Rocky likes to laze around in the mornings before going out to the track. He uses the banked bedding around the sides of the stall as his "pillow".
 

NEWS

A Great Start
“What a way to start the day,” exercise rider Jill Kaenel was saying during the break this morning at Oaklawn Park. “It doesn’t get better than this.” A former jockey and the younger sister of Jack Kaenel, the youngest rider ever to win a Triple Crown race (Aloma’s Ruler: ’82 Preakness), Jill was referring to an hour spent this morning aboard Round Pond. “I’ve been on a lot of nice horses in my time, Breeders’ Cup horses,” Jill was saying, “but nothing like Round Pond. Nothing close.” More

Trainer Servis is silent no longer
After six months of relative silence, trainer John Servis fired with his two big guns last week and figures to make plenty more noise in the handicap ranks this season. Last Saturday, Rockport Harbor made his first appearance in nine months, capturing the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park after setting the pace and repelling a strong challenge in the stretch. On Thursday, Round Pond, last year's Acorn (Grade I) winner, overran a loose pacesetter and scored a decisive victory in 1 minute, 94/5 seconds in an allowance test at six furlongs. More

One-two punch
Rick Porter, for one, a semi-retired auto dealer from Wilmington, DE., already has booked a flight to Arkansas for the March 11-12 weekend. The reason is obvious: Porter has the good fortune to own Round Pond and Rockport Harbor. More

Servis duo gives meet star power
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Round Pond, an Eclipse Award finalist who made her first career start last year at Oaklawn, is back working at this track, and on Wednesday breezed a half-mile in 50.20 seconds. Round Pond and Rockport Harbor give trainer John Servis a strong hand in stakes for fillies and mares and older horses this meet. More

Countdown to Oaklawn : Favorable footing
Well-heeled Rockport Harbor back on track
HOT SPRINGS — When Rockport Harbor received one of his many physical examinations last year, noted Kentucky veterinarian Doug Byars discovered something that reinforced what John Servis always suspected. There was something that made the towering gray son of Unbridled’s Song different from the competition. In Rockport Harbor’s case, Servis said, it was his lungs. They were bigger than any horse Byars said he had ever seen. More

At your Servis
BENSALEM - Rick Porter saw all the fanfare Smarty Jones received last year, and owning a horse he hoped would win the 2005 Kentucky Derby, he very much wanted to share his excitement with as many people as he could. "My son and I were talking, and we knew we had a good horse," Porter said. "So, we thought we'd create a Web site." More

Rockport Harbor named Philadelphia Park's Horse of the Year
Rockport Harbor, a leading contender for this year's Kentucky Derby, was named Philadelphia Park's horse of the year at an awards banquet last night in Bensalem. Owned by Rick Porter and trained by John Servis, Rockport Harbor was undefeated in four starts last season, including two at Philadelphia Park, and is in training at Oaklawn Park, pointing toward the April 16 Arkansas Derby. Rockport Harbor was also named the top 2-year-old colt or gelding.

Horse could make Maine town famous
ROCKPORT HARBOR, Maine -- This cozy coastal town is known for its statue of a famous seal. If things go the way Wilmington auto dealer Rick Porter hopes, it could have another animal hero. More

Their horse attitudes are always changing
If it seems easy to buy a horse and get it to Churchill Downs for the first Saturday in May, owner Rick Porter and trainer John Servis, the connections behind Rockport Harbor, know differently. More

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