BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Even before she ran, Love Like Lucy’s $300,000 price tag made her a standout. Her first race did nothing to diminish those expectations.
For her second start, the 2-year-old filly owned by MyRacehorse, Thoroughbred Acquisition Group and Miller Racing will step up into stakes company as a prime contender in Saturday’s $100,000 Desert Vixen at Gulfstream Park.
The Desert Vixen for fillies shares the spotlight on an 11-race program with the $100,000 Dr. Fager, each sprinting six furlongs, to lead off the 44th edition of the $1.2 million Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Florida Sire Stakes series for juveniles by accredited Florida stallions.
The Desert Vixen comes at the same course and distance as Love Like Lucy’s Aug. 8 unveiling. By Grade 1 winner Win Win Win out of the Majesticperfection mare Just Like Lucy, she was bred in Florida by Brereton C. Jones.
Love Like Lucy fetched $60,000 as a Keeneland yearling last September before MyRacehorse and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. signed her six-figure ticket at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring Sale of 2-year-olds in training April 18. Consigned by Navas Equine, she was the last horse to go through the ring during the four-day auction.
“When we bought her, she was Florida-sired and nominated. We paid $300,000 for her, which is pretty pricey for one of those fillies. She trained well enough and her gate works were very good so we were optimistic going into the first race. You never really know for sure, but we were optimistic that she would run well,” Joseph said. “The price tag is one thing, but the horse still has to go out there and run.”
Love Like Lucky did just that, emerging from a tussle for the lead to pull away for a length-and-three-quarters maiden special weight score over fellow state-breds as the 4-5 favorite under jockey Edgard Zayas. She and Zayas are rated as the 2-1 second choice on the morning line for the Desert Vixen.
“She got into good pace duel, then she got passed by the next horse but she was gusty enough to come back and win the race. I thought it was very good for a debut run and hopefully she can build on that this time,” Joseph said. “She was drawing away at the end. That’s something you want to see in a horse, that tenacity, especially for a first-time starter.”
Joseph won last year’s Desert Vixen with R Morning Brew in a stakes-record time of 1:10.85. Love Like Lucy will break from outermost post seven.
“Hopefully she’ll be forward again, but she has options,” Joseph said. “She can sit if she needs to, but most likely she’ll be forward and hopefully on the lead.”
Dating back to the 2021 Royal Palm Meet, Joseph owns 13 consecutive meet titles at Gulfstream including the last four Sunshine Meets as well as four straight during the Championship Meet, the country’s premiere winter racing destination.
“It’s very special,” Joseph said. “I’m always grateful and thankful to be given the opportunities and proud of our team for putting in the hard work to get it done. We hope we can keep building on it.”
Return to the September 5 issue of Wire to Wire
