Servis splits with top client Porter
Posted on Thursday, May 25, 2006
Trainer John Servis and owner Rick Porter, who teamed to win graded stakes races with Round Pond, Jostle and Rockport Harbor, are parting ways after more than a decade together, Servis said Wednesday afternoon.
Servis called the split with his biggest client amicable, adding he and Porter, a semi-retired automobile dealer from Wilmington, Del., remain friends.
“I’m all right with it,” said Servis, who declined further comment. “We left on good terms.”
Among the 26 or so horses Servis had for Porter at Delaware Park were Round Pond, winner of this year’s Grade III Azeri Breeders’ Cup at Oaklawn Park, and Impeccable, a 3-year-old Grand Slam colt who broke his maiden earlier this year at Oaklawn.
Servis said Porter, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, will move most of his horses today to several trainers, including Michael Matz, Tom Albertrani, Kiaran McLaughlin and Graham Motion.
Matz, who won this year’s Kentucky Derby with Barbaro, will train Round Pond. As a 3-year-old last year, she won the Grade I Acorn and Oaklawn’s Grade II Fantasy.
Albertrani is the trainer of Bernardini, winner of Saturday’s Preakness.
Servis said he will continue to train a two 2-year-olds Porter co-owns with Arkansas businessmen Frank Fletcher and Bob Carver.
Servis’ 46-horse stable is split between Philadelphia Park and Delaware Park.
“Listen, I have a lot of good owners and have had a lot of good owners that have been with me a long time and are very happy,” Servis said.
Porter briefly took his horses away from Servis during the mid-1990 s and sent them to Nick Zito.
After reuniting, Porter and Servis nearly won an Eclipse Award in 2000 with Jostle, a multiple Grade I stakes winning filly.
In addition to Round Pond, Rockport Harbor was a multiple graded stakes winner. He captured Oaklawn’s Grade III Essex Handicap earlier this year before being retired because of a lingering foot problem.
Porter tied for 11 th in this year’s owner standings at Oaklawn with four victories from 16 starts. His horses race under the Fox Hill Farm banner.
Servis purchased a home last year in Hot Springs and said he wants to continue to winter at Oaklawn. But he said that scenario is a bit more clouded now since Porter isn’t in the equation.
“I hope I get the stock to come back to Oaklawn,” Servis said. “I always said I wasn’t going to come down there unless I had the stock. You’ve got to have that.” HORSE RACING NOTES BERNARDINI Not running in Belmont
NEW YORK — Preakness winner Bernardini will not run in the Belmont Stakes on June 10, another blow to the final race of the Triple Crown series.
The Belmont field already was without Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who sustained career-ending injuries in Saturday’s Preakness, which Bernardini won by 5 1 / 4 lengths.
Darley Stable announced the decision about Bernardini in Lexington, Ky., saying the colt deserves a break after running three races in quick succession.
Bernardini won his first career race March 4 and won the Withers Stakes in his next start April 29.
Then came his surprise victory in the Preakness over Sweetnorthernsaint, the race overshadowed by the serious injury at the start to Barbaro.
Dubai’s Sheik Mohammed, who operates Darley Stable, made the decision to rest Bernardini.
“We feel that he climbed the ladder of competition quite quickly,” said James G. Bell of Darley Stable. “We believe he deserves a break.”
The colt is due to return in August, with the Jim Dandy, Haskell and Travers Stakes under consideration. The ultimate goal is the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Churchill Downs, Bell said.
The field for the 1 1 / 2-mile Belmont will include Bluegrass Cat, second in the Derby, and Steppenwolfer, who was third. Jazil, who finished in a fourthplace tie, also is set to run.
Trainer Bob Baffert plans to send Bob and John to the race, and might send Point Determined. Bob and John was 17 th in the Derby and Point Determined was ninth.
From the Preakness, Sweetnorthernsaint is a possibility, and trainer Nick Zito said third-place finisher Hemingway’s Key will run.
BARBARO
Happy, stable, napping
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. — Barbaro enjoyed a restful nap and a few crunchy treats Wednesday, another small step toward recovery from a shattered hind leg for the Kentucky Derby winner.
The 3-year-old bay colt broke bones above and below his ankle at the Preakness on Saturday, ending his Triple Crown bid and racing career.
“Probably he has as many carrots as the doctors allow and as many apples as the doctors allow because he’s received enough to feed the whole hospital,” said Corinne R. Sweeney, executive hospital director at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.
Fans have delivered “expressions of apples and baskets and stuffed animals and religious statues,” Sweeney said. “It’s just amazing the depth of the concern and the warmth that comes out.”
Dr. Dean Richardson, who performed the six-hour surgery Saturday, called his famous patient’s condition excellent, though he has cautioned that Barbaro remains vulnerable to infection and other life-threatening complications.
“He is stable and happy,” Richardson said Wednesday afternoon.
Barbaro’s pastern bone was shattered in more than 20 pieces. Doctors inserted a plate and 27 screws to repair the severe damage.
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