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Trainer Joseph Lee and May Day Ready take on G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies

by Christian Abdo

Trainer Joseph Lee has been around the globe as an assistant, but now, as a head trainer, he will send out May Day Ready in the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies on Sunday at Kyoto Racecourse in Japan.

Racing fans can watch and wager on the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies [Race 11, 1:40 a.m. Eastern] from Kyoto Racecourse on December 8 via NYRABets.com.

Lee, 62, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and attended Valley Stream North High School on Long Island. He became immersed in horse racing after witnessing Secretariat’s 1973 Belmont Stakes victory, gaining early racing experience on the Belmont Park backstretch and at the barns of David Whiteley, LeRoy Jolley, John Veitch and Joe Cantey.

“I grew up in Belmont Park when people would dress up for the clubhouse. As a kid, I used to sneak under the fence to get in, making sure my shirt wouldn’t touch the ground because of the clubhouse, to be dressed up. It’s a great sport,” Lee said. “I’ve been really lucky to be around really good horses and really good people.”

Upon graduating from University of Kentucky in 1989, Lee returned to New York to work for Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas and his then-assistant, Kiaran McLaughlin. After going out on his own briefly, Lee assisted McLaughlin in Dubai in 1993, soon with Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation, traveling the world for international races until the early 2000s.

Stakes brought Lee to Japan, where he met his wife Suzuyo and worked a decade for his father-in-law Takemi Kaga - a Hall of Fame jockey turned trainer there. Lee is no stranger to Japanese racing, where May Day Ready will travel right-handed for the first time.

“With my father-in-law being a Hall of Fame jockey and trainer when he retired, and then having myself went to Japan for multiple international races from ‘94 to 2000, I went to Japan just about every year. And sometimes a couple times, spending three months at a time there,” Lee said. “Japan racing has everything: the facilities are big, clean, you’ve got restaurants, noodle shops, multiple places to eat and sit down.”

Lee returned to America following the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 and ran a feed company before assisting McLaughlin in 2015 back in the Empire State. In 2020, Lee opened a public stable and he earned his first stakes win with Works for Me in the state-bred Notebook last November at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Lee secured his first graded stakes victory when May Day Ready closed to a nose score over Totally Justified in the Grade 2 Jessamine in October at Keeneland. The Tapit bay showed it was no fluke with a 1 1/2-length runner-up finish last-out to the undefeated Lake Victoria in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on November 1 at Del Mar.

There, May Day Ready exited post 12-of-14 under world-renowned jockey Frankie Dettori, settling into 12th position after steadying and drifting wide into the first turn. She then hustled back inward to save ground down the backstretch before angling out for a strong finish, landing a clear second to the Aidan O’Brien-trained Cartier Champion 2-Year-Old Filly.

“She ran into a tough one and I’m pleased with her effort,” said Lee. “She got into a little bit of trouble there in the first turn and then Frankie got her into a great spot following the eventual winner, Lake Victoria. It was like trying to follow a car on the highway. I’d like to see for fun with a clean trip - not saying we would have beat her - I’d just like to see. I’m extremely pleased, even in defeat.”

With how she exited the impressive top-level showing, Lee decided that KatieRich Stables’ May Day Ready’s campaign will continue with another stab at a Grade 1, this time in Japan’s one-mile Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. Notable competitors include Brown Ratchet, a half-sister to Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic and Kentucky Derby third place-finisher Forever Young; and Grade 2-winner over course and distance Run for Vow; among the field of 18, where May Day Ready has drawn post 17 with Dettori to ride.

Lee noted that representatives from the Japan Racing Association (JRA) built a positive relationship with him after meetings with New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) President and CEO David O’Rourke, along with Executive Vice President, Operations and Capital Projects Glen Kozak.

“The representatives from the JRA now have their office in Manhattan and they’ll come out on a regular basis. If the JRA is meeting with David O’Rourke or Glen Kozak, they’ll come to my barn and bring people for me to show around and talk about how things are at Belmont,” Lee said. “They’d say, ‘It’d be great if you bring a horse.’ I only have a handful of horses, I’d love to go, but I just didn’t have that kind of horse - until the filly.”

Lee now operates his stable with the help of his family, like he once did for his father-in-law. He has four children: the oldest son Joseph, IV, handles May Day Ready daily, and Anthony is currently stationed at Fair Grounds Race Course. The youngest son Domenic and daughter Stephanie attended Lee’s alma mater of the University of Kentucky, and both now work as Japanese translators, among other roles.

“My oldest son, Joseph, has looked after May Day Ready at Belmont and then at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, and then traveled with her to Japan,” Lee said. “He took some pictures and sent some videos, and I don't think I’ve ever seen a horse so calm and relaxed. He believes she’s gotten bigger. He believes she’s grown.”

Lee’s children also manage his social media. They announced May Day Ready’s intent to run in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies on “X” and it garnered a striking 500,000 impressions. A similar post for Dettori traveling to ride reached another 100,000 viewers.

“The fans over there and the media got really excited that a horse from here would be going there for a race, especially a 2-year-old,” Lee said. “The Japanese love Dettori. People are saving up their money to go to Kyoto that day.”

Lee said that while Japanese racing fans create a special atmosphere, he also cherishes the tight-knit community of the NYRA-circuit, which supported him equally after the Breeders’ Cup second as when May Day Ready won Kentucky Downs’ Listed Juvenile Fillies and Keeneland’s Grade 2 Jessamine.

“Whether it was the exercise riders, trainers, or agents, they congratulated me. It’s interesting when people congratulate you and you didn’t win. I was taken aback by it,” Lee said. “Mr. [Christophe] Clement was a big fan of mine going from Kentucky Downs to the Jessamine to the Breeders’ Cup.”

Lee credits his global experiences for preparing him for this special trip back to Japan - one where May Day Ready looks to make New York proud once again.

“If you want to take a trip, this is the place you’ve got to go - a big race on a big day. It’s just amazing when the horses go in the gate, it’s just something you’ve got to see,” Lee said. “Over the years, you’ve just got to pay attention and keep your eyes and ears open.”