By Bill Heller

Bill Heller talks to Jason Servis and Bob Baffert about fast versus slow training methods.

Just hours apart, trainers Jason Servis and Bob Baffert saddled Gr1 winners on Saturday, December 7.

Servis’ outstanding three-year-old colt Maximum Security captured the Gr1 Cigar Mile easily at Aqueduct off three extremely slow workouts.

Twenty-eight hundred miles away at Los Alamitos, where he also won the Gr2 Los Alamitos Futurity for two-year-olds with Thousand Words, Baffert’s Bast won the Gr1 Starlet for two-year-old fillies. Both two-year-olds had fast works, as most of Baffert’s horses do.

These two trainers couldn’t be more different regarding published workouts, yet their success in 2019 was eerily similar. Through late December, Servis ranked eighth nationally in earnings ($10.9 million from 563 starts). Baffert was ninth with $10.0 million from just 317 starts.

“Jason and Bob—they’re completely different,” Servis’ brother John, who trained 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, said. “Jason has a whole different way.”

Even with the same client. Baffert and Servis each trained Kentucky Derby three-year-olds for Gary and Mary West, who own Maximum Security and Baffert-trained Game Winner, last year’s Two-Year-Old Champion. Each three-year-old’s works for the Derby reflected their trainers’ different approaches.

Slow works versus fast. Two schools of thought: Horses don’t need fast works in the morning to run fast in the afternoon, or, horses must run fast in the morning to run fast in the afternoon.

The great majority of trainers fall somewhere between those two extremes. But to Servis and Baffert, they aren’t extremes; rather, it is what they have come to believe is the best way to prepare Thoroughbreds for a race. They didn’t reach that opinion overnight but rather through decades of watching and training Thoroughbreds.

Jason said, “There are so many people that train for speed.” He does not. He prefers timed two-minute gallops. “That doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong,” he said. “That’s how I do it.”
Baffert said, “In California, it’s different. You go fast. Your horses have to be sharper. If I trained on the East Coast, I wouldn’t train the way I do. The tracks there are sandier and deeper.”

Given their ongoing huge success, why would either trainer want to change the way they’ve been prepping their horses?

Servis and Baffert have vastly different backgrounds and experiences. Servis, 62, didn’t begin training until he was 43, sending out a single horse for one start. The following year in 2002, he won 14 races from 71 starts.

Baffert, who turned 67 on Jan. 13, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009—years before he trained Triple Crown Champions American Pharoah (2015) and undefeated Justify (2018).

Servis was born into the business in Charles Town, W. Va., where his father, Joe, rode for 11 years and won more than 500 races before becoming the manager of the Jockey Guild and a steward at Charles Town. He was inducted into the Charles Town Hall of Fame in 2010.

Growing up, Jason and John would play in a nearby farmer’s field, trying to rope Shetland ponies and ride them.

“Charles Town—that’s where I cut my teeth,” Jason said. “No money. But they were the good old days. My dad made me. I learned the straight and narrow. Work hard. Keep your nose clean.”

At the age of 15, Jason became a jockey, riding at Shenandoah Downs, just outside Charles Town. He didn’t last long, conceding to his increasing weight and height and switching to exercise riding. “I did it for a lot of years before I started training,” he said. “I galloped horses for a lot of people: Gene Jacobs at Gulfstream Park in the early ‘70s, Cy Butler, Stan Hough, Alan Goldberg—a lot of good people. I had seen a lot. It was a very good education for me.”

Servis eventually settled at Monmouth Park, where he worked as an exercise rider in the mornings and a jockey’s valet in the afternoon. Eventually, he worked as an exercise rider and assistant trainer to Peter Fortay. “I was with him for 10 years,” Servis said. “When I finally made my transition, it wasn’t by design. He passed away. Before, when he was sick, I was basically doing it on my own. The last five years, I was open-galloping. I started two-minute clips. I just got into that groove, especially after claiming horses. Get the weight on them. Keep your horses happy. Once they’re fit, stay out of their way.”

When Fortay passed, one of his owners, Dennis Drazin, asked Servis a fateful question. “He said, `Why not go to New York with a couple horses I own and train them?’” Servis said. “I was taking care of my two kids, Garrett and Evan. They were 10 and 12. I was galloping horses, $10 a head. Colts Neck (New Jersey) in February in the cold. So I did it. We claimed a couple horses. Did some good. Dennis helped me with the payroll.”

