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‘It Doesn’t Matter What Year You’re In It’: Joseph Looking Forward To Ny Traffic’s Run In Kentucky Derby

Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said he was looking for a little more out of Ny Traffic in his penultimate work towards the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on September 5 at Churchill Downs, and the conditioner got just what he wanted when the four-time graded stakes placed son of Cross Traffic went a sharp five-eighths in 59.03 on Thursday morning over the Saratoga main track.

“He seems happy and that's the most important thing,” Joseph Jr. said. “I think that was our stiff work and it went as well as we could have wanted it to go. We just wanted him to come into a bit of urgency so the work will bring him forward and I think he got something out of it.”

Bred in the Empire State by Brian Culnan, Ny Traffic will arrive at the Kentucky Derby off runner-up finishes in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 21 at Fair Grounds, the Grade 3 Matt Winn on May 23 at Churchill Downs and the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 18 at Monmouth Park, where he came up a nose shy of victory to wire-to-wire winner Authentic.

Ny Traffic will have one more work at Saratoga before shipping to Churchill Downs either next Sunday or Monday.

“We're ahead of schedule. We planned it that way in case we have to change things because of the weather,” Joseph Jr. said. “Right now, the weather has rain on Thursday or Friday so he could work next week any day between Thursday or Saturday of next week.”

Joseph Jr. is still relishing the opportunity to compete in the historic event for the first time.

“Obviously we are in a strange year, but in 30-40 years when you look back, it doesn't matter what year you're in it,” Joseph Jr. said. “It's still the Derby. If we can win it this year, it won't mean any less. It will mean everything.”

Ny Traffic is fifth on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 110 points, which he garnered from his three runner-up efforts as well as a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Risen Star at Fair Grounds in February.

Joseph, Jr. said he is cautiously optimistic his colt will put in a winning performance against fellow New York-bred and likely race favorite Tiz the Law.

“We definitely feel that we're taking a horse with a chance. He's an outsider, but he has a legit chance,” Joseph, Jr. said. “Sometimes you take horses there that you know have no chance, but you still hope. But we feel that we have a horse that on his best day could upset them. Tiz the Law, he's a class above everybody. His record speaks for itself and we respect him, but we hope we can beat him.”

Also working for Joseph, Jr. on Thursday morning was Math Wizard, who provided the conditioner with his first Grade 1 victory when taking last year's Pennsylvania Derby. The son of Algorithms went a half-mile in 48.71 seconds and will most likely compete in next Saturday's Grade 2 Charles Town Classic, but is possible for the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward on September 5 at Saratoga.

“Charles Town is in play, but the Woodward is on the backburner,” Joseph, Jr. said. “He worked well this morning and it would be his last work if he ends up going to Charles Town. We'll play it by ear and talk to the owner and see what they want to do.”

Two-time graded stakes winner Tonalist's Shape went five furlongs in 1:01.22 over the Saratoga main track and is likely for either the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on Friday, September 4 or the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs on the same day.

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Grade 1 Winner Street Band Retired, To Be Offered In Fasig-Tipton November Sale

The connections of Grade 1 winner Street Band have announced her retirement from racing. She will be cataloged at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

Racing in partnership for Ray Francis, Cindy Jones, J. Larry Jones, Medallion Racing, and MyRacehorse.com, Street Band won five times in her career and she retires with earnings of more than $1.1 million.

“Street Band was a special filly for our barn. She had so much class to go with her Grade 1 talent. It's bittersweet to see her go, but we are proud that she proved herself to be among the best of her generation,” said trainer Larry Jones, who also bred the filly with Cindy Jones and Ray Francis.

A 7 1/4-length maiden winner at age two, Street Band would go on to win three graded stakes races by an average margin of three lengths in her career. Her most impressive win came in the $1-million Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx. In a field that featured four different multiple Grade 1 winners and an Eclipse Award champion, Street Band defeated the best fillies of her generation to win going away by 2 1/4 lengths. In winning the Grade 1 Cotillion, she handed multiple Grade 1 winner Guarana the only defeat in her career to this point.

Street Band won or placed nine times in her career, adding victories earlier in the year in the G2 Fair Grounds Oaks and G3 Indiana Oaks to her Cotillion score, along with a third in the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga.

Street Band hails from a family with success across the globe. She is the sixth winner from seven to race produced by Street Minstrel, a daughter of top-class broodmare sire Street Cry and a half-sister to two other stakes horses. Street Band's second dam is Minstrel's Lassie, herself a Grade 1 and French stakes winner, and a half-sister to Mintly, the granddam of two-time Australian Group 1 winner Manighar.

Phillip Shelton, manager of Taylor Made's Medallion Racing said, “Street Band took our Medallion partners on an incredible journey. She was our first Grade 1 winner, beating a star-studded field in the Grade 1 Cotillion. We will always remember her pulling her last-to-first charge to beat Grade 1 winners Guarana, Serengeti Empress, Bellafina, and champion Jaywalk. Thanks to Larry Jones and our partners Ray Francis and his family, Larry and Cindy Jones, and MyRacehorse.com.”

