 back on the sportsmaxo now and we saddle up for a discussion on the sport of king's horse racing, a name that rings bells around the horse racing fraternity, a third generation horseman, Safi Joseph Jr. Florida based now, but originally from Barbados, just days after completing a remarkable ninth consecutive trainers championship tram at Florida's Godstream Park, Joseph kicked off the new season on Thursday with a double on the opening day of the spring summer race. Safi completed the double with two to one bet in Monro in the 62,000 US dollar allowance optional claiming sixth race with Paco Lopez aboard. Well, it's a pleasure now to welcome to the show, Safi Joseph Jr., who joins us to talk some horse racing. Safi, are you there? Safi, are you there? Safi, are you there? Safi, are you there? You should talk some horse racing. Safi, are you there? I think we were just setting up the connection, so we'll talk to him in a very short while there, Mariah. But we know that he has been a staple on the At the Track Show because he does so well that almost every week, Safi Joseph has a segment on At the Track. Yeah, and he has already won 62 races this year in the USA That speaks for itself. The numbers speak for itself. The quality of Safi Joseph Jr. is asking you today about the involvement of his family and your response I think summed it up for me so well that he comes from a family that of course is bred and born in horse racing so it's as if it was already chosen. I don't think he could have avoided it from he was a small child, his entire family. His dad was a owner, his dad was a trainer and owner, his grandfather was a resource owner as well. Safi Joseph Jr. Welcome to the Sports Max Zone. Great to have you on, sir. Thanks for having me on. Nice to see you all. Yeah. I know we had spoken to you about two years ago when you were preparing White Avario for the Kentucky Derby. A lot has happened since that including continuing to be the Gulfstream Park Champion Trainer and you closed off your third consecutive Gulfstream Park Championship meet season as a title winner. How satisfying has the past season gone for you? I mean it's been as good as we could ask. Obviously we had a big setback last year in May at Churchill Dones and we didn't let it interfere with us. The team stuck together, it was how to dig deep when the owner supported us and we kept going strong so it's been very gratifying to overcome adversity and to keep our level of high standard of success. Yeah, just to go back for the sake of the viewers who may not catch on to exactly what you were saying. You had a couple of horses at Churchill Dones for the Kentucky Derby last year and a couple of deaths with not only your stable but others as well and you were temporarily banned. Was there any thought of challenging those decisions legally because as it turned out it does appear for more and that they were unjustified decisions against you? Yeah, I mean just let the truth play out and in the end the truth is I was going to play out and that's what exactly happened and it cleared us and we continued on strong. I always believe that the best justice is success and showing it and doing things the right way and that's what we strive for and that's what we continue to do. Yeah, your championship Gulfstream Park win in this past December through to late March Safi was probably more satisfying for you than the other titles that you had won because Todd Pletcher is an eight-time Eclipse award winner as the USA's number one trainer and when you started defeating him at Gulfstream Park I think it had broken probably a 17 season sequence that he had won. And you almost doubled him in wins this past season. Was this championship season success for you the most satisfying of all? Yeah, you would say so. I mean, as I said, in the previous championship, he's been a very close race up to like probably the last few weeks and this time everything went as good as we could ask. We had a great season and we were probably 30 wins clear of him. So growing up watching him win all the races, it's gratifying to someone that you looked up to and now you're competing with him and not only competing but basically on top of him at this meet. So it's a dream come true and God blesses us with all the success and we just continue to try to get better. Yeah, and we're just looking at one of the two races that you won on Thursday Safi. So the new spring summer meet has started and you've already started off with a double and setting the pace for another championship win, which would be your 10th in a row. Very, very impressive. We're proud of you. Thank you. Thank you very much. I mean, in this game, you've got to stay relevant. It says everything that's happened is you can't really enjoy it too much because there's always someone trying to take your spot. So you've got to continue on. Yeah, I know that we've spoken to you about this when we spoke to you back in 2022 about the meteoric rise that you have experienced since you've gone to Florida because back in 2009 when your horse, are you talking to me won the triple crown in Barbados? It was a brave move for you to leave Barbados at that point to take on the Florida