Servis quickly got a call from Jimmy Croll. He asked Servis, “Are you training?” When Servis said he was, Croll asked, “Why’d it take so long? I’m sending you two horses.”

They won. Soon Servis was receiving plenty of phone calls. He was claiming horses and winning at a high percentage. “I’ll claim horses, and I’ll gallop them a mile in 2:05.” He said. “Get them down to 1:57 or 1:58, depending on the horse. If it’s a filly, I’ll go 2:07 or 2:08 at first. My riders are good. They wear watches. Guys who have been with me for 15 years.”

In 2017, Servis finished 23rd in the country in earnings—his highest rank ever. The next year he jumped up to 12th, and in 2019, he cracked the Top Ten with more than $10 million in earnings for the first time.

Maximum Security, his horse of a lifetime, debuted on Dec. 21, 2018, at Gulfstream Park in a maiden $16,000 claimer, winning by 5 ¾ lengths at 5-2. “I can’t believe he ran the horse for $16,000,” Baffert said.

No harm, no foul. Maximum Security wasn’t claimed and proceeded to win a pair of allowance races by 6 ¼ and 18 ¼ lengths. That led to his step up to the Gr1 Florida Derby. Servis gave him one published workout at Palm Meadows Training Center, four furlongs in :52 4/5, the slowest of 64 horses who worked the morning of March 22, eight days before the Florida Derby. He won the Florida Derby by 3 ½ lengths.

For the Kentucky Derby, Maximum Security had three published workouts at Palm Meadows, four furlongs in :54 4/5, slowest of 51 works; three furlongs in :42, slowest of 15 works and four furlongs in :53 4/5, slowest of six.

Servis was more concerned with the open gallops Maximum Security had heading into the Derby. “I wanted him to gallop a 1:57 or 1:58 mile every nine, 10 days,” he said. “Before the Derby, my rider screwed up. He went 2:02, then 2:01. I was really upset. That rider is no longer with me. So, on Derby Day, I blew him out in :23. It was the 12th race that day (post time 6:50 p.m.). He worked at a quarter to six. He cooled off, laid down and took a nap. The clockers had it. Blowouts aren’t for every horse.”

Unless you’ve been on Mars, you know that Maximum Security won the Derby by a length and three-quarters but was disqualified and placed 17th. Regardless, there’s little debate who were by far the best horses on that memorable afternoon, which resulted in the first disqualification of the Derby’s long history.

Maximum Security returned to finish second by a length in the ungraded Pegasus stakes before sweeping the Gr1 Haskell by a length and a quarter, the Gr3 Bold Ruler Stakes against older horses by a length and three-quarters, and again against older horses, the Gr1 Cigar Mile by 3 ¼ lengths, cementing his three-year-old championship.

For the Bold Ruler, his first start in three months, Maximum Security worked four furlongs in :54 4/5, slowest of 74, and four furlongs in :52 4/5, second slowest of 50. For the Cigar Mile, he worked three furlongs in :40 4/5, slowest of six; four furlongs in :52, 26th fastest of 31, and three furlongs in :42 1/5, slowest of 14.

“Would Maximum Security have won those races with fast works?” Servis mused. “He probably would have. He’s a great horse.”

His trainer didn’t hurt his chances. Servis’ win percentage in 2019 was 29. For his career, it’s 25 percent. He just may know what he’s doing.

While 2019 was a breakthrough year for Servis, for Baffert, finishing 10th in earnings was only the second time since 2009 he hadn’t finished in the top three—he was fourth in 2016. He probably couldn’t care less, nor should he.

Baffert, who was closing in on 3,000 victories in January, won 24 percent of his races in 2019 and has a career winning percentage of 25.

Winning two Triple Crowns after being voted into the Hall of Fame? That’s rarified air—success he couldn’t possibly have dreamed of growing up on a ranch in Nogales, Ariz., where his family raised cattle and chickens. When he was 10, his father purchased a few Quarter Horses, leading Baffert to riding them. He won his first race at the age of 17 in 1970.

Baffert graduated from the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program with a Bachelor of Science Degree. He soon began training Quarter Horses before moving to Los Alamitos and eventually mirroring Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who was a force in Quarter Horse racing and became one of the greatest Thoroughbred trainers ever.

