Servis moving string to Oaklawn

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – John Servis, who trained one of the most popular horses to ever race at Oaklawn Park in Smarty Jones, said he will be sending a string of horses to the Hot Springs, Ark., track this coming week. Servis also has divisions of his stable in Florida and Pennsylvania.

Servis said the record purses at Oaklawn are a draw, as is the 3-year-old program. He has the Arkansas-owned Bird of Trey targeting the Southwest. Bird of Trey, who races for JRita Young Thoroughbreds, was fourth in the Grade 3 Jerome on Jan. 2 at Aqueduct. Before that race he won the Pennsylvania Nursery, the same race Smarty Jones won in 2003.

Smarty Jones in 2004 took Oaklawn by storm, sweeping the track’s 3-year-old series then winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. He won a $5 million bonus from Oaklawn.

Servis said that Nasa, a son of Smarty Jones and the runner-up in last year’s Jerome, is another horse he is sending into Oaklawn. Nasa races for the Someday Farm ownership, which campaigned Smarty Jones.

Servis said his local division will also include Percolator, who was second in the Grade 3 Sanford last summer at Saratoga. The trainer’s string could also include Joint Return, who is a multiple stakes winner, and either Miss Inclusive or Whistling Straits, both 3-year-old fillies.

Servis said his son Tyler will oversee his division at Oaklawn.

Servis, 57, last raced at Oaklawn in 2012, when he sent out Adirondack King to run third in the Southwest. Aside from Smarty Jones, other major stakes winners Servis has had at Oaklawn through the years include Round Pond and Rockport Harbor.