Servis wants Joint Return closer to Alabama pace

Having a 3-year-old filly place in a Grade 2 race is normally cause for celebration, but trainer John Servis was not a happy camper after Joint Return got up for second in the Delaware Oaks.

“I was a little disappointed,” he said. “She leaves herself so much to do because of her running style.”

Servis, who is based at Parx, entered Joint Return in last week’s Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks but decided to scratch and instead give her a chance against better in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama on Saturday at Saratoga. He will equip her with blinkers in an attempt to get more out of her.

“I’m hoping with them she will put herself in the race more,” Servis said. “They’ve made a difference in her training.”

Joint Return had won three minor stakes coming into the Delaware Oaks and looked on the verge of a breakout race. Instead, she trailed the field into the first turn under Kendrick Carmouche and then rallied wide to get up for second by a nose. The 8-5 favorite, Joint Return was outfinshed in the stretch by Fortune Pearl, who also will run in the Alabama.

“If you want to pick the Oaks apart, while I was watching the race, Kendrick was riding her from the get-go to keep her in the race, and that’s not the way she wants to run,” Servis said. “She has a good kick, and she wants to fall out of there, sit, and then make a run. Those are the instructions Kendrick’s going to get on Saturday.”

Joint Return has raced twice at 1 1/8 miles, but the 1 1/4-mile Alabama will be the longest race of her career. Although she didn’t win either of her nine-furlong tries, she raced well in the Black-Eyed Susan after her rider lost an iron leaving the gate and she was forced to race wide.

“The way she trains, I don’t think the distance is going to be a problem for her,” said Servis. “This is my second go-round with the Alabama, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Servis’s other Alabama starter came in 2000 with Jostle, his first big horse. She followed up a daylight win in the Coaching Club American Oaks with a daylight win in the Alabama. Four years later, Servis would win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with 3-year-old champion Smarty Jones.

Joint Return will be Servis’s first starter in a Grade 1 race since the 2006 Acorn at Belmont Park. He won that race with Round Pond.