As worries continue over the future of racing at the South Florida track amid the prospect of ‘decoupling’, Gustavo Delgado, Saffie Joseph, Eddie Plesa and Antonio Sano talk to Tom Pedulla
The outlook appears to be grim as horsemen continue efforts to convince Florida lawmakers not to pass decoupling legislation.
House bill 105 and Senate bill 408 would ultimately allow 1/ST Racing and Gaming, parent company of Gulfstream Park, to continue operating a casino at the Hallandale Beach location in Florida without being required to conduct live racing.
‘They are playing dirty’ – horsemen fear uphill battle to save racing’s future at Gulfstream Park
At the center of the issue is the already enormous value of the land the South Florida track sits on. 1/ST Racing has apparently concluded the property’s worth would be still greater if a buyer was not tethered to racing.
As lobbyists from both sides scramble to advance their positions, perhaps lost in all of this is what Gulfstream Park means to so many who work there. As the following vignettes illustrate, it has been a refuge, a proving ground, a place where dreams come true.
‘If it’s not here, we’ll have to go somewhere else’ – Gustavo Delgado Jr.
The elder Gustavo Delgado had grown restless. He had established himself as one of the leading trainers in the history of Venezuela. What was left to prove?
“Like anything, you need more challenges,” explained his son, Gustavo Delgado Jr, who is assistant to the Kentucky Derby-winning trainer. “He always had this idea of going to the States and trying to win one of the Triple Crown races.”
In 2014, the Delgados left their homeland and ventured to South Florida, where they felt immediately comfortable and easily attracted help due to the large Hispanic population there.
Initially, they trained only a handful of horses that they owned themselves before bolstering their stable by claiming horses. As they succeeded, former clients in Venezuela rejoined the burgeoning operation but father and son never lost sight of the prize – a colt capable of winning one of the big ones.
Delgado Jr. had exactly that in mind when he and bloodstock agent Ramiro Restrepo, a family friend, worked the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Delgado (the father) had given them a budget of $100,000 and no more. However, they forgot about that when they spotted a Good Magic colt out of the Big Brown mare Puca. Love at first sight with a colt who had the look and pedigree to handle Classic distances. Everything about him struck them as special.
The bidding blew past their $100,000 limit. They were undeterred; they remained enthusiastic at $200,000, then at $250,000. They were determined to bring the classy-looking juvenile home. The hammer finally fell to them at $290,000, almost three times their budget.
Then the hard part began: telling Delgado what they had done and finding partners to cover the cost. Fortunately, the father soon spotted the same potential they had observed; so did some much-needed partners.
Delgado took his time with the colt they named Mage. Though he showed potential all along, the youngster went unraced at two.
But then he went on a fast track to success, all at Gulfstream Park. He won his debut in late January, displayed his inexperience when he ran fourth in the Fountain of Youth and made significant strides as a Florida Derby runner-up, earning a place in the Kentucky Derby.
Few believed that was enough seasoning for Mage to handle the Derby’s frenetic atmosphere, the congestion of the always-large field or the demanding mile-and-a-quarter distance.
He went off at 15-1 before, under masterful handling from Javier Castellano, staging a dramatic rally from 14th through the opening three-quarters of a mile to prevail by a length.
The thrill of that triumph remains with the Delgado family. “It will never go away,” Delgado Jr. said. “It changed our lives.”
As the son reflected on Mage’s swift progress, it is possible none of that would have happened if they were not based at Gulfstream. While Derby prospects in Kentucky and New York missed training due to foul weather, they never skipped a beat with a three-year-old that had no margin for error.
“Here we have consistent weather, especially during the winter,” Delgado Jr. said.
But he worries that their time in South Florida may be limited. Even if the decoupling effort fails, the property could be sold at any time. “If it’s not here, we’ll have to go somewhere else,” Delgado, Jr. said. “We have to follow the horses, for sure.”
He is not bitter about recent developments. “We only have to be grateful,” he said. “We gained so much.”
‘I think they will do something right along the way’ – Saffie Joseph
Saffie Joseph had no idea how difficult it would be when, against the protestations of his father, he left his native Barbados to come to South Florida with two horses in 2011.
Two years earlier, when he was 22, Joseph had become the youngest trainer in Barbados history to oversee a domestic Triple Crown winner when Areyoutalkintome completed the sweep.
The young man thought he was ready to conquer the world. Then reality set in. “You’re young and you’re naïve, looking back on it,” recalled Joseph, 38. “You feel like you’re the best but, in reality, you realize nobody knows you, nobody cares.”
There were hard times when he thought about returning home. His gut, and now his father, told him to keep faith in himself. “You’re chasing a dream basically,” he said.
The third-generation horseman still has parts of his dream to fulfill, but his willingness to stay the course has been richly rewarded. He has topped Gulfstream’s trainer standings for the last four Championship Meets and owns 12 consecutive titles overall.
