Res Judicata ends long stakes drought in Salvator Mile

Res Judicata won the third stakes of his career and his first since the fall of 2013 in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park on Saturday.

Res Judicata's career almost came to an end on Sept. 20, 2014, when he was involved in a training accident at Parx Racing. On the morning of the 2014 Pennsylvania Derby, Res Judicata and his exercise rider, Lisa Whitaker, were standing in the vicinity of the quarter pole at Parx when they were broadsided by a runaway horse.

Res Judicata didn't race again until June 2015. Whitaker still deals with the injuries she sustained that day.

Res Judicata is trained by John Servis and was bred and is owned by Patricia Chapman, who along with her late husband, Roy, raced Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, the sire of Res Judicata.

Coming into the Salvator Mile, Res Judicata had gone 1 for 8 during his comeback, with his lone win coming in a one-mile optional-claiming race at Aqueduct last fall.

The field for the $96,000 Salvator Mile scratched down from six horses to four, and lost its chief speed, Green Gratto, on race day. When the gates opened, jockey Nik Juarez put Res Judicata right on the lead and they clipped off splits of 23.76 and 47.31 seconds while under light pressure from 4-5 favorite Mr. Jordan. Res Judicata drew clear on the far turn while covering six furlongs in 1:10.94, and won by 3 3/4 lengths under strong handling from Juarez.

Allied Air Raid, who stumbled at the start and then was brushed by Mr. Jordan entering the first turn, finished second. It was two lengths farther back in third to Mr. Jordan.

Res Judicata paid $18 as by far the longest price in the field. He completed the mile in 1:36.07.

"The plan was just to keep his face clean," Juarez said after the race.

Res Judicata was saddled by Servis's son, Tyler, his Monmouth assistant trainer.

"The last time we ran him this distance he got brave and he won," Tyler Servis said.

Res Judicata, 6, is now 9 for 25 in his career with earnings of $432,340. His prior stakes wins came in the City of Laurel Stakes in Maryland and the Christopher Else Memorial, a South Carolina residency stakes, in 2012.