished the 2020 racing season ranked in the top 20 nationally in training wins, most all of them coming at Gulfstream.

“I came here chasing a dream,” Joseph said. “Crazy at times. At times it didn’t feel like it was going to happen. And then the breakthroughs came in the last couple of years. We got owners. Without owners — as a trainer — you’re nothing. It’s like a basketball player with no basketball.”

In 2019, Math Wizard gave Joseph his first win in a Grade I stakes, the Pennsylvania Derby. A Florida Derby win would mean even more to Joseph.

“It would stack up even higher,” he said. “It’s our home track, and it’s a race I grew up watching my whole life. I’d come here to watch it as a young kid on holiday from Barbados.”

Joseph’s fondest Florida Derby memory is watching Big Brown win the race in 2008.

“I didn’t bet him in the Florida Derby,” Joseph said. “But I bet him in the Kentucky Derby. I said he beat me once. He won’t beat me twice.”

Big Brown won the Roses that year and Joseph cashed.

Joseph saddled his first Kentucky Derby horse, Ny Traffic, last year. But that Derby just wasn’t the same. The Covid pandemic delayed the race until September, and fans weren’t permitted at Churchill Downs. Ny Traffic finished eighth.

Joseph could make a return trip on the traditional first Saturday of May — and with a limited number of fans in attendance — if Collaborate does his part. He would likely need to finish either first or second on Saturday to earn enough qualifying points to race in the Kentucky Derby.

“To be there and have fans this year, it would mean a lot more,” Joseph said.

But first things first. Joseph and Collaborate first need to get through Saturday and defeat horses trained by racing legends. Doing so would make Joseph feel as if he’s taken one more step to fulfill his dream of not just racing against the best, but defeating them.

“Todd dominates here. You can say he owns Gulfstream,” Joseph said of Pletcher. “Obviously, Shug’s a Hall of Famer. Bill Mott. Bob Baffert. It speaks for itself.”

Derby field

Field for Saturday’s $750,000 Florida Derby; Distance: 1 1/8 miles.

PP Horse Trainer Jockey Odds

1. Nova Rags Mott Alvarado 12-1

2. Quantum Leap Wilkes Vasquez 20-1

3. Jirafales Delgado Zayas 30-1

4. Southern Passage Romans Lanerie 30-1

5. Known Agenda Pletcher I. Ortiz Jr. 5-1

6. Sigiloso Sano Reyes 30-1

7. Greatest Honour McGaughey J. Ortiz 6-5

8. Soup and Sandwich Casse Velazquez 20-1

9. Collaborate Joseph Gaffalione 6-1

10. Spielberg Baffert Castellano 4-1

11. Papetu Sano Jaramillo 15-1