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Reyes, Joseph Capture Gulfstream Titles

Leonel Reyes collected his first riding title in the U.S. and Saffie Joseph, Jr. captured his seventh consecutive training championship at Gulfstream Park when the Royal Palm Meet closed Sunday.

Reyes rode more than 1,400 winners in Venezuela before moving his tack to South Florida in 2016. The 37-year-old riding veteran got off to a quick start for the meet that kicked off Apr. 4 and never looked back, finishing with 93 victories, 18 more than runner-up Edwin Gonzalez.

“It's amazing. It's been a lot of hard work,” Reyes said. “I've been riding new horses every day. I work hard every morning. I'm very happy for this.”

Reyes, who rode 30 winners during the Championship Meet, has surpassed the 100-win mark in 2023 for the second year in a row.

After being locked in a tight race with Jose D'Angelo for much of the meet, Joseph finished strongly to add another title at Gulfstream, where he has won the Championship Meet title the past two years. Joseph sent out 66 winners, 11 more than D'Angelo.

“This meet means a lot after what we went through in May and having to go through that experience,” Joseph said. “To keep the ball rolling and having our name cleared–which should have been done in the beginning–it means a lot. The title means a lot. They all mean something, but this one is right up there with the Championship Meet ones.”

Gulfstream Park's Sunshine Meet begins Friday and will run through Nov. 26. The track's elite Championship Meet opens Dec. 1.

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Veteran Jockey Edwin Gonzalez Steps Into The Spotlight, Rides All Three Pegasus Races

Jockey Edwin Gonzalez left behind the night life for the beach life 10 months ago, venturing to Gulfstream Park at the tail end of the 2020-2021 Championship Meet after dominating under the radar at Penn National.

The 29-year-old jockey has walked out of the shadows of night racing in Pennsylvania to further his career at the Hallandale Beach, FL racetrack where he will step into the spotlight to ride in all three Pegasus World Cup Invitational races on Saturday's spectacular 12-race program.

“I've come from the bottom,” Gonzalez said. “I got lucky with my agent and all the people who have helped me. I love to win races. I keep working hard. When I got here, I got a lot of opportunities.”

Gonzalez and agent Kevin Meyocks have made the most of their opportunities while based year-round at Gulfstream, so much so that Gonzalez has been named to ride Tracy Farmer's Sir Winston in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) presented by 1 S/T BET, Live Oak Plantation's March to the Arch in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) presented by Baccarat, and Pedigree Partners LLC's Shifty She in the $500,000 TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational presented by PEPSI.

Sir Winston and March to the Arch are trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, while Shifty She is conditioned by Saffie Joseph Jr., who is currently atop the 2021-2022 Championship Meet trainer standings.

“I started winning races for everybody, Casse, Saffie, so many trainers gave me opportunities,” said Gonzalez, who is sitting sixth in the Championship Meet jockey standings with 19 winners. “I kept giving 100 percent to the horses to make everybody happy and keep working hard.”

Gonzalez got off to a fast start at Gulfstream, winning 59 races, including the 1500th of his career that started in his native Puerto Rico, during the Spring/Summer Meet before going to the sidelines for two months after sustaining a hairline fracture in his right leg July 3. He rode three winners on his first day back and has continued to entrench himself at Gulfstream.

Gonzalez will ride Sir Winston, the 2019 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner, for the first time in the Pegasus World Cup, in which he will face defending champion Knicks Go and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Life Is Good.

“I think he has a good chance because you have those two horses that will be in front. I'll be put my horse behind them and then make a run,” Gonzalez said. “My horse is working good. He worked the other day in 47 [seconds] and it was like he was galloping.”

After riding March to the Arch, a multiple graded-stakes winner with more than $980,000 in earnings in the Pegasus Turf, Gonzalez will seek his second graded-stakes victory aboard Shifty She in the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf. Gonzalez guided the daughter of Gone Astray to victory in the Noble Damsel (G3) at Belmont Park Oct. 23. Gonzalez has gone 3-for-3 aboard Shifty She before finishing second last time out at Gulfstream in the Suwannee River (G3), in which she held gamely to finish a half-length behind Sweet Melania.

