Apprentice jockey, fledgling agent a formidable team at Parx track

ROSARIO MONTANEZ rode his first races in the hills above his native San Diego and across the border in Tijuana. He was 11.

A decade later, he is the leading apprentice jockey in America, the favorite for the Eclipse Award, making a run at Kendrick Carmouche for leading rider at Parx Racing.

The first time he went to an actual race track, it was Del Mar, the beautiful track on the Pacific Ocean just north of San Diego. He was 9.

"After seeing match races and coming into a real race track, organized and everything, it was a lot different," Montanez said. "Then, you see the women standing in front of the jock's room. Now, we're talking."

Montanez, 20, was a quick learner then, a quick learner now.

A year ago, Donna Servis heard about a young jockey in Northern California, struggling to get live mounts at Golden Gate Fields and the Northern California fair circuit. Her friend Lisa Allen, a top owner at Parx, told her about the rider.

Servis had been around the game her whole life. Her cousin, John, was the trainer of Smarty Jones and has been at Parx for years. Another cousin, Jason Servis, is a top trainer on the New Jersey circuit. For years, she worked in the Parx racing office. Then she gave that up and went to work for Orleans Home Builders for a decade - until she got laid off in 2009.

She collected unemployment for a while. When her mother passed away in March 2010, Servis decided it was time for her to go back to the track. Her cousins suggested she become a jockey's agent, something few, if any, women have ever done. She wasn't sure, but she went for it, working for Gary Wales and Jose Ferrer.

Her father, Jack Servis, might have been the most beloved person in the history of the track. He was such a good jock's agent that he worked for two Eclipse Award winners, Art Madrid and Steve Capanas - before passing away in May 2003.

"I saw him every day [back then]," Donna said. "That was the highlight of my life."

She had been gone from the track for 14 years before coming back last year.

"The longing to be back more than anything was to be back where he was, to be close to him that way again," she said. "His big thing was respect. Treat everybody the same no matter who they are."

When they held a party for Jack a month before he passed away, Jack told Donna: "I hope you're not disappointed when no one shows up."

She told him: "I hope you're not disappointed when they all show up."