OK Smarty, time to come clean
ELMONT, N.Y. — Smarty Jones will run in the biggest race of his stunning career today when he tries to win the 136th running of the Belmont States and become the first Triple Crown winner in 26 years.
All 11 Triple Crown winners won races at Belmont Park before winning the Belmont Stakes, possibly a bad omen for Smarty Jones, who will be making his debut here.
But Smarty Jones has yet to meet a track he didn’t like.
In compiling his perfect record, the phenom from Philadelphia has won eight races at eight distances at five tracks in five states. His margins of victory have ranged from three-quarters of a length in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park in February to 15 lengths in the second start of his career last November at Philadelphia Park.
His last race was the Preakness, where his 11 1/2 -length victory was the widest margin in the race’s 129-year history.
The way Smarty Jones won the 1 3/16 -mile Preakness leads his jockey, Stewart Elliott, to believe the longest trip of his career in the 1 1/2 -mile Belmont shouldn’t be a problem.
“He finished very easily and galloped out very strong,” Elliott said. “When he pulled up, he wasn’t really tired. So the extra distance should be fine.”
Like Elliott, Smarty Jones’ trainer, John Servis, established his reputation at Philadelphia Park, which is several rungs below Belmont nationally. But Servis knows how to win 1 1/2 -mile races at Belmont Park. In 2000, he brought his outstanding 3-year-old filly, Jostle, and she won the prestigious Coaching Club American Oaks.
“If they let us go to the lead that’s OK, but I don’t want to get hooked up in a speed duel,” Servis said. “I have visions of how this race will set up, but I don’t want to put too much in Stewart’s head because the race might not set up like that. Stew has ridden him perfectly.”
To win the Belmont and earn a credit card company’s $5 million Triple Crown bonus and the $600,000 winner’s share of the $1 million purse, Smarty Jones will have to outrun eight opponents: Purge, Rock Hard Ten, Eddington, Master David, Birdstone, Royal Assault, Tap Dancer and Caiman.
On paper, Tap Dancer, also from Philadelphia, and Caiman, who has come from Arlington Park, look like they have no business running in the Belmont. Neither has come close to winning an important race.
There’s something to be said for the others.
Purge was second to Smarty Jones in the Rebel at Oaklawn Park and was a resounding winner last time out in the Peter Pan at Belmont. Rock Hard Ten has been in the mutuel money in each of his four starts and was second in the Preakness. Eddington has been in the money in all seven of his races and was third in the Preakness. Birdstone and Royal Assault are trained by Nick Zito, who has five seconds and a third to show for his 11 previous Belmont starters. Master David has a good record and comes from the barn of Bobby Frankel, a Hall of Fame trainer.
Frankel, who last year sent out Empire Maker to thwart Funny Cide’s Triple Crown bid in the Belmont, believes they’re all in a no-win situation.
“Anybody in his sane mind thinks we’re running for second,” he said.
Since Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978, Funny Cide was the ninth horse to fail in the Belmont after winning the first two legs. Five of the failures occurred in the last seven years.
“In years past you could always pick out a horse who had a chance to beat them,” Frankel said. “But there’s nobody close to this horse.
“I definitely want to beat him, but to be honest, if I do I won’t feel that good about it. I had tears in my eyes when they were telling me people were getting out of their cars to watch (Smarty Jones’) van go by when he was coming up from Philadelphia. It’s like Rocky coming to town.”
Zito sees the race the same way and feels the same way about upsetting Smarty Jones.
“I’d be happy being second to Smarty Jones,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.
“Does he come into the league of Affirmed and Seattle Slew and Secretariat if he wins the Triple Crown? Yeah, but he still has to win the Belmont. I think I have two worthy horses in the Belmont. Are they his caliber? Of course not, but maybe they’ll have a good day and he won’t have such a good day.
“It’s still a sport. You have to go around a mile and a half. That’s a long way to go. It’s a grueling test of a champion.
“Does Smarty Jones look unbeatable? Yes.
“Could he get beat? Of course.”