Smarty Jones, The Hope of 2004

Smarty Jones was a colt born in 2001. His sire was Elusive Quality, who held the world record for a mile on turf. His dam was I'll Get Along, and in his breeding were horses such as the mighty Man o' War, Northern Dancer, and Foolish Pleasure. He was also closely related to Barbaro, the courageous horse of 2006.

Smarty Jones was born on Someday Farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The wife of his owner was called Milly "Smarty Jones," and that is where the colt's name came from.

In 2003, Smarty Jones began training with John Servis after his first trainer and his family were murdered. The trainer was schooling the horse in the starting gate, and suddenly Smarty reared up and severely hit his head on the top. He fell down, blood streaming from his nostrils. Servis thought he was dead, but when he was rushed to the equine hospital, it revealed that he was alive and had fractured his skull. Smarty Jones was out of the hospital in three weeks, and after a month of recuperating on the small farm, he was back to training.

Soon, the colt was entered in a race, with Stewart Elliot riding him. He won by 7 3/4 lengths. Two weeks later, the horse swept the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes by an astonishing 15 lengths. The colt entered four more races, winning all of them, and also convincing his owner and trainer that they had an extraordinary horse on their hands. They entered him in the 2004 Kentucky Derby.

Smarty Jones was not the favorite in the race, despite having never lost a race in six starts. He won the race anyway, by 2 3/4 lengths.

They entered him into the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown. He swept that up, too, by a record 11 1/2 lengths.

So, the horse was entered into the Belmont Stakes. Everyone hoped he would become the twelfth winner of the Triple Crown.

In the race, two jockeys were trying to actually get Smarty beaten, which was very rude in horseracing, even though it was not against the rules, since Triple Crown winners were so rare. They were Jerry Bailey who rode Eddington and Alex Solis, riding Rock Hard Ten.

A horse named Birdstone beat Smarty Jones, who came in second. The owner of this horse cried afterwards, saying that she was hoping her horse would come in second, not first. Later chronic bruising to the knees retired the champion.

Smarty Jones stands at stud today Three Chimneys Farm in Midway Kentucky. He retired on August 2, 2004.