Phat Man looks like good purchase

Kent Sweezey had a onehorse stable when he went out on his own as a trainer in the spring of 2017 after working as Jimmy Jerkens’s assistant for three years. The barn is now up to 40 head, Sweezey is tied for seventh in the Monmouth Park standings, and he is thinking about splitting his operation between Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs this winter.

On Sunday at Monmouth, Sweezey will send out Phat Man as a top contender in the $75,000 Good Magic Mile, which is named for the 2018 Haskell Invitational and Blue Grass winner.

“I really enjoy working for myself,” said Sweezey, who also has spent time with Christophe Clement and Eoin Harty. “My claiming business has really picked up. I have a very game group of owners.”

Sweezey, 33, didn’t claim Phat Man, but he did the closest thing to it when he bought the 5-year-old gelding for $65,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July horses of racing age sale in his hometown of Lexington, Ky. Phat Man had made his first 21 starts for owner Brad Grady and trainer Joe Sharp, counting the 2017 Long Branch among his five wins.

In his debut for Sweezey, Phat Man persevered in the stretch of a no-conditions allowance race going two turns at Delaware Park to win a four-horse photo for second behind Cordmaker, a Maryland-based winner of five of his last eight starts, including three stakes.

“I was happy with his race,” Sweezey said of Phat Man. “He wasn’t super tight because he had been off a while for the sale, and he ran a 90 Beyer. He really seems to enjoy what he’s doing now. This race on Sunday has been our goal.”

Phat Man wore blinkers for his first 15 starts. Sweezey will put them back on for the Good Magic Mile.

“I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here – he’s already a good horse,” Sweezey said. “But we put them on him in the morning, he went to the gate, and they seemed to sharpen him up.

“That’s something Jimmy used to do. He’d train horses without blinkers, then with them, even if he wasn’t going to use them during a race.”

Phat Man figures to settle early in the Good Magic Mile under Angel Suarez and then make a run. His chief rivals are No Dozing, who races for Arnaud Delacour, and Ruby Bleu, who is trained by Joseph Taylor, who leads the Parx Racing standings by 16 wins.

Ruby Bleu’s last race is a throw-out as he broke in the air to spot his rivals several lengths while making his turf debut in the Neshaminy Stakes at Parx. He has speed, which should come in handy in this rather paceless seven-horse field. The front end figures to be controlled by Guns of Steel, who will be making his first start for Alejandro Maymo, who claimed him for $16,000 from Jorge Navarro.

No Dozing has not come back particularly sharp this year at 5 after closing out 2018 with a 9 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler at Aqueduct. In his three starts, he has finished seventh to Cordmaker in the Polynesian at Laurel, second to Ohio-bred star Altissimo in the Hockessin at Delaware, and fourth to the impressive winner Uncontested in a high-level optional claimer at Saratoga.

No Dozing has never won beyond seven furlongs, but the added distance, extra turn of this race, and softer competition just might wake him up.