OLDSMAR, Fla. – Gerald Bennett’s training career hit its peak in 1990, when the best horse he’s ever trained, Beau Genius, won the Grade 1 Philip H. Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park on his way to $1.06 million in career earnings. Over a career spanning more than 40 years, Bennett has rarely had that kind of firepower in his barn, but that hasn’t stopped him from piling up the wins. Bennett ranks 19th all time and 11th among active trainers with 3,578 career wins from 17,383 starters (21 percent), and when the Tampa Bay Downs meet ends May 8, the 72-year-old conditioner almost certainly will have nailed down his first outright training title at his favorite track. Jamie Ness has won or tied for the last nine training titles, including during the 2010-11 season, when he and Bennett tied for the top spot with 61 wins apiece. This season, Ness ranks second with 37 wins. His stable suffered a blow in February, when he lost the powerhouse Midwest Thoroughbreds operation as his main client, giving Bennett his best chance yet at the local crown. And Bennett has made the most of it. Entering Wednesday’s card, Bennett had won with 50 of his 214 starters (23 percent) at the meet. His horses had finished in the money 54 percent of the time, and his 45-horse stable had earned $814,850, which was $266,572 more than his nearest competitor, Kathleen O’Connell. For Bennett, who lives with wife Mary near the track in Oldsmar, winning a training title here would be especially sweet. “You want to be No. 1 – that’s called competitive racing, and that’s what makes it fun,” Bennett said. “I love being competitive and trying to get the best out of the horses. This is basically my home. I’ve supported Tampa 100 percent. They take good care of the track, and if I ever had a Derby horse, this is where I’d train him.” Bennett, a native of Springhill, Nova Scotia, said he was running a gas station and repair shop near his hometown when a customer who owned horses suggested that he visit Woodbine. Soon afterward, Bennett decided to become a horseman, starting out as a hotwalker at the Toronto track and eventually becoming a trainer in 1974. Bennett spent the early part of his career at Woodbine and the now-defunct Detroit Race Course, where he was a leading trainer for almost two decades. Since the mid-1980s, the Tampa meet has been his annual focus, though he will take a string to Delaware Park next month. Among Bennett’s top runners over the years were Secret Romeo, one of the top Michigan-bred horses of all time with $865,790 in earnings from 2000-04, and Banker’s Jet, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Fall Highweight Handicap at Belmont Park in 1987 and an earner of $679,381. One of the shrewdest claims he ever made was Crimson Knight, whom he haltered for $16,000 in February 2011. Less than a month later, Crimson Knight was beaten a neck by the O’Connell-trained Watch Me Go in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. The star of his stable now is Fast Flying Rumor, whom he owns with Mary, who races as Winning Stables Inc., and with Midnight Rider LLC. That 4-year-old gelding won the $90,000 Turf Dash in January under jockey Ronnie Dale Allen Jr. and scored a 108 Beyer Speed Figure, which track officials believe is the highest mark ever earned here. Bennett said he and his wife own seven mares who are boarded in Ocala, Fla., and are bred to Florida stallions. A father of three, Bennett is joined at the track by son Dale, 43, who worked for his father for about 15 years, starting out as a hotwalker, before taking out his trainer’s license in 1998. Dale Bennett entered Wednesday’s card sixth in the local standings with 19 wins from 81 starters (23 percent). “We’re very competitive with each other,” Gerald Bennett said. “He doesn’t like getting beat by me, and I don’t like getting beat by him. I’ve always told my son, ‘Have patience, give the horses the time they need, and it will all come back to you. The harder you work, the luckier you’ll get.’ ” Bennett won more than 100 races each year from 2003-11, and his hard work and consistent approach have earned him the respect of local trainers. “The guy’s got 3,500 wins, and he doesn’t have the stakes horses that a Lukas, or a Pletcher, or a Baffert have,” said trainer Robert Smith. “He has hard-knocking horses and good people behind him who trust him. And If I go to him and ask him a question, I know he’s going to help me. He may have one in the race, and he’ll still help me. To me, they broke that mold a long time ago.” Bennett said he has no plans to retire anytime soon. The game keeps him young. “Every day there’s a new thing happening – looking for that good claimer, looking for that next good horse. And if you love the horses, it gets you up every morning, the idea that you’re going to make something happen.”