Serey collects 1,000th victory of training career

Just a Lion ($12) gave trainer Juan Serey his 1,000th career victory Sunday in the sixth race at Monmouth Park.

“It represents a lot of hard work,” said Serey, 51. “That’s really what this means to me. It’s very exciting and nice to have won my 1,000th race. It’s taken a long time and a lot of long, long days.”

A native of Santiago, Chile, Serey moved to the United States in the early 1980s and galloped horses for Oscar and Laz Barrera, John Tammaro, and Frank Martin before taking out his trainer’s license in 1991.

Serey won a record five consecutive training titles at Monmouth from 1995 through 1999. He was led the standings twice at the Meadowlands and was the leading trainer at Aqueduct in 1996.

After spending several years working on a farm in upstate New York, Serey returned to training in 2005.