We attempted a work in front of the state vet at the end of last week for Three Jewels, but unfortunately, his saddle slipped heading into the turn, causing his rider to take precautions and call off the completion of the breeze. It’s certainly been an incredibly frustrating road with this son of American Pharoah, but the bright side is the barn and rider felt he was traveling well until that point and he came out of this unofficial work in good order. This will have no impact on when he can breeze back for the state vet again, so we’ll look to get another work scheduled to get off of the vet’s list as soon as possible.
We checked in on Three Jewels yesterday morning at Monmouth Park. He is doing well, has been sound, and will hopefully return to the work tab next week which will be for the state veterinarian. Kent has given him a little additional time before breezing back and we are hopeful that additional time will do the trick.
Three Jewels continues to breeze right along and turned in his final work at Wavertree Stables this morning. In the video above, you will find his work from last Tuesday covering five furlongs in 1:01 and change over the main track with commentary from farm trainer Ciaran Dunne.
Given your son of American Pharoah was doing so well at Wavertree, we opted to keep him there as long as possible. Ciaran who likely knows this horse best with the extent of time he has been spent at Wavertree throughout his career, crafted a training schedule which Three Jewels has responded positively to. Bone bruising has been this horse’s Achilles heel, which led Ciaran to train him on the grass daily with the addition of turnout time even when in training to keep him moving and not spending too much time in a stall.
He has now accomplished everything we could at the farm and he is ready to return to the racetrack. Pending all continues well out of this final work, he is scheduled to ship later this week/weekend to Palm Meadows and return to the Julie Stormfelt and Kent Sweezey barn.
Heading to the race track, some things will naturally have to change but heading to Palm Meadows, he will still have the ability to get round pen turn out time and have the ability to train on the L course which will hopefully keep him relaxed and not overdo things with less traffic. We will also have the ability to breeze him on the grass at Palm Meadows to limit concussion if needed.
We will follow up once he arrives at the track.
Three Jewels started back under tack at Wavertree in Ocala with farm trainer Ciaran Dunne. Our son of American Pharoah (yellow saddle cloth) has been back for approximately two weeks and was spotted jogging and doing Figure-8 in a grass field with yearlings. Ciaran reported that he wanted to start back from scratch, giving him every chance to make it through the rigors of training this go around. The good news is that Three Jewels is handling everything well through the early stages and pending everything remains in good order, he will jog for approximately 2-3 more weeks before picking up the pace.
Three Jewels has progressed positively at Monmouth Park and has remained sound after backing off in his training. He had a 2-minute-lick this weekend which is characterized by a horse going one mile (8 furlongs) in two minutes, i.e. 15 seconds per furlong. Everything went smoothly according to trainer Kent Sweezey and your son of American Pharoah is expected to breeze three furlongs this weekend.
Three Jewels returned to galloping after a stint of jogging and has remained sound. It’s only been two days of galloping for our 3-year-old gelding by American Pharoah, so we’ll have to keep a close eye on him as he consistently gallops over a period of time before trainer Kent Sweezey looks to breeze him back.
First off, we want to thank all owners who participated in our poll regarding the trainer decision for Three Jewels. Both trainers received strong support as deserved, but the people were heard (approx. 63%) and Kent Sweezey will take over the training duties of Three Jewels. While Jeremiah O’Dwyer was not the winner of the poll, it was great to see the recognition he received from all of you and he will definitely be someone we continue to consider in the future.
Your gelding had his final piece of work on Friday morning at Wavertree, breezing an easy five furlongs, and will ship to Monmouth Park later this week. We look forward to Three Jewels’ progression once arriving in the Sweezey barn. Kent has been a great asset to the MyRacehorse team and will keep owners well-informed once he arrives in the barn.
Three Jewels has been back in light training at Wavertree in Ocala, Florida for about a month now after his time off this winter from bone bruising; his second setback in the past year.
The good news is that Three Jewels has continued to build fitness through his gallops with no physical setbacks; for now, and those are the key words and concern. As we’ve experienced in the past with Three Jewels, he’s the type of horse that carries more weight than normal and gets very aggressive in his training, two things that put him at greater risk of injury and recurrence. Unfortunately, we’ve seen this come to fruition twice already, first with having to remove bone chips from both front ankles last summer and then again late last fall with bone bruising.
As Three Jewels gets more and more into his training each week, we’re still seeing the same pattern now as we did last year of carrying significant weight and being a bit too hard on himself in training, both fueled by likely excessive testosterone. The concern Ciaran, our team, and partners at Dixiana Farm is that if we continue going down the road that has already put Three Jewels on the sidelines twice, that there’s very little doubt we’ll end right back with another setback/injury and time off. Our goal is to make every effort to see if we can get Three Jewels to the races and that is becoming increasingly difficult without making a significant change. Our best path forward and most optimal decision to give him the best chance at becoming a racehorse is to geld him.
While a procedure such as gelding is never taken lightly, this type of situation is one of the primary reasons that owners decide to move forward with gelding. The change significantly reduces testosterone levels which helps control and lower weight and also generally makes for a calmer individual that is more likely to focus on his job on the racetrack. As you’ll hear in the video above with MRH resident vet Dr. Jeffrey Berk, unless a horse has demonstrated superior athletic performance in races (generally at the Grade 1 level) their demand as a stallion prospect is practically zero. Keep in mind that less than 1 percent of all colts ever become a desirable stallion prospect.
While everyone’s desire is to keep that small possibility open as long as possible, the reality is that we’re dealing with a horse who sustained multiple injuries over the last year before even getting to sustained periods of intense and long speed drills. The question quite frankly becomes can this horse go 4-6 furlongs to get race fit (over a period of several months) if he’s already showing indicators that have plagued him in the past? The team, Ciaran (who you’ll hear in the video above), and Dixiana all agreed that keeping him sound at this point is highly unlikely without getting him into the best physical and mental state possible, which requires gelding.
For reference, the MRH stable had another situation like Three Jewels occur a few years ago with current runner Deep Cover. The son of Mission Impazible, now a two-time winner on the NY circuit, was a talented two-year-old in training purchase that carried a lot of weight and wanted to really take off on the track early on in his career. After a number of setbacks including a tibia fracture, MRH and then partners Twin Creeks Racing opted to geld Deep Cover. Now a five-year-old, Deep Cover made 7 starts at the races in 2022 and is being primed for this years campaign.
While most horses get back into a regular routine fairly soon after gelding, we’ll follow up at the end of the week with Ciaran to see how Three Jewels is doing and report back.
Three Jewels departed from Silver Springs this morning and began his journey to Payson Park in Florida where he will return to the barn of trainer Chad Brown. The Silver Springs team was very pleased with the way he has trained of late. As you will see in the photo prior to his departure, he has developed into a stout colt, meaning he is on the heavier side, but the Silver Springs staff said he extends himself very well on the track (referring to his stride).
Three Jewels enjoyed a nice relaxing day out at Silver Springs. With the track closed today the colt jogged in the fields and posed for the camera. The farm staff reports he’s doing all the right things on a weekly basis and is really starting to shape up.