FRANKLIN, Ky. – Joseph Lee, a trainer you might not have heard much about, had his first starter as a head trainer in 1991. He had runners in 1992 and 1993, then a gap until his next stint out on his own, in 2002. That was nothing. Lee’s next runner came … 18 years later. Those were not idle years away from racing. Lee had gone to Dubai with Kiaran McLaughlin, for whom he’d been an assistant, to work for Godolphin. The list of horses he’s put a saddle on around the world is somewhat head-spinning, with Group 1 winners in Japan and Europe, and his connection to Frankie Dettori goes way back. Lee gave a leg up to Dettori at Doncaster Racecourse in England when Dettori rode his 1,000th winner. He did the same in the 1995 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, which Dettori won aboard Lammtarra.   And on Sunday at Kentucky Downs, it was Dettori up for Lee, who trains a five-horse stable and had his first major success training his own horse when May Day Ready won the $997,200 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Mile by 1 3/4 lengths. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. May Day Ready was 25-1 when Dettori rode her to a nose victory Aug. 4 in a Saratoga maiden race. She was 9-2 Sunday, paying $11.16 as the second choice in a 12-runner field. “I’ve loved her since about her fourth or so published work,” Lee said. “It was just a three-eighths. It was how she did it. I’ve been around a lot of good horses.” Lee said he ran May Day Ready not fully fit at Saratoga because she needed to run, and he didn’t want to wait. The filly is by Tapit. Lee has been around plenty of Tapits. They can be problematic. Starting a touch early seemed better than waiting too long. “I told Frankie she’d be better in her second and third races,” Lee said. And she was. Lee said his preference was to wait for the Natalma Stakes at Woodbine next week. Lawrence Doyle, who races as KatieRich Stables, lobbied for Kentucky Downs. A trainer does what an owner desires, or they might no longer be the owner’s trainer. Here, the owner made a good call. May Day Ready broke just decently, raced at the rear of the group of horses in the vanguard, and threatened to suck back into the field’s tail, but Dettori wasn’t having it. He urged his mount forward while keeping her in rhythm over the undulating Kentucky Downs course and wound up sitting sixth. Racing in some traffic around the turn, May Day Ready traveled decently enough, and as she and Dettori turned for home, the seas parted and suddenly May Day Ready had no one around her. She quickly accelerated, got to the outside, forged to the lead in the final furlong, and validated Lee’s confidence. Bellavinino, who stalked the pace from the inside, lacked room in upper stretch and had to swing from the rail to the No. 4 path to make her final run, but she wasn’t beating May Day Ready on this day. She’s Got Will, who held the lead at the stretch call, finished a neck behind in third, with pacesetting favorite Mean Eileen fourth. Winning time over a firm course was a moderate 1:35.36. Bred by Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm, May Day Ready, purchased at auction earlier this year for $325,000, is out of the More than Ready mare, Nemoralia. Nemoralia finished a close third in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. May Day Ready could be headed for the same race at Del Mar. If she makes it, Lee won’t be saddling the horse that his boss trains. This time, a long time coming, this one resides in his own shed row. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.