HALLANDALE BEACH - Saffie Joseph Jr. put the finishing touches on his 15th consecutive leading trainer title at Gulfstream Park Sunday as the 2025-2026 Championship Meet concluded its prestigious 72-day winter stand.

    It was the fifth straight Championship Meet title for Joseph, a 39-year-old native of Barbados whose string of success dates back to Gulfstream’s 2021 Royal Palm stand. He was tops with 255 starters, 45 wins and more than $4.7 million in purse earnings, capturing Race 7 Sunday with 4-year-old colt Miami Frank ($4.40) and the Race 11 finale with Barakah ($38.80).

    “It’s a lot of help,” Joseph said. “Obviously my name is in the program, but it takes all the owners and the staff. They do everything. It’s a full team, and a lot of people make it possible. We’re grateful and thankful to keep it going.”

    Joseph’s biggest win of the Championship Meet came with Skippylongstocking in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) Jan. 24 over his stablemate, defending champion and fellow 7-year-old multimillionaire White Abarrio. Skippylongstocking also won Gulfstream’s Harlan’s Holiday (G3) in December and subsequently captured the Essex Handicap (G3) March 21 at Oaklawn Park.

    Other stakes wins for Joseph came with R Disaster in the Hurricane Bertie (G3), Claret Beret in the Royal Delta (G3), Solitude Dude in the Swale and Neoequos in the Sunshine Turf. He is eight wins shy of 1,500 for his career. Entering Sunday, Joseph ranked third nationally with $5.8 million in purse earnings and seventh with 50 wins in 2026.

    “The Pegasus was definitely the highlight,” Joseph said. “To run first and second in that race and have both horses be at 7 years old, both of them started their careers here at Gulfstream and they’re still going. It’s amazing. We know we’re getting toward the end. I’ve been thinking about it, to have those two horses in their final year, hopefully we have some young ones coming up to replace them.”

    Irad Ortiz Jr. finished as leading rider of the Championship Meet for a fourth straight time and record-extending seventh overall, with 82 wins from 312 mounts (26 percent). Tyler Gaffalione was second with 68 wins but led all jockeys with more than $5.3 million in purses earned.

    Ortiz, 33, spent the final weekend of the Championship Meet honoring out-of-town commitments, taking off eventual Curlin Florida Derby (G1) winner Commandment but taking the Arkansas Derby (G1) with Renegade. Represented by agent Steve Rushing, he finished second with $3.94 in purses earned.

    Among Ortiz’s victories were the Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) and Mucho Macho Man with Commandment, Forward Gal (G3) with On Time Girl and Fort Lauderdale (G3) with Wolfie’s Dynaghost. On Dec. 13 he picked up his 1,000th Gulfstream Park winner with White Claw Woman.

    Bruno Schickedanz scored in Race 10 Sunday with Irish-bred Palace View ($6.80) to tie Rachel Gerson’s Starry Night Racing as leading owner with 10 wins. 

    HALLANDALE BEACH - Wathnan Racing’s Commandment overcame a tepid early pace to stamp himself as the early favorite for this year’s Kentucky Derby with a late-rallying drive to eke out a narrow victory in the 75th running of the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

    The Brad Cox-trained son of 2014 Curlin Florida Derby winner Constitution, who was coming off a victory by a neck in the Feb. 28 Coolmore Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream, prevailed by a nose over The Puma in the tradition-rich 1 1/8-mile stakes for 3-year-olds that closed out a stacked 14-race program featuring 10 stakes, five graded, with purses totaling $2.675 million.

    Commandment’s brave triumph gave Cox back-to-back wins in Gulfstream’s definitive Kentucky Derby prep, following Tappan Street’s victory last year over eventual Horse of the Year Sovereignty. “I’m proud of the horse. He’s a solid horse,” Cox said. “This is a good race and it’s going to set him up for the Derby. Win or lose. I’m glad we came out on the right end.”

    The Diamond Anniversary of the Curlin Florida Derby offered 200 qualifying points for the May 2 Kentucky Derby on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10 to the first five finishers. The first jewel of the Triple Crown has been won by 26 starters in the Curlin Florida Derby, while 47 starters have captured a total of 63 Triple Crown races.

    “He’s a big sturdy horse, I’ve said that several times. He takes his races really well and a couple people told me he was the paddock pick,” Cox said. “He’s a big sturdy horse and once again, if he comes out of it in good order, I think it will set him up for five weeks.”

    Commandment, the 9-5 second choice, rallied from last in the field of six under Flavien Prat after sitting off the pace set by Wayne’s Law and pressed by Nearly past fractions of :24.10 and :48.80 seconds for the first half-mile. Nearly, who was coming off a 5 ¾-length victory in the Jan. 31 Holy Bull at Gulfstream, took over the lead on the far turn only to be immediately challenged by The Puma, who took over the lead on the turn into the homestretch and opened up a clear lead. Prat sent Commandment five-wide on the final turn to loom as the only danger. The Cox-trainee responded to Prat’s urging to just catch The Puma at the wire.

    “I was a bit worried because I wasn’t traveling very well the first part. The pace wasn’t very fast, and I was just in the back, and I thought I would be a bit closer. Then I tipped him out turning for home, he swapped leads and from there he gave me a good, solid run,” Prat said. "I thought I had the bob, but I wasn’t sure. He’s very workmanlike. He’s straightforward, and he’s a fighter. He showed some guts down the lane.”

    Commandment, a three-time winner during this season’s Championship Meet, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.99 to nip The Puma, who captured the Tampa Bay Derby in his prior start.

    “We thought we had him,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., the son and assistant to The Puma’s trainer, “but other than that, it was really, really what we wanted to see before the Derby.”

    The Puma, who was ridden by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, edged third-place finisher Chief Wallabee, the Coolmore Fountain of Youth runner-up trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, by a half-length.

    “The trip was OK. We were saving ground. He tipped him out and he just felt like, as easily as he was traveling, he would probably accelerate a little quicker than what he did. I mean, he came on but maybe not as quick,” Mott said. “As well as he was traveling on the bridle, when [jockey Junior Alvarado] released him he thought he would probably quicken a little more. But, you know, it’s only his third race and they’ve got to learn to do that. He’s getting more experience, and it wasn’t a bad race. It was a good race.”

    Chief Wallabee rallied mildly in the stretch to finish 3 ¼ lengths clear of a tiring Nearly, who finished fourth under Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

    “Maybe he needed this to make him move forward. We'll see. We've got time to see how he comes out of it, train here a little bit, survey the complexion of everything,” said Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, whose 7-5 favorite was coming off three straight victories at Gulfstream by a combined 20 lengths. “[Velazquez] felt like he didn't handle the track the way it was today, the way he handled it previously. He felt like he was sort of just spinning his wheels a little bit. He didn't run bad. He just didn't run as well as he's capable of.”