Sunday Swagger’s sophomore debut a departure from frustrating freshman campaign
by James Platz
Sophomore Sunday Swagger rolled to an open lengths victory in his seasonal debut Wednesday (April 29) at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino, tripping the timer in 1:55.2 in a $12,000 opening leg of The Expresson. Trainer Jay Hochstetler said he was pleased with the effort from his Dover Dan—Sweet Thing homebred, a trotter that he categorized as “very frustrating” as a freshman.
“You know, we thought the world of him,” Hochstetler said. “We thought he was just a really nice colt. I think we had too much confidence in him. He was so handy to train, but not so much in a race. Anything would set him off, and he was a little over-aggressive. When he got over-aggressive, he wasn’t very good-gaited. I think immaturity was the biggest part of it, but the thing about him, he was never tired. If he got beat, he beat himself, because he wasn’t mentally in it, or you had to be too careful with him.”
Looking through Sunday Swagger’s past performances last season reinforces Hochstetler’s comments. The gelding made breaks in his pari-mutuel debut, but rebounded to finish second in Indiana Sires Stakes action. The trotter broke his maiden in early August, but the victory was bookended by breaks in Sires Stakes competition that resulted in placings that took him off the board or out of the money.
Despite the struggles, Sunday Swagger appeared to be rounding into form late in the season, marked by a third-place effort in the Grade 3 $75,000 Madison County and 1:54.3 score in a $46,000 Sires Stakes division. That victory qualified the gelding for the $250,000 Super Final, where Hochstetler believed Sunday Swagger stood a good chance in a competitive field void of a heavy favorite. Driven by Marcus Miller, the homebred set the pace through three-quarters-of-the-mile before fading to eighth.
“At the end of the season last year, right before the sire stakes final, he won his last sires stakes leg really impressively, and then he comes up sick in the final,” Hochstetler said. “That was another frustrating part, when we thought we finally got his mental errors corrected, he comes up sick. But he trained down so good this winter, and we were really excited about him, and the first start was a good step forward.”
Sunday Swagger is the third generation in the pedigree to race out of the Hochstetler barn. It started with Jay’s father, Homer, campaigning Berdine Hanover in Chicago circa 2008. The Kadabra mare, owned in partnership by Connie Hochstetler and Robert Buddig, only made five sophomore starts, taking her 2:01.3 mark at Balmoral Park.
“She had talent, but she broke a knee, and so we thought enough of her to keep her as a broodmare, and she was a pretty solid broodmare for us,” Jay said. “She produced quite a few decent racehorses, Sweet Thing being the best one of them.”
Chocolatier mare Sweet Thing ranks second in wins and earnings among Berdine Hanover’s foals. Over four seasons she made 80 starts for the Hochstetler-Buddig partnership, winning 16 times and finishing on the board in another 32 attempts. Sweet Thing finished her career with a 1:53.1 mark, taken at age 5 while racing at Tioga Downs, and her career bankroll sits at $238,858.
“She was two fingers to drive, she was perfect gated, and I think the only time she ever made a break in her life was when she hit a wheel,” Jay said. “She was just one of those super nice mares to deal with, and we retired her and kept her as a broodmare.”
As a broodmare, Sweet Thing is a 100-per cent producer. Sunday Swagger is the fifth foal from the mare, and second colt. The conditioner believes he is the best to date.
“The first few fillies were really hot and didn’t have the greatest attitudes in the world,” he said. “They would show little flashes of being good, like the Miss Dior sister, she was second in the Kentucky Sire Stakes at Oak Grove, and I thought she was really going to be a nice horse. That was kind of her one flash of glory, and she never replicated that. And then the first colt didn’t have a lot of speed. This colt came along and he’s quirky, but he’s willing where the others weren’t really willing.”
Despite the frustrating freshman campaign, Sunday Swagger grew up over the winter, and Jay noticed a marked change in the trotter. Those changes also translated to the racetrack Wednesday.
“He’s been just really handy,” he said. “He jogs like a gentleman now. Marcus was really happy with how he handled the post parade, and how he handled leaving off of the car. Those were problems for him last year. He was really rank in a post parade for a couple races last year, you couldn’t really settle him into a hole off of the car for a lot of races, and so far, he’s been great.”
Starting from post 4 in a field of six, Miller and Sunday Swagger tucked in third behind leader Inverness Ave and Bravo Alpha, patiently trotting through quarters of :27.1, :57.2, and 1:28.1. Racing through the second turn, Miller pulled the right line and moved the gelding out to challenge. Once in the stretch, Sunday Swagger did the rest, kicking home with a 27-second last quarter to pull away by nearly five lengths. A winner in his debut, the homebred is owned by Jay’s parents, Buddig, and Allen Schwartz.
“I wanted to see him handle leaving the car and sitting in a hole, and not being uncontrollable, and he was a perfect gentleman that way,” the trainer said. “When Marcus pulled him, he just exploded. It was a really windy night, and he didn’t know it. He cut right through it.”
The Expresson late closing series offers another leg and final leading into the start of Indiana Sires Stakes. Jay believes he has a trotter that can contend within the Indiana program’s top division. He also made comparisons between the sophomore and another diagonal-gaited veteran in his barn, $800,000 winner Ponda Jet.
“He’s definitely a cool horse to be around,” Jay said. “He likes work. I think that’s kind of a Dover Dan thing. He kind of reminds me of Ponda Jet in a way. They’re headstrong, and they’re a little quirky, but they’re never tired and they love work.”
