Joint Return using Our Mims Stakes as prep for Delaware Oaks

Trainer John Servis concedes that the distance of Wednesday’s $50,000 Our Mims Stakes at Delaware Park isn’t optimal for Joint Return, but he also thinks the race will serve as a nice setup for the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks on July 5.

“The mile may be a little too short for her,” Servis said Monday, “but she’s doing good, and she’s not a good work horse, not a good morning horse even if you put something out there with her. This race looks like a good way to get her to the Oaks.”

Joint Return, coming off an eventful fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico, will face a far saltier cast than one might expect for a race of this level. Her primary rivals in the 11-horse field of 3-year-old fillies include Jane Peterson, a maiden and allowance winner in Kentucky for Graham Motion; Mary Rita, who had a two-race winning streak ended when fourth behind Untapable in the Fair Grounds Oaks; Spunderful, who is 2 for 2 to start her career for Alan Goldberg; and the Rick Violette-trained Image of Anna, who won back-to-back races before setting the pace and tiring in the Black-Eyed Susan.

Joint Return had a rough go of it in the Black-Eyed Susan. She hit the side of the gate, causing jockey Kendrick Carmouche to briefly lose his right iron, and trailed the field by about four lengths into the first turn. She showed a turn of foot to middle-move outside horses on the backstretch and far turn, then was fanned six wide into the stretch. She persevered the best she could and was up for fourth, beaten 4 3/4 lengths, in the 11-horse field.

“I think she may have lost five lengths at the start,” said Servis, who is winning at a 30 percent clip this year. “She had to run early to make up for it and then may have gotten a little tired late.”

While the Our Mims might be shorter than Joint Return prefers, there does appear to be ample speed to set the table for her. Jane Peterson, Image of Anna, and Mary Rita all have won from on or just off the pace.

Servis bought Joint Return, a daughter of Include, out of the 2012 Keeneland September sale for $60,000 on behalf of the Main Line Racing Stable, a partnership of five Philadelphia businessmen. She has so far won the Busher at Aqueduct, the Calder Oaks, and $198,000.

Servis and Main Line Racing are trying to double up at Delaware after winning last Wednesday’s Buddy Delp Memorial with Tiz’naz, a 3-year-old son of Tiz Wonderful.