Happy Farm takes Fall Highweight for hot Servis barn

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Happy Farm capped off a happy weekend for trainer Jason Servis by winning the twice-delayed Grade 3, $250,000 Fall Highweight Handicap by three-quarters of a length Sunday at Aqueduct.

The win came one day after Servis won the Grade 1 Cigar Mile here with Maximum Security. Meanwhile, at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, Servis won three Claiming Crown stakes. Since Nov. 26, Servis has won nine stakes at five different venues.

“We weren’t expecting that,” Servis said of Happy Farm’s victory. “We’ve just been on a roll, it’s been good.”

The Fall Highweight was originally scheduled for Nov. 28, but was lost when that card was canceled due to high winds. It was rescheduled for Dec. 1, but it was one of five races scrapped when the jockeys refused to ride the final five races on the card.

Sunday, it went with a six-horse field with Happy Farm breaking from the outside.

Strike Power, breaking from post 3 under Manny Franco, went out for the lead but Happy Farm, under Jorge A. Vargas Jr., was pressing him from the outside. Happy Farm poked a nose in front at the three-furlong marker and Vargas seemed quite confident even as Strike Power tried to fight back. Turning for home Strike Power faded, but Wonderful Light and Recruiting Ready, the 132-pound highweight, both looked poised to pick up the chase.

Happy Farm, who carried 125 pounds, had more when asked by Vargas and he held sway to win his fourth consecutive race. He covered six furlongs in 1:11.91 and returned $16.40.

Wonderful Light, under Joel Rosario, finished second by a half-length over Recruiting Ready, who didn’t seem to get a comfortable spot under Tyler Gaffalione. Seethisquick, Strike Power, and No Distortion completed the order of finish.

Vargas said that assistant trainer Henry Argueta “told me he was going to be sharp. I just tried to relax him. By the turn, he was going quick, but he was relaxed. I smooched at him a little bit and he jumped on it right away. When they came to me, I had something to fight back with.”

Servis claimed Happy Farm for $30,000 in March for owner Ara Aprahamian. This was his fourth win from five starts since then. This same trainer-owner combination won last year’s Fall Highweight with Life in Shambles, a horse they had claimed earlier in the year for $62,500.