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Top Florida trainer Saffie Joseph Jr has a secret weapon in his bid to complete a unique double with White Abarrio at Del Mar on Saturday. The six-year-old grey horse is the winner of ten races, the highlight of which was a victory in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic which have helped swell his earnings to more than £5.7 million. On his return to this year’s championships he is going to tackle the £1.4m Dirt Mile, for which he is an 8-1 chance. White Abarrio has won two of his five starts in 2025 but since his last start in August there has been a new addition to his stable - a goat named 'Brownie'. "He's just calmer," Joseph told the Paulick Report . "We use goats for quite a few of our horses. ... It's mainly a mental thing. “You wanna keep them happy and horses are herd animals; they're meant to be with other horses, obviously, and in a stall you can't put another horse so the closest thing we get comparable is a goat and he really enjoys it. "When the horse moves away, like in the afternoon, he'll cry if he doesn't see the horse. They normally help the fillies a tremendous amount, but it's helped him a lot and hopefully it carries over to the race." Goats are common sight around racing stables but Joseph, who is based at Gulfstream Park, decided to not to risk upsetting White Abarrio’s big race build-up and put Brownie too on the plane to California. "I was a little worried about how [the goat] would ship, but he handled it just fine," said Joseph. "It was a little bit cheaper than flying a horse!" White Abarrio would pull off a unique feat if he can the Dirt Mile to his Classic victory. "If you can add the (Dirt) Mile to his resume with his other Grade 1's, it'll be quite a resume that a lot of horses haven't accomplished," Joseph said. "So it's all up to Brownie now. The pressure's on!"
