It's been another exceptional year for trainer Genaro Garcia. He earned his fourth straight leading trainer title and his stable, Southwest Racing Stable, earned its second straight leading owner title teaming up with Steve Lewis for the 2020 racing season at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Ind.
A native of Mexico, horses from Garcia's barn won 43 races and in excess of $900,000 to top the trainer standings. He now has 312 career wins at Indiana Grand to rank fifth among the track's all-time leading trainers.
“This is excellent and I'm so excited,” said Garcia. “I'm really happy for the wins and want to say thank you to everyone on the backside and to Indiana Grand and all my owners for their support. It makes me feel so good. I know this is a job, but I love this business so much and love what I do.”
Although the main proponent of Garcia's barn are older claiming rank horses, 2-year-olds is where his passion falls, and he had a great season with Indiana bred Lookin at Justice, who won the $75,000 Indiana Futurity to close out the meet. The horse is one of many he co-owns with Lewis.
“Two-year olds, that's my passion and my goal,” said Garcia. “We bought the second farm because it has indoor space for us to break babies. I think anyone in this business has these hopes.”
Garcia will divide his massive stable up for the winter, sending a dozen to Oaklawn and most to Turfway Park while keeping the babies near his home base in Greenwood, Ind. Although the meet at Indiana Grand comes to a conclusion, it's not the end of the year for Garcia and Lewis.
Lewis, a businessman from Chicago who is the president of Lewis Floor & Home, has been involved in horse racing for the past 25 years. His racing entities were mainly centered at the Chicagoland tracks and he began to get into the breeding end of the business in Illinois before deciding to make a change to Indiana. He has been breeding in Indiana with Leigh Anne Hopper of R Star Stallions in Anderson, Ind., and asked for a suggestion for trainers. One of the names was Garcia, and it wasn't long before Lewis and Garcia formed a partnership.
“I gave one inexpensive horse to Genaro to train and from there, we basically developed a very good partnership,” said Lewis. “He's the guy that does all the work and it's been an unbelievable meet that exceeded all my expectations. I've been in partnerships in the past, but Genaro is willing to equally invest with me and I'm impressed with the way he keeps a barn and the way the horses are cared for and the quality of help he has. He does things right and I truly appreciate that.”
Lewis noted that they had a couple of setbacks during the season but were able to regroup and move forward. They knew they were in a good spot to potentially get the leading owner award heading into the final two weeks of the meet, and although a few horses didn't make it to the winner's circle, they had one surprise Tuesday, Nov. 17, in Lookin at Justice.
“I have a passion for horse racing and I've often said this is a roller coaster without a seatbelt,” added Lewis. “The last week we had three in that were favorites and they all got beat. The last thing I expected was for Lookin at Justice to run the way he did in the stakes (Indiana Futurity). Genaro has liked him from the start.”
The leading owner title with Garcia's Southwest Racing Stable and Lewis marks the first for him. It completes a solid season that included multiple wins from horses such as Boyfriend Material, French Vanilla, El Bohemio and Naughty Alfred, just to name a few.
“I am very fortunate to have such good owners, especially Bruce Murphy and Steve Lewis,” added Garcia. “They have given me a lot of support and I've very happy for Mr. Steve (Lewis) to earn his first title.”
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