Fan favorite and improbable champ Smarty Jones takes lead at the top of the stretch to become first unbeaten Derby winner since '77.
By BRANT JAMES
Published May 2, 2004
[AP photo]
Smarty Jones, with Stewart Elliott aboard, drives to the finish line after catching, then surpassing, runnerup Lion Heart with an eighth of a mile to go.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The story too good to be true just got better.
Smarty Jones, the undefeated Pennsylvania-bred with as much heart as plot line, caught front-running Lion Heart in the last eighth of a mile at sloppy Churchill Downs on Saturday, then tore off to win the 130th Kentucky Derby and affection of a nation.
The victory was a checklist of improbability, just the second by a colt from Pennsylvania and first since Lil E. Tee in 1992. No unbeaten horse had won the Derby since eventual Triple Crown-winner Seattle Slew in 1977.
Then there were owners Roy and Patricia Chapman, Philadelphia car dealers, the husband in need of constant oxygen because of severe emphysema, who bred Smarty Jones on their Pennsylvania farm and had never been to a Kentucky Derby. Neither had trainer John Servis, a Philadelphia Park regular for 20 years, or his jockey, understated mid-Atlantic standout Stewart Elliott, who had won more than 3,000 races in obscurity.
The story took tragic and near-tragic turns as well. The colt almost killed himself as a 2-year-old when he reared in a starting gate and smashed a bone in his eye and fractured his skull. Bob Camac, who devised the breeding match that produced the colt, was shot to death in 2001 and never saw his idea bloom.
So as much as handicappers derided Smarty Jones as a fluke who had taken a path of least resistance to Louisville, with a set of connections that was bound to slip at some point, the betting public fell in love. Well-wishers called to each member of the party making the sloppy walk to the paddock. They implored "Smarty" to do it again. The crowd also bet him into 4-1 favorite status, making him the first favorite to win since Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000.
"There's a lot of people who doubted this horse because of the path we took getting here," Servis said. "But I think maybe a lot of people loved the story and maybe that's why they bet on us. And I'm sure they're tickled to death cashing their tickets right now."
"Team Smarty" is tickled to death with the path it took, too, because it will cash a $5-million bonus offered by Oaklawn Park for winning the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas and Kentucky derbys. (The winner's share from the Derby is $854,800.) Smarty Jones has won $6.7-million this year, becoming the sixth-richest horse behind all-time money-leader Cigar ($9,999,815).
Smarty Jones covered the 11/4 miles in 2 minutes, 4.06 seconds, paying $10.20, $6.20 and $4.80. Lion Heart was second, 23/4 lengths back, followed by Imperialism, which rallied from 17th a mile in.
The Chapmans had dreamed of reaching the Kentucky Derby since they bought land outside Philadelphia and named it Someday Farm for all the dreams they hoped to grow there. Servis grew up the son of a jockey and had done every job around the barn since he bought his first horse at 17. Elliott had quit racing in the mid 80s because he could not keep his weight down and never saw his future reaching far beyond Philadelphia Park.
None of them knew what a chance this big felt like. Maybe that's why they treated the Derby like another mid-week feature back home at Monmouth, mint juleps not withstanding.
Elliott certainly rode like he had been there before, deftly stalking the brisk early pace of Lion Heart, who covered the first half-mile in 46.73. Though Elliott trailed by as much as 4 lengths, he did not panic.
"A horse race is a horse race," said Elliott, who became the first first-time Derby jockey to win since Ronnie Franklin in 1979. "Yes, this is the Kentucky Derby, but a horse race is a horse race."
Overthinking minds might have rushed the move on Lion Heart, worried about the lack of blue-blood competition Smarty Jones had faced in reaching this day. Or that the first sloppy track on Derby Day since 1994 could complicate everything. But Elliott waited. He broke on the leader with three-eighths of a mile left and recovered from a slightly wide move around the clubhouse turn. Elliott pulled aside Lion Heart and jockey Mike Smith with an eighth of a mile left. Lion Heart was finished. "He had too much for me," Smith said. "I got beat by a better horse."
Smarty Jones had much in reserve and pulled away under strong urging. He is scheduled to fly to Philadelphia Park to train up to the May15 Preakness Stakes, which is a 90-minute van ride down I-95 to Baltimore. That part will kind of be like the old days, but everything is different now.
"When Stew reached back and really got after him and he started to pull away, the first thing I thought about was what (trainer) Bob Baffert told me," Servis said. "He said, "John, you've got a good horse. If you're fortunate enough to win the race, when they go by the eighth pole and you know you're going to win it, you're going to be overcome by a feeling that I can't explain to you. You'll never get over it. Every race you run, it will never be like the Kentucky Derby."'
