Smarty Jones

Thanks Edgar, Ill have to eat cheese sammiches for lunch next week.

I wonder how much money was wagered? This was the first horse race I was even mildly interested in since the Seabiscuit movie last year.

smarty lost? darn. i've never been interested in horse racing, or competitive sports, for that matter, but smarty, like seabiscuit represents triumph in an ailing world. in the seabiscuit book the author wrote about when he lost a race he would know it. i bet smarty knows it...animals are sentient beings.

More money was bet on Smarty Jones than any other horse in history. I don't recall how much it was.

It was a bummer.

The 36-1 horse had more gas at the end.

Smarty's still a marvelous animal, but just not as great as we all thought.

Just goes to show how tough the Triple Crown is to win.

There would be 12 winners of the crown if poor Alydar hadn't run during the same year as Affirmed. How's that for a bummer?

Sigh.

I spent some of my early teenagehood reading sports stories, and that happened to coincide with some good horseracing. I have hardly paid attention for years, except once in a while. My business partner spends six early mornings a week and sometimes much more with her horse, so I am nonexpert within my work space. Well, even to me I am non expert, but I have certain memories of old races.

Today we shut down the gallery while she and I went over to the Saffire Rose to have lunch and watch the Belmont. This is beyond unusual for us. Never mind horse whimsy, we need to stay open in case some martian comes in and buys some art.

We arrived at the Rose too early, and so sat through interminable sequences where both of us, near the tv, could only read the somewhat strange typed translation of interviews. Our timing was off, we didn't mean to close for all that time... but in the meantime, we were more and more enthused about Smarty winning. I know better when I watch this stuff, but still, I watch. Sigh.

The horse is fine. I worry about the jockey. Whatta nightmare for him, given the expectations. Eeeoweeeee.

i don't know finn, i still think smarty is as great as we thought, he probably had an off day. the condition of the track because of the rain could have slowed him down... same thing happend to seabiscuit, he'd win some, lose some, but in the end he was still stellar. smarty's got some good years ahead of him.

osso, i know what you mean about knowing better about watching the race-- i didn't see it, for that reason. the same goes with watching some of the sports at the olympics, that are subject to judges interpretation,such as figure skating or gymnastics, the tension is too much, i'd rather hear the results.

Alydar had his revenge over Affirmed in the breeding shed.

Smarty can still be a top moneymaker and a top stud if he continues racing (and, presumably, winning). There's the Santa Anita Derby and plenty of other races. The Triple Crown isn't everything although it's been awfully elusive for quite a while now.

It's like pitching a no-hitter, three times in a row, over the course of five weeks. It's a wonder there are 11 Triple Crown winners.

Seabiscuit lost some races and his comeback after a terrible injury at Santa Anita is the stuff of history. I'd still like to keep an eye out for this new "underdog." The Belmont track is a difficult run if the horse has never run it. That had a lot to do with the outcome.

If he was as great as we thought he was, he would have won. 11 other horses have done so and overcome all of the barriers that Smarty faced.
A horse with the magical quality of "heart" would have beat Birdstone at the wire. As I said though, still a marvelous animal.

I wouldn't count on seeing Smarty finish up his career in any way similar to the manner in which Seabiscuit did. Those times are gone in horseracing.

finn, such a neigh-sayer you are...

He's prepping for a campaign ( it's been suggested the haskell or pa derby ) to the breeder's cup. Smarty's life certainly does not mirror Seabiscuit at all. I'm not sure where people are drawing the connection. 18 runs until SB saw the winners circle - not good enough as a 3 y/o to even compete in the TC and a mediocre career after. Smarty is 8 for 9 and stretched his pedigree about as far as it could go : an extra two furlongs simply weren't int he cards. For the handicapper, Birdstone is out of Grindstone who is suited ideally for stamina over speed, hence his late burst. Birdstone is no underdog especially on the belmont track. His win in the champagne at two is very similar to this win. Bird just keeps grinding away on the track. Smarty lost the race to the better horse who's pedigree and schedule is suited to belmont. plain and simple. However there arent likely to be too many 12f races this year for birdstone so it's looking like he'll be overbet on his next shoot out. As for Smarty not being great, we don't know if he is a great until ( or rather if ) he's run against the older crop ( wishful thinking really ) - this year's field is medicore at best right now - Winning the triple crown certainly doesn't equate a horse with greatness - nor does losing one leg of the TC determine they're not. Spectacular Bid is a great whom through a break lost the belmont - Dr Fager, Sunday Silence, Damascus, Cigar, Alysheba : all 'greats' who did not win the TC. " Heart " is a nice term for a movie but not on the track. Pedigree and versatility determine win or lose. Someone mentioned the track condition : it was a fast track. At this point in time based solely on Smarty's :46 half mile in the belmont no 3 y/o can even challenge him at 9 or 10 f.

whomever said smarty wouldn't finish up his career like seabiscuit did, you're right .. he'll likely be retired come year end with a fairly polished resume unlike Seabiscuit.

I think the comparison to Seabiscuit comes from the movie - SeaB is just a name that people know. To my mind, Smarty always seemed more like Spec Bid.

I can see the running style comparisons between the two. Personally he reminds me of Affirmed - put him almost anyplace you want in a race and likely still win with him. ( 12 f aside :wink: )

This is Smarty Jone's cousin, Not-So-Smarty-Jones.

It depends.

Sometimes I'm quite the yeah-sayer.

His insurance would likely hit the 4 mil + mark next year ( before added expenses ). Ah well, atleast running him in the JCGC is their saving grace.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/57817.html

as a fan it's certainly frustrating.