Derby Favorite Heads To Kentucky

Interview with thediver following the Florida Derby winning effort of his “kido” stables star Eclipse Award winning juvenile colt of 2010,  JOYA  ID # 36262.

By: Emax

Caught upwith thediver following the award ceremony at the 2011 Florida Derby.

*Emax… Wow! Impressive win for Joya in a commanding front running fashion and the colts first win as a 3-year old.You have to be thrilled with the outcome.

Yes, absolutely we are. This is a very special colt to us that had shown lots of promise as 2-year old and was recognized as such by winning the Eclipse Award for juvenile colts last year. With this win were now on our way to Kentucky and a shot at all the roses. This is what we have been prepping for with this colt since late last season. With today’s win we are now assured a starting position.

*Emax… At what point did you realize you had as you say “a special colt” with Joya?

We bred Joya’s dam, our homebred FREELANCE(IRE) in Ireland. FREELANCE(IRE) herself had a brief but impressive racing career for us and was stakes placed in California as a 4-year old. Following her 30 some race career we decided to ship her back to Ireland to breed to BARATHEA(IRE). The resulting filly foal, BOSSAME(IRE), is a lightly raced mare that is still in training for us in our “kido” stable. BOSSAME(IRE), like Joya,  showed a lot of early speed in her races but primarily raced on turf. FREELANCE(IRE) then came up barren the following year so at that time we decided to send her to Australia and a next seasons date with the promising stallion REDOUTE’S CHOICE (AUS). We kept both the mare and Joya in our training facility in Australia as our plans were to breed FREELANCE(IRE) right back to REDOUTE’S CHOICE (AUS) the following year.

I flew to Oz and first saw the colt when he was still a weanling. I was impressed enough with him at the time to file for the name Joya, which is the Spanish word for Jewel. I thought right then he was just that, a real jewel and a “special” colt.

*Emax… You had to be very pleased with your “jewel” in his 2-year old season which culminated with winning the Eclipse Award.

Yes, of course we were! Unexpected really to receive the Eclipse Award with so many fine 2-year olds out there that also had great racing seasons. We trained Joya in Oz and decided to ship him back to America in early March of his 2-year old season after he showed so much promise over our Oz dirt training track. In his first America start we caught an off track in New York so our instructions to jockey Bobby Dirks were to just give the colt a nice easy work. Joya broke on top and was eased back to second soon after the start and was under no pressure by the jockey in the stretch to finish strong. Joya finished second in that race and the public had thought enough of Joya to bet him down to even money. He won his second maiden start in typical Joya fashion, wire to wire, while still under wraps at the New York track in June. From there he went on to be stakes placed in a minor stakes in Vermont and followed that up with a win in the Grade II, Upper New York, at Saratoga, where we had him still under wraps and coming off the pace to get the win. Then back to the New York track and a win in the Grade I, Sparkling Wine Stakes in his first start at a mile.

We decided he had earned his chance to ship to Kentucky for the Grade I Breeders’Bowl Juvenile and most likely the final start of his 2-year old campaign. The night prior to the draw for post position, jockey Steve Isreal asked me if hecould have a fortune telling friend come to the track and use some magic around Joya’s stall that might help us insure a inside draw for the race. Laughingly I said sure Steve, if you think that might help. Alas it didn’t, as we draw a dreaded #12 post in the 14-horse field. This was a big race for us. We had as yet asked Joya to give us all he had. Now with the outside post it was a time of great concern for us. Making the right decision at this juncture of the colt’s career was paramount. Big race vs longevity and the future of the colt.  Best colts in the country are here. I discussed it with close associates and then finally decided to let Joya show us what he had. On race day I told Steve that if he gets headed, chase the colt down, were after a win here. Joya  breaks on top and makes the lead throughout the first mile. At the sixteenth pole the field is still trying to chase us down. Nice stretch run by Tapit’s, OPEN PIT TED(KY), catches us right at the wire and we have to settle for a second. All in all a successful 2-year old campaign and a great honor to receive the Eclipse for our efforts.

*Emax… Many news articles have stated that Joya had lost some luster after being off the board in his previous two starts as a 3-year old prior to today’s Florida Derby. You wish to comment onthat?

Articles like that are expected I guess. Not having access to the inner workings of the stable and seeing only the end result, reporters can write about only what’s visible to them. Joya wintered in California following the Breeders Bowl as our making the big race in May was our ultimate goal for the first half of this season. We decided to alter the colts training schedule trying to build stamina for the added distance that lay ahead. Deciding to work the colt a little harder in the warmer California climate. His first California start in January was in the Grade 3, The Scam. A 9-furlong race where we felt we wanted to be on or near the lead early, but really our goal was to give our colt a taste of the added distance. So therefore we were using this race as more of a work to gain that goal and at the same time trying to build along the stamina line. I think we accomplished that although we were nowhere close at the wire. Then shipping back to the east coast following the race as our plan was to get one more good race in and then travel down to Florida for the Derby. Bad weather in New York that time of year and in hindsight perhaps it would have been much better to have shipped right down to Florida and give Joya a race over the track thererather than going on back to New York. Anyway, we  decided that the Grade 3, Gary Asher Memorial Stakes, was our race. Problem was on race day the track came up labeled good and even that was a stretch and it short circuited our plan. I told Steve during the jockey instructions, “hey, work the horse and lets get on down to Florida”. Again, no where close at the wire and a wasted opportunity in our plan to break fast from the gate and then cruise on home to a win with little effort.  We even had a great draw for the race (without the help of a fortune teller) as we landed the #2 post.

So I can’t blame the news reporters for what they wrote. They saw the end result andcan only write about what they see or know. Well the good ones work that way anyway. I would hope now with today’s victory we can lay some of that talk torest and they can honestly say Joya’s back. We’ll keep Joya here in Florida, build his works along the stamina line, then ship to Kentucky end of the month to give Joya some work over the Kentucky track. Plus, I have already told Steve, no more fortune tellers. See ya in Kentucky!