Fashions

In the spring of 2004, around the time when horses begin to sort themselves out as real contenders for the Kentucky Derby, we witnessed the emergence of an undefeated colt named Smarty Jones. He began his career in the relatively obscure venue of Philadelphia Park, winning his first two starts in spectacular fashion, breaking his maiden by almost 8 lengths, and then proceeding to dominate a local stakes race there by 15 lengths.

As he began his four year old season, he kept winning, taking the Count Fleet at Aqueduct by 5 lengths, and then going on to sweep the three big stakes races for three year olds at Oaklawn Park, the Southwest Stakes, the Rebel, and then the Arkansas Derby, from which he would enter the Kentucky Derby undefeated.

He became a fan favorite and the catchy name certainly helped. Smarty Jones was really the best of a mediocre group of horses that year, as there were no standouts like future Derby winners Barbaro or Big Brown.

Going into the Kentucky Derby, he certainly had solid credentials, and his two Beyer Speed Figures leading up to the big race were 108 and 107, which are about what a horse needs to run to have a shot at winning the Derby.

If he could pull off the victory in the Run for the Roses, he would become the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby undefeated since Seattle Slew in 1977.

It began to pour at Churchill Downs about an hour before the running of the Derby, adding enough water to the track that the track condition was changed to “sloppy”. These conditions tend to favor the horses that are more forwardly placed, and surely enough, this is precisely what happened.

Lion Heart set the pace and led the whole way around, with Smarty Jones stalking him in perfect position in second. He then took the lead coming off the far turn, though Lion Heart battled on bravely, but could not stay with him.

Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby by four lengths and the general public became very excited about the prospect of a Triple Crown winner based on this victory in the slop.

He still had his skeptics, myself included, as his win in the slop seemed to be ideally suited to his style – I wanted to see if he would be as dominating in the Preakness on a dry track. Smarty ran what was probably his best race, winning the Preakness by twelve lengths, and earning a 118 Beyer Speed Figure.

Since Affirmed became the 11th and last Triple Crown winner, ten horses had gotten past the Derby and Preakness and attempted the Belmont Stakes, only to fail. This included great horses like Alysheba and Sunday Silence, so what many believed was a near certainty was by no means assured.

In the Belmont Stakes on June 5, 2004, Smarty Jones went off at 1-5 odds, meaning that the betting public seemed to think that his Triple Crown coronation was inevitable. Smarty seemed unusually rank that day and seemed overly eager to go on, despite the jockey Stewart Elliot’s efforts to restrain him and get him to relax. Most horse racing veterans will tell you that in order to stay the grueling 1-½ mile distance of the Belmont, it is absolutely crucial that the horse drop his head and just settle into an easy, rhythmic stride, and avoid any sudden bursts of energy.

Unfortunately, Smarty’s competitive spirit may have worked against him. A couple of horses came at him and challenged him down the backstretch which seemed to urge him on when it would’ve been better if he had been able to ignore them and conserve his energy. He turned back these challenges, but it took something out of him for the stretch run.

I remember being at a simulcast facility that day, and as they rounded the far turn at Belmont, never in my life have I heard a crowd roaring with such enthusiasm, cheering him on. He entered the stretch with a solid three-length lead, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a danger. I noticed a small horse that was running the type of race a Belmont winner needs to run – a slow, steady, grinding sort of race.

I wasn’t aware of who this horse was, as I was so focused on Smarty Jones, but after watching thousands of races, it was clear that he was gaining ever so slowly on our hero. The threat was Birdstone, the Nick Zito trainee, who had been a much talked-about horse as a two-year-old as one of the top prospects for next year’s Kentucky Derby, but who had run a couple sub-par races as a three-year-old.

As Smarty Jones entered the final furlong, it was a mere 13 seconds and Birdstone stood between him and racing immortality, but even though I knew it would be close, having watched thousands of races, I had this sinking feeling that he was going to tag him near the wire.

Never have I seen a crowd turn from one of raucous enthusiasm and anticipation to one of profound silence so suddenly. It was as if the air had been sucked out of every person in the building. The crowd sat motionless in stunned silence for at least half a minute before the first mutterings of disappointment became audible. The closest experience was when Zenyatta came up a head short to Blame in last year’s Breeder’s Cup Classic, but even though the cheering was just as loud, the feeling afterwards seemed to be one more of disappointment than shock, as it was with Smarty.

Smarty Jones retired after the Belmont, and is still a fan favorite. He currently stands at Ghost Ridge Farms in Pennsylvania, just a couple of hours drive from where he started his racing career.