JIMMY Jerkens explained what it’s like to train slow horses.

“It’s a lot of work and it’s no fun and you go broke,” Jerkens said. “Three strikes.”

For Jerkens, those days are behind him. The 57-year-old son of the late great Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens began his training career in 1997, winning nine races from 30 starts.

After that, the New York-based stable produced at least $1 million every year until 2011, when it plummeted to just 17 wins and a little over $700,000.

Three years below the $1 million mark were left squarely in the rearview mirror when the stable won 35 races for over $4 million in 2014. Since then, the small but potent stable has flourished.

The explanation?

“The horses just came, I don’t know why. We had a good year when Afleet Express won the Travers in 2010, then we starved the next three years and then we just got rolling again. Usually when that happens, you don’t ever get going again,” Jerkens said.

“Good horses, one after another. It came after two or three terrible years, that’s the weird thing about it. Now I’ve only got about 35, but they’re all good.”

Shaman Ghost added a cool $360,000 to an ever-growing $3.4 million bankroll in 2016 by winning the Woodward, the final Grade 1 stakes race for older horses at Saratoga last Saturday.

Bred by Adena Springs and owned by Stronach Stable, the four-year-old son of Ghostzapper upended Frosted’s quest to sweep the Whitney and Woodward at Saratoga.

The overwhelming favourite broke a step slowly, slipped to midpack (after leading every step in the Whitney), drifted out, then drifted in and wound up third, beaten a head by stablemate Mubtaahij, who was beaten a head by Shaman Ghost.

Ridden by three-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Javier Castellano for the first time, Shaman Ghost earned his fifth career victory and first Grade 1 score, finishing nine furlongs in 1m 48.92s.

Shaman Ghost won the Queen’s Plate, restricted to Canadian-breds, for Brian Lynch last year, and the bay colt transferred to Jerkens in December. He made his debut for Jerkens in May, finishing third in an optional claimer before winning the Grade 2 Brooklyn going a mile and a half at Belmont Park in June.

A month later, he ran evenly to finish fifth in the Grade 2 Suburban. Jerkens aimed at the Woodward, using the Oklahoma track as the platform and Shaman Ghost delivered.

“He loves to train, you can’t train him too hard,” Jerkens said. “He loves it, he loves it.”

“We were going to run all along in this but two weeks ago, I called Mike Rogers up and said, I think we might skip it and go for a race at Belmont, I was trying to figure out how the best way to get him to the Jockey Club Gold Cup, I just thought I was going to run out of time,” Jerkens said. “Mike said, ‘The boss wasn’t too crazy about that idea.’ A couple of days went by and I said, ‘All right, ‘let’s go to the Woodward.’ I didn’t know who we were going to get to ride him, we were lucky to get Javier. It’s incredible.”

Jerkens stopped in the winner’s circle as TV cameramen waited for their cue to go live and looked around, not necessarily stunned by the performance, but awed by the moment.

“Wow,” Jerkens said. “Wow.”

Castellano was just happy to ride for Jerkens, a trainer who is known for hitting the target, even if he doesn’t aim that often.

“Two Travers and now a Woodward,” Castellano said. “He said he just hires me for the Grade 1. That works for me.