Taylor Made Sales Agency will consign Street Band to the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, which will be held immediately following the Breeders' Cup on Sunday, Nov. 8 at historic Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Ky.

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Coolmore Australia’s Virtual Stallion Parade Features Justify, American Pharoah

With the Southern Hemisphere breeding season kicking off and travel clamped down on a global scale, Coolmore Australia has released an hour-long “virtual stallion parade” to show off its 2020 roster, including Triple Crown-winning shuttle stallions Justify and American Pharoah.

The video series features virtual inspections and walk videos of each stallion, along with interviews with several prominent figures within the Coolmore organization, and surrounding the careers of the individual horses.

The Coolmore staff is represented by some of its highest-ranking members, including John Magnier, M.V. Magnier, David Wachman, and James Bester.

Justify, in particular, got a spotlight during the virtual stallion parade, featuring a conversation with the aforementioned Coolmore staff discussing the 2018 Triple Crown winner, as well as trainer Bob Baffert and Ashford Stud manager Dermot Ryan.

“It's so unusual to win a Triple Crown,” John Magnier said. “People have to realize there's only been 13 of them ever, and this fella is an unbeaten Triple Crown winner. You could be talking about he could be a Northern Dancer or he could be a Sunday Silence. He could be the next big thing.

“The world will get fixed sooner than everybody thinks, and when these Justify-type animals go to the yearling sales down there, the international people are going to be interested in Justifys and things of that nature,” he continued. “The way this game is going, the people that are going to survive, I believe, are the people that have the international outlook.”

For both Justify and American Pharoah, Magnier said their underlying appeal to turf racing made them priorities to add to the stallion roster, even though neither raced on the surface themselves, because that perceived affinity for the grass opens them up to greater international success in parts of the world where turf is the dominant surface, such as Europe and Australia.

“It's probably far more likely that Justify should get grass horses than American Pharoah,” Magnier said. “That was the reason that we just had to have him. He shouted for grass, really, and all of his racing was done on the dirt.”

American Pharoah, the winner of the 2015 Triple Crown, has already proven Coolmore's turf hunch to be true, as the sire of prominent grass runners including 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Four Wheel Drive. However, Magnier was confident the surface success would balance itself out over time.

“It's only a matter of time before American Pharoah will get a good dirt horse,” he said. “He's had some success in Japan.”

Baffert echoed Magnier's sentiment that Justify could have had it in him to compete on the turf, if he had been called on to do so.

“People have always asked me, 'You need to bring a horse to Ascot,'” Baffert said. “Now, that would have been the horse to take to Ascot. I think he would have been just phenomenal. But, the really great ones, they can run on anything…He brought his track with him.”

Noting Justify's imposing physical and penchant for getting to the lead early, Baffert said Justify probably could have succeeded on the opposite side of the surface and distance spectrum, as well.

“I came from the Quarter Horse world, and believe me, he could have won the All American Futurity, a $2-million race,” he said. “He's that quick. He's that versatile that he's quick on his feet and just gets running really fast. I could have trained him to win an 870 [yard] race.”

Justify's first Northern Hemisphere foals are weanlings of 2020, and Ryan said they're already starting to emulate their sire in terms of their physicals.

“They have that big hip, rear end, and good hind leg,” he said. “That big ass-end, strength, that drives him. That's very dominant in nearly all of them, that rear end and muscle behind.”

The full virtual stallion parade video can be found below, but the landing page to break the show out by individual stallions can be found here.

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Keeneland Releases Fall Condition Book, Will Card Eight Undercard Stakes At Breeders’ Cup

Keeneland has released the Condition Book for both its 2020 Fall Meet from Oct. 2-24 and the undercard stakes to be run during the Nov. 6-7 Breeders' Cup World Championships.

Click here for the Condition Book.

During the 17-day Fall Meet, Keeneland will present 18 stakes worth a total of $4,775,000. The season opens with the prestigious Fall Stars Weekend. A total of 10 Fall Meet stakes are “Win and You're In” events, part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series of automatic qualifying races for the World Championships.

As the host site for the Breeders' Cup, Keeneland has carded an additional eight undercard stakes worth $1 million to be held in conjunction with the World Championships.

Keeneland 2020 Breeders' Cup Undercard Stakes Schedule: Nov. 6-7

Date	Stakes	Division	Distance
Nov. 6	$100,000 Nyquist	2YO	6½ Furlongs
Nov. 6	$100,000 Songbird	2YO Fillies	6½ Furlongs
Nov. 6	$100,000 Bryan Station	3YOs	1 1/8 Miles (T)
Nov. 6	$150,000 McConnell Springs	3YO & Up, F&M	6 Furlongs
Nov. 6	$200,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G2) (formerly Marathon)	3YOs & Up	1 5/8 Miles
Nov. 7	$150,000 Lafayette Presented by Keeneland Select	3YO & Up	7 Furlongs
Nov. 7	$100,000 Perryville	3YO	6 Furlongs
Nov. 7	$100,000 Qatar Fort Springs	3YO Fillies	6 Furlongs

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