Servis shipper dazzles in win

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Usually superlative efforts come during weekend cards, when higher quality races are carded, but last week two outstanding efforts were turned in on weekday cards.

On Tuesday, trainer Jason Servis shipped Brush on By up from Miami for a seven-furlong allowance race, and the Artax colt seemed to enjoy the change of scenery. Stalking the early leaders from the outside under Pablo Morales, Brush on By rallied into the stretch while covering the opening six furlongs in 1:10. He then blew away Even Par and Grandpa Brat through a final furlong of 12.64 seconds to post a seven-furlong final time of 1:22.64, which came close to cracking the existing track record of 1:22.28 set by Sir Shackleton in February 2006.

As dazzling as the performance was, it was equally surprising to Servis.

"I couldn't believe how well he ran," said Servis from his training base in South Florida. "He's a big, good looking horse who travels well. But he's never really been the type who's been eager to put out a top effort. He usually kinda goes through the motions and runs all right, but he's never dropped his head and fired like he did the other day."

Even though he would have had to run Brush on By back on three days' rest, Servis admitted he's sorry he didn't supplement the Kentucky-bred for last Saturday's Super Stakes here.

"He came back out of that race bouncing and playing, and I think he would have been tough up there even on the short break," he said.

Servis is looking for another allowance race at Tampa for Brush on By.

Riversrunbylee rolls on way to track record

Tampa Bay Downs recently began running races at a mile and 40 yards on the main track. Riversrunbylee set a track record of 1:39.48 for the distance during an optional-claiming race Thursday.

Earlier in the meet, races were run at "about" a mile, then at "about" a mile and 40 yards until the proper timing boxes were installed. But the distance has been exact since Feb. 2, and on Thursday, Riversrunbylee led at every pole, then pulled away under Pedro Gonzalez for an 8 1/2-length win.

Trained by Juan Camilo, Riversrunbylee returned $21.80.