vision perfect in the grade 3 parx dash

When Jason Servis brought Vision Perfect for the 2017 Parx Dash, the trainer only had the horse for a month after claiming him for $80,000. He was 14-1 and finished 7 1/2 lengths behind Pure Sensation in the Dash.

Fast forward to the $200,000 Grade III Parx Dash on July 7 and Pure Sensation was back trying to win the five-furlong grass race for the third consecutive year with Parx Hall of Famer Kendrick Carmouche riding. But Vision Perfect had been in Servis’ barn for 13 months and this was not the same horse. Under another Parx Hall of Famer, jockey Frankie Pennington, it was Vision Perfect going by front-running Pure Sensation in the stretch and beating longshot Pool Winner by a nose, with Pure Sensation 1 3/4 lengths behind.

So, in barely a year, Vision Perfect made up nearly 10 lengths on Pure Sensation who had been 4-for-4 on the Parx grass course, also winning the Turf Monster twice. That only made sense given that Servis arrived at Parx as the hottest trainer in the country. He was winning with an incredible 50 percent of his starters at the Belmont Park and Monmouth Park meets.

In fact, just 15 minutes after Vision Perfect crossed the finish line Servis was on the first floor of the Parx grandstand watching on television as his Firenze Fire demolished the field in the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont, winning by nine lengths.

When asked why he had claimed Vision Perfect in the first place, Servis, the brother of Parx Hall of Fame trainer John Servis, said: “his numbers were good”.

But Vision Perfect did not really blossom until Servis took him to Florida this winter.

“When I got to Florida, I got to change his whole training routine and really got serious with him, far more hands on with him,” Servis said

The trainer got so serious the horse won a $75,000 stakes at Gulfstream Park by nearly five lengths on March 10. That was the tipoff that a race like Vision Perfect ran in the Parx Dash was possible. Servis promised he would be back to Parx with Vision Perfect for the $300,000 Turf Monster on Sept. 3.

The trainer can’t promise if he will still be this hot in September, but “it’s been crazy,” he said. “I got some nice horses.”

And Vision Perfect is definitely one of them.

By Dick Jerardi

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