BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—Apprentice jockey Micah Husbands guided The Dove Rules to victory in Friday’s eighth-race feature at Gulfstream Park, notching his first win in the U.S.
A winner of 11 races in Canada, the 21-year-old Barbados native is the nephew of eight-time Sovereign Award-winning jockey Patrick Husbands, his mother Selene’s brother.
“It’s a thrill, a dream come true. I grew up watching races here, watching Joel Rosario, Mike Smith, Johnny Velazquez,” Husbands said.
Husbands and The Dove Rules closed from well off the pace to prevail by a neck in the first condition, $20,000 optional claiming for Florida-bred fillies and mares going five-and-a-half furlongs on the synthetic course. Bodacious Bren was second with favored American of Course third.
The Dove Rules paid $15.60 to win.
The Dove Rules is trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., a Barbados native who also provided Husbands with his first U.S. mount, Clay Soldier, who finished third in the previous race.
The seven-pound apprentice, whose late father Fazal Razack rode in Trinidad, ventured to Canada when he was 15 and was eventually adopted by his uncle Patrick to hasten the process of becoming a Canadian citizen. He rode in only 22 races between July 3, 2022 and July 28, 2022, winning aboard his first and final mounts. His student visa expired and he was not allowed on the grounds of Woodbine until the citizenship process was completed.
Husbands galloped horses on trainer Kevin Attard’s farm during that period before returning to race-riding at Woodbine this August following a two-year hiatus. He rode seven winners from 47 mounts between Woodbine and Fort Erie.