experience. But, you know, it is very clear that it was a challenge that you gave yourself. And it's pretty clear. I don't even have to ask that no regrets in leaving Barbados, are they? No, I mean, the way it's worked out, absolutely not. Looking back on it and how it went in the early stages, there was doubt after a few years if we were going to break through. And there was doubt if we were ever going to get the chances. You need to get the chances in this game unless the owners support you as a trainer. You can't do it. There's no two ways about it. I mean, you need horses to train and the owners are the ones who have the horses. So we finally started to get the opportunities and it came through. And we made the most of them. And there was a point that where you feel like you're not going to make breakthrough on. It's almost like you want to turn back on that. That's the point when things actually happen. So anybody kind of coming through the ranks is the same thing. Just stay strong, keep, keep trying, never give up and things will happen. And Safi, you say that and all I can think about asking you is, you know, what really keeps you motivated because you've been so successful Landsat it when we were discussing before you joined us. Every time he does at the track, we have to talk about you because you pick up successes, you know, everywhere. And it's it's just evident that you're doing such a great job. What keeps you motivated despite the setbacks that happen from time to time? I mean, you just you just want to get better. So you're you see your passion is it's I love this. So like, yeah, it's my job, but I don't look at it as a job. I look at it as as if it's almost like a hobby. And this is what I rather do is somebody might rather go to the beach or somebody rather go to the barn with the horses. And I feel like I'm part of them. And you just when you have a passion for something, it's it's it's easy to do. Put it that way. Yeah. There are days that are like there's a lot of highs and lows in this sport. And the lows are really, really low and the highs are high. And it's kind of not much in between. So you have to be the balancer to not get too high. And when it's low, you just got to dig deep and I know there are going to be better days ahead. And Safi, just looking on on what's taking place throughout the Caribbean, are you pleased with the state of horse racing in the Caribbean? Yeah, I mean, I think just Jamaica has obviously done a great job. They're they're definitely the leaders in Caribbean. And I see the racing on on the simulcast like all stream. I look up at the screen and it looks just like any track in America. So kudos to what they're doing in Jamaica and obviously putting on the race. Barbara, this is my round from racing the state steady during COVID. And COVID obviously set back Trinidad very badly. And it's it's kind of basically is they ever going to recover? It's hard to say. Definitely needs some government support. And without that, it doesn't look good. So I think Jamaica is leading the way as far as the way they're handling things and they run a very great product. And Barbados, as I said, it's been pretty consistent. Doesn't run as often as Jamaica, but produce great horsemen. Guyana, they haven't they obviously have racing going on now, but it's not it's not recognized yet. And I think that's a path that they need to get their racing recognized with a jockey club and so on. A stud book before they get to the next level, but there's potential on Jamaica's leading the way in the standard of how they do things. Yeah, and Safi, I know that you had a couple of Kentucky Derby entries. You had a third place finish with Skippy Longstocking in the Belmont stakes. I saw your catalytic finish second in the Florida Derby a couple of weeks ago. Is there any chance that that horse may make it to the Kentucky Derby next month? Yeah, well, he has enough 50 points right now. It looks like it's going to get him in a derby. So I'll be on while I'm speaking with an ownership group. That's going to be the plan. We're going to train him towards the derby and if everything goes good, he will he will ship for the derby. OK, well, Safi, always great talking to you on the Sportsmax zone. We want to continue giving you all the congratulations on the successes. You've been having currently top ten trainer in all of North America. And there has been no time in Caribbean history that we have had a trainer get the successes that you have been having in North America. So continue blazing the trail, brother. And we'll continue to cover your excellent work in Florida. Well, thank you very much. I just want to say thanks to the whole Caribbean and the support that everyone gives us. It's it's it's hard to believe how everybody's jumped on the ship when like giving us a support. So I'm thankful for all that support. It means a lot. Yeah, great. Safi Joseph, Junior there, nine times in a row. Season of the champion trainer in Florida. But he had won four titles before that. So 13 titles overall and continue to do really, really well. Over one thousand wins in the USA now, since he went there in 2011. And we'll be back with more on the Sportsmax zone after this.