May Day Ready Punches BC Ticket for Trainer Lee

Joseph Lee is no stranger to top-class horses. He worked for David Whiteley and two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer LeRoy Jolley in the 1980s. Lee went back to college in 1987 and graduated in 1989 from the University of Kentucky. He then went to work for Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas in New York, under the tutelage of Kiaran McLaughlin, who was Lukas' assistant at the time.

In 1993, Lee went to Dubai as McLaughlin's assistant, and the following year he took a horse to Japan for Sheikh Mohammed's Darley operation. The transformation of the Godolphin outfit was underway, and from 1995 onward Lee would travel with the Sheikh's best athletes all over the world.

After a stint in Japan to assist his father-in-law, now-retired trainer Takemi Kaga, a former champion jockey in Japan, Lee returned stateside to launch his own feed company. Although the business was successful, Lee couldn't ignore the insatiable lure of the racetrack and became McLaughlin's right-hand man once again in 2015. Lee told him he would fill in until he found a replacement, but ended up remaining with McLaughlin until the trainer's retirement in 2020. From there, Lee blended his wealth of knowledge and experience into launching a training stable of his own, Joseph Lee Racing.

The KatieRich-owned May Day Ready , a 2-year-old filly by Tapit  , gave Lee his first graded stakes win Oct. 4 in the Jessamine Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland, earning an automatic berth to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1T) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

BloodHorse: Did you think May Day Ready had come out on top Friday in the three-way photo finish?

Joseph Lee: No, I thought we were third. I thought the outside horse had won. I mean, good on her, you know, having lost a shoe in the race. She lost the right front shoe, and the start that she had, I don't know if she lost it there, she kind of got bumped and twisted a little bit. 

Same thing in Kentucky Downs (navigating through tight spots), I have to give it to her. She wants to run, which is great. It's hard to teach, right? Hard to teach, for sure.

BH: How did she come out of the race?

JL: Great. We actually just put the shoe on today. I just wanted to make sure the foot was OK. It came off cleanly, didn't grab a quarter, and didn't grab any part of the hoof, so that was good. I just waited a couple of days just to make sure. The next morning, the foot was great; the same temperature as the others, and it was just precaution waiting to put the shoe on. 

BH: Is it on to the Breeders' Cup from here?

Lee: Knock on wood. We'll jog her up tomorrow morning and see how she is. I know it's a couple of days from the races, but she's always jogged up well in the past. I would send the owners, just for fun, a video of her jogging up and it would almost be like you sent them the same video (as before the race), she just prances down there like a show horse. 

I've been lucky, lucky. Everyone's done a great job, my sons (Anthony and Joseph), and Yosuke Ito (exercise rider) who came to work for me when I went to Japan in 2001. And then when I had the training center in Japan helping my father-in-law, he came to work for me then. Then I got him a job with Chiefswood Stables, he worked with them for 12 years, under Eric Coatrieux. I then got him a job with Kiaran McLaughlin, and then he came to work for me. 

He does a great job galloping the horses, and so that's probably one of the reasons we're going to go back to New York. I'm familiar with the training track, and she stays sound. I'm pretty much going to prepare her like I would for any other race. 

She travels well. It took us 20 hours to get to Kentucky Downs, she traveled really well. She traveled back here to Keeneland after the race (Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Stakes) and then went back to New York. 

BH: As someone who's been surrounded by top-level horses your entire life as an assistant, what did winning your first graded stakes win as a trainer mean to you?

Lee: I've been fortunate, really fortunate.

I've experienced a lot. We won the Arc, we won (a huge) amount of grade 1's, in 1995, and over the years with Godolphin, and so forth. 

But, to see other people win, I think that might be (KatieRich Farm owner) Larry's (Doyle) first graded stakes win. It's great to see him and his brother, Jimmy, and his friends. 

Jimmy called yesterday and his two friends that were with him said, 'This is the greatest thing.' It's nice to see people experience that and have a good time. And that for me is the best thing now. 

For me, I don't want to say it's old hat, because it's great. You try hard, you want to see them run well, win or lose. 

At Kentucky Downs, everybody's saying, 'It's your name now.' But, I tell you, when I was with Sheikh Mohammed and Simon Crisford, they said, 'Whatever you do, we will stand behind you 100%. Whatever decision you make, don't worry about it. We're behind you.' So when you have it like that, it's almost like you're part of the team, right? But of course, I communicated with the trainer and what they wanted to do, too. I always felt like part of the team, and (Godolphin) always made you feel like part of the team, which was great. 

So now to win and it's in your name, it's great. The race at Kentucky Downs, a million-dollar race, and you're getting 60 to 70 text messages. It's nice that it's in your name, but it's really even better to see other people enjoy what I've enjoyed. 

I give credit to everyone, to my sons, Yosuke, the hot walker. I'm not easy; I want things done a certain way. I've seen things go wrong when they weren't done a certain way.

I'm 62 years old. It's good that I can help somebody and be fortunate enough to (share the win). I got lucky that (May Day Ready) is as talented as she is, and I'm not doing anything different than when I worked for other trainers, or Kiaran or Wayne. You kind of blend what is in and you learn things here and there, what to do, what not to do.

BH: How many horses do you have in your stable?

Lee: We only have five, based in New York. This is the nicest filly (May Day Ready), of course, that I have. I do have another horse, same owner; they sent it to me last year. He (Works for Me) is a New York-bred, he broke his maiden there. We ran in an open stakes and he was placed, and we won the Notebook (Stakes) with him last November. He's probably the second-best horse I have. 

And then I have a horse that Kiaran (McLaughlin) was training for Mr. and Mrs. (Chester) Broman, a filly called Masterof the Tunes, they had left with me when I first started and Kiaran retired. Around Covid, the Bromans were kind of cutting back a few horses and wanted to sell, so we actually bought her, and we still have her. She's 7, she's made nearly $300,000. She's in this Friday (Oct. 11 allowance at Belmont at the Big A), she's an elderly one, but she's doing well, and she looks great. Knock on wood, she runs well.

BH: How did you connect with KatieRich Farm to begin training their horses?

Lee: When I was working for Kiaran, Larry's (Doyle) brother Jimmy had owned some horses, and is friends with Neal McLaughlin (Kiaran's brother), who's out at WinStar now. When they were running a horse, they would send it to Belmont. I kind of looked after the horses, and we ran the horses for them. So, kind of that relationship turned out that way.

BH: What did you take away from your years of working under Lukas and McLaughlin?

Lee: So, the best thing about Wayne (Lukas) that I took, is everything's in place. When I went to work there, I mean the baby oil was lined up, the polos are lined up, everything was in its place. And, it's great, because you know where things are. It's so organized, so clean, which I like things clean. That's probably one of the biggest things I took from him. 

And Kiaran worked for Wayne, so things were pretty much done the same. Cleanliness and organization is definitely important. Probably the greatest thing was the organization.