Home  > Racing > Contenders

Mint Slewlep

Post Position 1

Click logo below for Pedigree Information

PHOTO CREDIT: Jim McCue/MJC

Mint Slewlep has been a Preakness Stakes prospect in the minds of his connections for quite some time, so the fourth-place finish in the Withers Stakes was considered to have set him up for the Pimlico classic.      The son of Slew City Slew has a record of two victories in seven lifetime starts.      This marks the second time in three years that owner Marshall Dowell and trainer Robbie Bailes have taken a run at the Woodlawn Vase. In 2005, they finished second to Afleet Alex with Scrappy T.

TRAINER - Robbie Bailes is a resident of Harwood, Md.           Bailes is stabled at the Bowie training center in Maryland with about 20 horses.      Though Scrappy T continues to stand out at his top runner so far, the trainer is hoping Mint Slewlep will match the exploits of the 2005 Preakness Stakes runner-up. Prior to Scrappy T’s victory in the 2005 Withers, Bailes’ most rewarding win came when he took the prize in the 1999 W. Meredith Bailes Stakes, a race named for his father, at Virginia’s Colonial Downs with Steak Scam.

JOCKEY - Alan Garcia has been riding at Monmouth Park since 2004 after leaving Peru.  He is a resident of Elmont, NY.           Mint Slewlep will be Garcia's first Preakness mount.  Garcia won 28 races at Monmouth Park in 2004 and won 20 races in 2005 although he missed 6 weeks of riding due to a broken collar bone.  Garcia has been riding in New Jersey and in the winter months rides at Aqueduct.      In 2006 Alan Garcia brought in Achilles of Troy to win the Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct by 14 lengths.

OWNER - Marshall E. Dowell has been well-acquainted with horsepower over the years, having owned and operated a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership in Richmond, Va.      He also owned Scrappy T, who finished second to Afleet Alex in the 2005 Preakness Stakes. The horse was named for his grandson Tanner and earned his way into the Preakness Stakes by winning the Withers Stakes as a prelude to his run in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.      Dowell and trainer Robbie Bailes sent Mint Slewlep along the same route, and he responded by finishing fourth in the Withers. Both Dowell and Bailes had been thinking all along that the son of Slew City Slew would run in the Preakness Stakes.      Because of Scrappy T, Dowell has stepped up his level of competition over the past couple of years, quite a difference from when his stable of about 20 horses was running at a much lower level.

BREEDER - Brent and Beth Harris live on Westwind Farm in Bowling Green, Ky., and breed and raise horses there.      Brent Harris was born August 7, 1958 in Bowling Green and Beth Harris was born November 2, 1963 in Rudehouse, Ill. They both graduated from Western Kentucky University but didn’t meet until their school days were over. Beth is an elementary school teacher in Bowling Green and Brent, who was a baseball player for Western, actually planned on teaching and coaching as his degree was in physical education.      When his grandfather became ill about the time Brent was about to finish his school, he moved to the farm and began tending to his grandfather and the farm, which had been bought by his grandfather, J.R. Bettersworth, many years before. As time went on, Brent decided he liked the life on the farm and has made his life there ever since.      The farm covers 1,000 acres, but only 400 acres are devoted to the raising of Thoroughbreds and the rest is leased out for cropland. Westwind is home to about 45 broodmares, including four owned individually or in partnership by Brent. Brent’s older brother, Mike, serves as manager of the farm and Brent and younger brother Kevin work on the place. “I get the pitchfork,” Brent says.      While Mint Slewlep is the most high-profile horse for the farm in recent years, Brent noted that his grandfather bred the very fast and multiple stakes-winning filly My Juliet many years ago.