By Steve Sherack
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Veteran trainer and longtime Eagles fan Phil Gleaves had good reason to perhaps having those unforgettable lyrics to Hotel California play in his head as his homebred Sweet Summer Sweat (After Market) made her way to the winner's circle following a narrow victory at Gulfstream Park Thursday afternoon.
“It's always extra special to watch a homebred win,” Gleaves said of Sweet Summer Sweat, who races in the colors of his wife Amy Gleaves and Robert Spiegel. “I think the filly's got a future, too.”
Gleaves acquired the unraced Distorted Humor mare Aberdeen Alley from his late longtime former client Russell Reineman. The duo, of course, campaigned the 1986 GI Travers S. hero Wise Times.
“I stayed close with his family, and when they were dispersing the broodmare band, I acquired this mare,” he said. “I had a special relationship with the Reineman family and I still do. It's wonderful to see the product of their breeding being carried on.”
Sweet Summer Sweat gamely held on by a nose after leading at every pole to earn her diploma in her sixth career trip to the post, her first attempt beyond six furlongs.
“It was very exciting,” Gleaves said of the win. “We've been dying to stretch her out.”
Aberdeen Alley has produced four winners from four starters, including Miami Cat (Powerful Goer), hero of Saratoga's Equalize S., and the stakes-placed I Ain't Gonna Lie (Monarchos). She produced a colt by Sidney's Candy this year and was bred back to the WinStar Farm stallion. Gleaves typically keeps around a dozen in training in South Florida. The 13-year-old Aberdeen Alley is his lone broodmare.
“We just run a small operation and that's the way I like it,” Gleaves concluded.
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