Monmouth Feature

MONMOUTH FEATURE

AUGUST 20, 2012

Trainer Jason Servis enjoying banner 2012

by Lynne Snierson

Thoroughbred racing is in trainer Jason Servis’ bloodline (Equi-Photo) There are no Breeders’ Cup contenders or Triple Crown campaigners in his barn, but Jason Servis is well on his way to having the best year of his training career. “I have everything from maiden New Jersey-breds to turf horses, but am a little light on stakes horses right now,” said Servis, who bases his operation at Monmouth Park while moving divisions among Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park, Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows Training Center as the racing calendar turns. Through August 17, Servis ranked 69th among all North American trainers by earnings with $1,535,501 and 54 winners from 204 starts. He is on pace to surpass 2008, when his charges bankrolled $1,770,064 and found the winner’s circle 65 times. “My horses are running good at tracks all over,” said Servis, who has been conditioning horses for the past decade. “This is just turning into a real good year. To stay steady, you need to see the little things and have good horsemanship. You have to have a sense about this game.” Horse sense is second nature to Servis. As the son of former West Virginia State Steward Joe Servis, who held the position for 35 years and then headed the Jockeys’ Guild for another 15 years, he has spent his entire life on the racetrack. His brother, John Servis, trained 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Smarty Jones; his sister, Laurie, is married to Monmouth and South Florida-based trainer Eddie Plesa Jr.; and his other sister, Jodie, is a mutuel clerk at Charles Town.

Moreover, his wife, Natalie, works with him every day in the barn and his
son, Garrett, gets on some of his horses in the mornings and works as a back-up
valet in the Monmouth jockey’s room in the afternoons.

“I was born to do this. It is in my blood,” the 55-year-old Servis
acknowledged. “There are pictures of me riding races when I was 15 and John, who
was 13 at the time, was running the horse. That was at the old Shenandoah Downs.
At 15, I was also riding in hunt races at the old Emerald Downs in Ruby,
Virginia. It wasn’t a recognized track. There was a trailer for the jockey’s
room and there was no wagering.”

Servis’ father insisted that he graduate from high school before riding
professionally, but once he had his diploma in hand, he became a jockey at age
18. He took his tack to the old Waterford Park in West Virginia, Thistledown in
Ohio and Monmouth among others, but as he matured weight became a detriment. So
he went to work for Peter Fortay as an exercise rider and assistant trainer in
the mornings and spent his afternoons in the jockey’s room at Monmouth.

“I quit riding in 1975 and worked in the jocks’ room for some 20 years,”
Servis explained. “Then Mr. (Dennis) Drazin asked me if I wanted to take some
horses for him and I took out my trainer’s license. I won with some horses for
him in New York and then (the late) Jimmy Croll sent me one, and I won with that
horse, too. From there, it just snowballed and I started picking up more clients
and winning more races. When I decided to train, it was an easy transition for
me.”

Servis still trains for Drazin, the advisor to the New Jersey Thoroughbred
Horsemen’s Association and Darby Development LLC, and his main client is Ron
Lombardi of Mr. Amore Stables. Desiray Fitzpatrick is his top assistant at
Monmouth and Henry Arguta oversees the shedrow in New York. And in the mornings,
he can still be found in the irons as his horses work over the Monmouth strip.

“I get on more horses when in Florida,” he noted. “Right now, I have a full
barn here and when you’ve got that many, you’ve got to move around more and take
care of more details.”

The Servis system is working well. To date, his horses are winning at a 26
percent clip at all tracks and at Monmouth, he won with 11 of his first 47
starters for a 23 percent rate to rank in the top 10 of the meet’s leaders.

“Things are going really well,” said Servis, who won his first graded stakes
race when American Border took the Grade 3 Violet Stakes in 2008 at The
Meadowlands. “I’m excited to think that they’re going to get even better.”

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