Breeders' Cup Breakthrough: Saffie Joseph Defies the Odds

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Saffie Joseph Jr. is no stranger to rejection. After leaving his native Barbados and starting a training career in the U.S., there were moments when he wondered if chasing his dream had been a big mistake. But the Gulfstream-based conditioner has made a name for himself in recent years and in 2025, he had 16 graded stakes wins highlighted by his first Breeders' Cup victory with Soul of an Angel n the GI Filly and Mare Sprint.

Transcript

00:01They're off in the Breeders' Cup Philly and Mare sprint.

00:05Way behind is Sullivan Angel.

00:07Sullivan Angel is passing horses on the far outside.

00:10Oh, it's wide open.

00:12They're coming down to the finish.

00:14It's Sullivan Angel in a huge upset in the Philly and Mare sprint.

00:21There's nothing that compares to winning a race, especially a Breeders' Cup race.

00:24I mean, the feeling is, it's like you have almost air in your shoes.

00:27It's a special moment.

00:28I wish most people could enjoy it because I could only describe it so much,

00:32and you have to almost feel it to believe it.

00:38I was born in Barbados and grew up there my whole life.

00:41My dad trained horses in Barbados the whole time, so I always grew up on a farm where he had all the horses.

00:46And then I wanted to ride, obviously, when I was young, like six, seven, eight,

00:49and the grooms would put me on the horses after they had trained.

00:52Cleaning the stall brought so much joy to you as a kid, you know what I mean?

00:55You get to pick the feet, and that was like, just picking out a horse's foot at that age is like the most amazing thing ever.

01:01I always knew I wanted to do something in racing.

01:03When you're young, you're naive, so you want to think you want to be a jockey, and that's unrealistic as you get older, obviously.

01:08So then training was always in the back of your mind.

01:13Dreams to be the best in the world. You couldn't do it in Barbados.

01:16And you come to America, and you realize you get a reality check.

01:19I look back at my time, I realized at 22, the horse was training me. I wasn't training the horse.

01:23We were winning races, but we didn't have many horses.

01:25I mean, we had eight, nine horses for probably the first four or five years, and it was hard to get owners.

01:30I mean, I had a few owners from Barbados that supported me, and that was about it.

01:35There came a breaking point like year five or year six in my career that I felt like we weren't making any progress.

01:42I told my dad at that point, I said, I don't think it makes sense.

01:46I mean, we're kind of putting all this into it, and we're not getting a chance, and I think I accepted that.

01:51It's almost time to go by the Barbados.

01:53And he told me at that time, he said, no, he said, we came too far to go back.

01:57And for me, that was like, that gave me confidence.

02:02From then on, everything kind of just went to a different level, and one owner brought another owner,

02:06and God blessed us with all the opportunities, and we tried to make the most of it.

02:10Our first Breeders' Cup runner was Matt Visitor in the Classic, and he ran fifth that year.

02:14And then to get back in 23 with three riches, and Skippy, and both of them run third,

02:18that was the first time we hit the board. We felt elated.

02:22A Breeders' Cup is something you dream up. I mean, you grow up watching the Breeders' Cup,

02:25and to get our first Breeders' Cup with Soul of Angel, it was a dream come true,

02:29and it was a moment that you're charged for life, and something that you basically,

02:33it's a memory that you don't forget.

02:36After the first forlong in that race, I was like, whoa.

02:39Like, she has no chance.

02:42And then every forlong started getting better and better, and by the 3th pole, like,

02:45I thought she had a really good chance, and then by the 8th pole, I felt like she was going to get there.

02:51But then she got there in slow motion, and she literally got there right before the wire,

02:55and I mean, I was ecstatic.

02:57It's Soul of an Angel in a huge upset in the Phillies.

03:02And then my dad being there with me, and it was an amazing moment.

03:06He's blessed me more than I could ever think.

03:08Thought that we weren't going to break through, and he gave me that confidence.

03:11So that gave me a lot of confidence to get here.

03:14So, I mean, it means a lot.

03:16When you put your whole life into something, and you get there finally,

03:20I'm just thankful that it was able to happen.

03:22That was my first thought.

03:23I mean, just thank God.

03:24Like, it took a while to get here, and it's been a journey,

03:27and we didn't make any excuses, and we kept climbing, and he kept blessing us.

03:30And he kept blessing us.

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