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Watch Kentucky Derby again Smarty Jones wins the 130th Run for the Roses

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Smarty Jones, a diminutive Pennsylvania-bred colt whose path to Louisville was paved by betrayal, tragedy, faith and resurrection, capped a tale every bit as unlikely as Seabiscuit’s by cruising through the slop to victory in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby and lavishing his owners with the richest payday in racing history.

Proving that great things do come in small packages, Smarty Jones outbattled stubborn pace-setter Lion Heart down the stretch before finally shaking loose and prevailing by 2 ¾ lengths. Lion Heart hung on for second, while Imperialism, trained by 21-year-old Kristin Mulhall, finished third, another 3¼ lengths behind.

“When they came to the eighth pole and he started to draw off … if my knees weren’t buckling I probably would have jumped out of the box (seats),” the colt’s elated trainer John Servis said.

The victory by the 4-1 favorite in the 18-horse field was one for the little guys. Journeyman jockey Stewart Elliott and Servis are regulars at Philadelphia Park, far from the glamorous world of big races such as the Derby, and owners Roy and Patricia Chapman are small-time breeders who sold their optimistically named Someday Farm in Chester County, Pa., and all but two of their horses after he was diagnosed with emphysema and other ailments.

In fact, Servis and Elliott became the first trainer-jockey duo to win the Derby on their first try since Spectacular Bid won in 1979 for trainer Bud Delp and jockey Rodney Franklin.

Although the other horse the Chapmans kept can’t run a step, Smarty Jones is a Kentucky Derby winner and the Chapmans are nearly $6 million richer, thanks to a $5 million bonus offered by Oaklawn Park and the winner’s share of the Derby purse of $1.15 million.

“From horse No. 1, any horse, it was always a dream to get to the Kentucky Derby,” 77-year-old Roy Chapman said afterward, beaming with delight from his wheelchair.  “… Never thought we’d get here, until we met Smarty and this guy sitting next to me” – referring to Servis.

Though he entered the Derby with a 6-for-6 record – and exits as the first unbeaten winner since Seattle Slew in 1977 – Smarty Jones was dismissed by many handicapping experts because he had dodged most of the other leading 3-year-olds while campaigning in Arkansas and had a pedigree seemed better suited to shorter races.

But as he had all spring as the Derby prep races lengthened, Smarty Jones proved the nay-sayers wrong Saturday. On a speed-favoring track that was rolled tight to prevent the rains from turning it into a swamp, the colt displayed his usual professionalism in stalking Lion Heart and jockey Mike Smith through moderate fractions of :46.73 and 1:11.80 before pulling alongside leader Lion Heart at the top of the stretch. The two locked strides for an eight of a mile, well clear of the rest of the field, before Smarty Jones edged clear.

To the roars of his approving fans, he crossed the finish line under a hand ride from Elliott, stopping the timer in 2:04.06. It was a slow time for the race but one that could have been affected by the condition of the track, which was rated as "sloppy" for the first time in 10 years.

“At the three-eighths pole I was biding my time,” Elliott said. “I knew I had a loaded gun beneath me. He straightened up, switched leads and I figured it was time to go.

“When I had the chance, I took it. I was pretty confident when we passed Lion Heart. My horse was running,” he said.

Smarty Jones becomes just the second Pennsylvania-bred — Lil E. Tee in 1992 was the first.

Although fans undoubtedly respected Smarty Jones’ talent and professionalism, they also were drawn to the colt by a storyline that probably would be deemed as too unrealistic for Hollywood.

The 4-1 favorite paid $10.20, $6.20 and $4.80. Lion Heart paid $8.20 and $5.80. Imperialism returned $6.20 to show. Limehouse was fourth, followed by The Cliff’s Edge, Action This Day, Read the Footnotes, Birdstone, Tapit, Borrego, Song of the Sword, Master David, Pro Prado, Castledale, Friends Lake, Minister Eric and Pollard’s Vision. Quintons Gold Rush did not finish.

The crowd, 140,054, was the smallest since 1994, when Go for Gin won over the last sloppy track.

“He seems to be the people’s horse,” Elliott said.

The story began when the Chapmans arranged to breed their mare, I’ll Get Along, to new sire Elusive Quality on the recommendation of the Chapmans’ regular trainer, Bob Camac. They named the colt after Patricia’s mother, who was nicknamed Smarty Jones by her parents at a very young age.

But before Camac ever had a chance to see what the horse could do, he and his wife, Maryann, were murdered by Camac’s stepson in December 2001.

Stunned by the tragedy, the Chapmans nevertheless had to find a new trainer and picked Servis. Within weeks after Servis took over training of Smarty Jones, the colt reared up in while being schooled in a starting gate and smashed his head on an iron bar that runs across the top of the contraption.

Fearing the worst, Servis sent the colt to the New Jersey Equine Clinic, where initial reports indicated that Smarty Jones probably would lose an eye and never race.

“His whole face was horrible, and his left eye was so swollen it wasn’t even visible,” Dr. Patricia Hogan told Blood-Horse magazine’s Steve Haskin in March. “I really wasn’t sure if I could save (the eye) or not. In addition, he had multiple fractures of his skull, and the orbit (the bone that contains the eyeball) was broken. He was a real mess.”

Determining that surgery to try and repair the eye would be too difficult, Hogan and other equine practitioners elected to tightly bandage Smarty Jones’ head to protect the eye while administering medication to reduce the swelling inside the eye socket – a treatment that most highly strung throughbreds probably would fight.

But Smarty turned out to be as good a patient as he is at running. He was released from the clinic after two weeks, apparently with full vision in the damaged eye.

“He had a lot of spunk, and nothing fazed him,” Hogan told the Blood-Horse. “He was so bright and never missed a meal despite the terrible ordeal he had gone through.”

Smarty Jones has now survived another ordeal – the testing 1 ¼ miles of the Kentucky Derby.

Now, if he can win the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in two weeks and the Belmont Stakes three weeks later, he will collect another $5 million bonus and surpass Cigar as the all-time leading money earner. Already, his $6,733,155 bankroll – about $3.25 million behind Cigar’s -- ranks him sixth on the all time list.

But Servis was noncommittal about whether the horse would attempt to keep his bid at being the first Triple Crown winner since 1979 by running in the Preakness.

“Quite frankly, he’s had a pretty tough schedule since February,” he said. “… (But) if he comes out of this race and continues to train (the way he did prior to the Derby), I’m going to get real excited about the Preakness.

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