He gained his first G1 triumph when 31-1 shot Math Wizard upset the Pennsylvania Derby. He broke through last year at the Breeders’ Cup when Soul Of An Angel, at nearly 20-1, produced a divine performance in the Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar.
White Abarrio, one of the premier older horses in training, backed up his reputation, roaring off to a 6 ¼-length victory in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream at the end of January.
“Seeing this happen and seeing me win so many titles in a row, it definitely exceeded expectations,” Joseph said. “When you look back at it, it’s hard to believe that it’s real, that it’s happening.”
Joseph yearns to make a greater splash nationally. Skippylongstocking provided his best finish in a Triple Crown race when he took third in the 2022 Belmont Stakes.
“For a trainer, I’m still pretty young. We still have a lot of improving to do,” he said. “We haven’t even gotten to how good we can be.”
Joseph remains upbeat about the future of racing at Gulfstream. “I believe the 1/ST group will come to the table and there will be people who can get something solved for the best of all interests,” he said.
“It is their land, but the casino license was a joint venture with horsemen. To try to take that with you, that’s disrespectful to a game that has been so good to them. I think they will do something right along the way.”
‘I don’t think the future’s here’ – Eddie Plesa
Eddie Plesa registered the 2,500th victory of his career when three-year-old gelding Raging Fury hit the wire first at Gulfstream Park on April 13, 2024.
Now, the 75-year-old trainer is convinced the track that meant so much to him and his success will not welcome horseplayers much longer. And the emotions roiling inside him call to mind the name of the three-year-old gelding that produced the milestone win.
“It’s the state of horse racing,” Plesa said. “It’s not the economic engine that runs so many things. The only thing it runs now is the people who are directly involved, the families that are here.”
As for what the future might hold if decoupling becomes a reality, he said, “I don’t know that there is a concrete answer. I don’t think it’s here in South Florida.”
The region has meant so much to his family. His father, Eddie Plesa Sr., rode and then became a trainer. The son was at the father’s side at the track from the time he was five. He took out his trainer’s license when he was 19 and made the most of it.
According to Equibase, he ranked 64th all-time with more than $64m in earnings (as at April 12). Plesa has 2,516 victories from 15,381 starts and knows what it is to compete at the highest levels. He was elected to the Calder Race Course Hall of Fame in 2007.
Itsmyluckyday placed second to longshot Oxbow in the 2013 Preakness before taking the G1 Woodward the following season as part of a career that generated $1.7m in earnings.
Plesa’s greatest passion involves developing two-year-olds and he typically focuses on Florida-breds. Two of them, Gottcha Gold and Three Ring, made significant marks. Gottcha Gold ran second in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Three Ring wound up third in the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies before reaching the winner’s circle in the G1 Acorn the next year.
The tattered state of racing, in a more troubling condition than ever before with the rise of sports wagering, leaves him with a bittersweet taste. Calder’s closing pained him; so did that of Hollywood Park and Arlington Park.
He has seen so much go wrong it is impossible for him to feel any optimism that Gulfstream can somehow endure. “Who’s going to come to the forefront?” he asked rhetorically. “I don’t know of anybody.”
‘Gulfstream is too valuable to be lost’ – Antonio Sano
Kidnapped.
Can there be anything more frightening for a wife than for her husband to be taken in that manner? Can there be anything more terrifying for their children?
The Sano family, composed of Antonio, his wife Maria, their sons Alessandro and Maurizio and their daughter Nena, lived that nightmare in Venezuela in 2009. Twice.
Alessandro described the first instance as an “express kidnapping”. Antonio was held hostage and made to withdraw savings from one financial institution after another.
The second occasion was far worse. His father was held for 36 days. Initially, the family received no demand for a ransom, heightening fears. Rumors swirled that Antonio had been shot to death.
“As a family hearing that, it was devastating,” Alessandro said. “You could not sleep at night.”
At last, there was word from the captors. They insisted on a ransom that exceeded anything the family could manage. They met the demand only through the help of family and friends.
Enough was enough. The Sanos fled to South Florida.
“I had the opportunity to leave after the kidnapping. The United States was the proper place to raise a family,” Antonio said, with Alessandro serving as interpreter. “It was unfortunate what happened, but my children have their education and their future in front of them.”
Slowly but surely, with the help of Venezuelan investors Oscar Martinez and Domingo Spadaro, Antonio rebuilt his business. A winner of more than 3,000 races in Venezuela, he reached the 1,000-win milestone in January at Gulfstream.
“There are very different training methods coming from Venezuela to the United States,” Alessandro noted. “But he had such a strong foundation he was able to do the best of both worlds.”
Gulfstream’s uncertain future greatly concerns Antonio. “It’s too valuable to be lost,” he said. “I am hopeful there can be a happy conclusion that everybody can be happy with. There is still much to be written about with South Florida.”
Antonio is especially proud of the education his children received in their new country. Alessandro recently graduated from the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He also delights in their standing as United States citizens.
“This country opened its door,” he said, “when we had nothing in our pockets.”
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