“She's a nice filly. I think she has a good chance to win. In her last race, I don't think she was 100 percent. This race, she'll be 100 percent,” Gonzalez said. “She's here. She doesn't have to ship, which is in her favor.”

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Twelve Volt Man Makes Late Charge To Upset Claiming Crown Jewel Stakes

Magic Cap Stable's Twelve Volt Man made a late charge along the rail to register an upset victory in Saturday's $125,000 Jewel at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Jewel, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up that have raced for a claiming price of $35,000 or less, headlined nine starter stakes in the Claiming Crown, an annual event that celebrates the blue-collar horses that support the daily programs of racetracks throughout the country.

Twelve Volt Man ($23.60) gave trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. his third Claiming Crown victory of the day. Joseph also visited the winner's circle with Face of Victory ($11) in the $75,000 Express in Race 5 and Sugar Fix ($8.40) in the $95,000 Tiara in Race 6.

“It's an amazing day. You come into these races and you can have thirds and fourths and go home with no wins. After we got the first one, I was thankful. Then, the second one happened Then, we got a hard beat and got the third one,” Joseph said. “All the horses showed up.”

Joseph-trained Girolamo's Attack, who was seeking his third straight stakes victory in the Jewel, was more highly regarded than Twelve Volt Man but wasn't a factor.

“Girolamo's Attack got beat. He doesn't like to be behind horses and dirt,” Joseph said.

Twelve Volt Man, who won his first two career starts before finishing far back in two subsequent stakes starts, was made eligible for the Jewel while winning an Oct. 14 optional claiming allowance while running for a $35,000 claiming tag. He tuned up for the Jewel with a fourth-place finish in the Showing Up over the Tapeta Course Nov. 6.

Twelve Volt Man raced between horses while tracking the pace along the backstretch a few lengths behind Hanalei's Houdini, who was sent after early leader Mo Hawk on the far turn before moving to the lead while racing extremely wide entering the stretch under Paco Lopez. Edwin Gonzalez sent Twelve Volt Man inside Hanalei's Houdini at the top of the stretch, and the two horses battled through the stretch while steadily drifting to the inside.

Twelve Volt Man won the battle nearing the wire to prevail by three-quarters of a length.

“I had a really good trip. I was saving ground around the first two turns. This is a really big horse. After the first time I rode the horse when he broke his maiden, I said to Saffie that this horse wants to go long,” Gonzalez said. “At the half-mile [pole], I followed the horse that finished second. At the quarter pole, when Paco moved, I moved with him. He drifted out with me and then I took my horse back inside and I think that won the race. When he got in a little bit tight, my horse got aggressive again. He's a nice horse. I feel great.”

Twelve Volt Man, a 3-year-old gelded son of Violence, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.92 to edge Hanalei's Houdini. Mo Hawk held on for third.

“The time was really good,” Joseph said. “Now, he's going to have to face proper older horses.”

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Lemieux Commanding In Brethren Juvenile Fillies Victory At Gulfstream

D J Stable's Lemieux, a 2-year-old daughter of 2016 Grade 1 Florida Derby and Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, broke alertly from the gate, turned back some early pressure, and opened up through the stretch to earn her first stakes victory Saturday's $60,000 Brethren Juvenile Fillies at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Ridden by Edwin Gonzalez for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, even-money favorite Lemieux ($4.20) ran one mile and 70 yards in 1:43.16 over the Tapeta. It was Gonzalez's ninth win over Gulfstream's newly installed all-weather surface, five of them coming for Casse.

Bred in Florida and sold for $100,000 as a yearling last fall at Keeneland, Lemieux was making her fifth career start and first since finishing off the board in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Pocahontas Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. She had run first or second in her prior three runs, including a four-length maiden special weight triumph Aug. 18 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Lemieux established command right from the gate and coasted through a quarter-mile in :24.06, chased by Brittiz and jockey Edgard Zayas. Brittiz turned up the pressure on the turn, drawing alongside the leader following a half in :48.28, but began to drop back as Lemieux approached the stretch in front and steadily drew clear to win by 6 ½ lengths.

Casse-trained stablemate Fish Mooney made a late run to get second over Brittiz, followed by Runaway Breeze, Yes I'm Spiteful, Straight to Go, and Science Fiction.

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