Coach J. Kent Sweezey scored a training double on his birthday on Sunday at Gulfstream Park
While continuing to balance the divisions at Monmouth Park and Gulfstream, and doing well enough to be in the top 10 coaching rankings on both routes, J. Kent Sweezey is quick to point out that this is more than just a one-man -Operation acts.
So his success, he points out, is truly a team success, with the most recent being another milestone in a season that is well on the way to becoming the best year of his five-year training career: Epic Bromance’s third place (as opposed to 61 -1) in the United Nations $ 500,000 last Sunday at Monmouth Park.
It was the first time the 35-year-old Lexington, Kentucky native hit the board in a Class 1 race since racing solo in 2017. Epic Bromance was beaten just three lengths by race winner Tribhuvan.
“Of course it’s great, but when you have a split string like me and succeed or win races – and if we win at Monmouth and I win at Gulfstream or vice versa – the owners in both places understand it’s the team,” said Sweezey . “It’s not just me out there doing all the work. It’s the other guys who do their job so I can manage everything.
“By the time you show up and have the results that we have, I think there are a lot of questions. I think this year has answered some of those questions. We have a really good team in both places. “
A year after winning seven out of 59 starters at Monmouth Park, Sweezey is already 7-24 at the current meeting, including a win in the Boiling Springs Stakes with Por Que Non.
Those numbers are enough for 10th place in the Monmouth coaching rankings (ninth in the Gulfstream rankings). It’s been a long way since he first arrived at Monmouth Park on a small horse chain in 2018. He now has 70 in total.
“I think it’s the best development I could hope for,” said Sweezey. “We started with just a few horses the first year we were in Monmouth, then came back with a lot more and the following year we filled the stable we are in.
“I think things are going as well as I hoped. I have a couple of tiered stake horses in the stable, I have horses for new people that I’ve never had. Our stock has increased because we have better horses, but we still have bread-and-butter horses that win races for us and keep things going. “
Sweezey, who has 39 winners out of 232 starters with total winnings of more than $ 1.2 million this year – he won 59 races worth more than $ 1.4 million a year ago – wants in the coming Weeks to contribute to his success in Monmouth.
He will send 3rd Grade winner Phat Man to the Grade 3 Iselin stakes on August 21st and refer Epic Dreamer to the Oceanport stakes on August 8th – old gelding A Thread of Blue at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale for Horses in training.
A Thread of Blue, a Grade 3 winner, won the 2019 Saratoga Derby.
“He’s a new shooter in the barn that we’re really looking forward to,” said Sweezey. “I think he has many miles to go. We could also operate it in Oceanport. “
In the meantime, Sweezey will continue to juggle his two divisions, hoping the early momentum he built will continue through the summer. If Monmouth Park resumes racing on Friday, it will send Destinique out in race four, a profit of $ 12,500.
“You have to keep the ball going,” he said.
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