Trainers have fewer options with Quarter Horses than with Thoroughbreds. “At Los Alamitos (for Quarter Horses), you had to qualify running 350 yards from the gate, hand-timed,” Baffert said. “They had to be fit, ready and in good form.”

When he switched to Thoroughbreds, he became particularly adept at having his three-year-olds ready for the Triple Crown races. Baffert nearly won three consecutive Kentucky Derbies when Cavonnier lost the 1996 Derby by a nose to Grindstone and then his Silver Charm and Real Quiet won the next two runnings, as well as the Preakness both years. The elusive Triple Crown was finally nailed by Baffert in 2015 when American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, and unbeaten Justify went from first-time starter to Triple Crown Champion in an astonishing 111 days before retiring.

“Once Justify got into the Belmont, he was in top, top shape,” Baffert said. “Before, he was a little heavy. He had some baby fat. I think we ran him into shape. I’d rather run them than train them.”…

BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD

ISSUE 55 (PRINT)

$6.95

Add to cart

ISSUE 55 (DIGITAL)

$3.99

Add to cart

WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?

DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!

Four issue subscription - PRINT & ONLINE - ONLY $24.95

Add to cart

By Bill Heller

The start of a new year did nothing to slow the momentum of 60-year-old trainer Jason Servis. He headed into February just 20 wins shy of a 1,000th career victory thanks to a sensational 2017 campaign, when he posted career highs in earnings, victories, and starts. And his legitimate Kentucky Derby contender, Firenze Fire, already has a step up on his rivals, having captured his three-year-old debut.

Though he may lack a national presence, Servis has a phenomenal career win percentage of 23.3, with 9,800 victories in 4,211 starts.

“Life is great, I was telling myself when I was out on my stable pony the other morning,” Servis said on February 1st. “I had my son (Garrett, 29) with me. I said, ‘I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this.’”

At the start of his lifetime with horses, he wasn’t getting paid much. And he didn’t even mind. “My dad ended up a steward at Charles Town. That’s where I cut my teeth. No money. But they were the good old days. My dad made me. I learned the straight and narrow. Work hard. Keep your nose clean.”

It’s not only worked for Jason, but also for his younger brother John, who guided Smarty Jones to a career that came up one length short of winning the 2004 Triple Crown.

Servis started out as a jockey before he conceded to his size and weight. Next, he worked as an exercise rider and assistant trainer for Peter Fortay in the mornings and in the jockeys’ room in the afternoons at Monmouth Park.

In his first year as a trainer, he saddled just one horse. “I didn’t start training until I was 43,” he said. “I had seen a lot. It was a very good education for me.”

In his first full year of training in 2002, he won 14 races from 71 starts, just under 20 percent.

Two years later, his brother John had the horse of a lifetime in Smarty Jones, whose victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes left him eight-for-eight. “I’ll never forget, I was just sitting at the kitchen table by myself at a quarter to five the day after the Derby,” Jason said. “And I’m looking at these roses my wife had taken. I can’t believe my brother won the Kentucky Derby. We were on the track our whole lives.”

On the day after Smarty Jones won the Preakness, John, Jason, and their father were at Pimlico. “John did ‘Good Morning America’ and other interviews,” Jason said. “We were in such a fog from the race. It was overwhelming. We were kind of dazed. We couldn’t get the car started.”

There was a good reason. They were in the wrong car.

Talking about Smarty Jones’ second by a length in the Belmont Stakes is still painful for Jason Servis. You can hear it in his voice. “Gosh, I was really sad for my brother,” he said. “It was like someone beat him up.”

Maybe he can avenge that loss on behalf of his brother. Firenze Fire is now the winner of four-of-six starts, including the Grade 1 Champagne and Grade 3 Sanford Stakes, and the Poseidon’s Warrior colt started 2018 off right with a win in the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.

In 2017, Servis won 112 races and $4.9 million – 23rd in the country – from 391 starts, and it proved to be his most successful season to date, with Mr. Amore Stable’s Firenze Fire providing him with his first Grade 1, and Gary and Mary West’s Actress winning two graded stakes races.

He split his 50-horse stable at Belmont Park in New York and Payson Park in Florida this winter. “I could have more horses,” he said, but I think maybe less is worth more. I like to keep my hands on my horses.”

His philosophy is simple. “I developed a program from galloping horses,” he said. “Keep your horses happy. Once they’re fit, stay out of their way.”