A record mass of 120,139 people filled Belmont Park to witness his run for a coronation, and the grandstand fell into stunned silence after Birdstone skipped past him in the stretch to win by a length. In his own special but brief career, Smarty Jones stirred the souls of racing devotees around the nation as he sought the elusive grail of the Triple Crown.įans were so enamored with him that they held “Smarty Parties” to watch his races. “He sure proved himself,” she added, laughing softly.Ĭhapman holds tight to her memories of Smarty Jones, the champion 3-year-old of 2004 who set a single-season earnings record of over $7.5 million, not broken until this year by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. He was on the smallish side, so we kept thinking, ‘We hope you can run’. He wanted us to know he was important because he knew it, but we didn’t. “But, if we had listened to his attitude, we would have known. But he was small and we had no idea of what he might turn into,” she reminisced. “He was playful, he had personality he would run circles around his playmates out in the field. He was trying to tell us something, but I just didn’t know until he got into his early training. I noticed that when he was just a wee foal - that look in his eye,” Chapman recalled. “He always had such a sparkle in his eye. Indeed, Smarty Jones’s expressive eyes have been his hallmark virtually since birth, according to Patricia Chapman, who bred, raised and raced the champion with her late husband, Roy, and who now is giving him an unusual second chance at stud in Kentucky by placing him at Calumet. It’s been nearly a dozen long years since Smarty Jones stood in the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs with red roses cascading over his withers or since he pranced past the crowd gathered at Pimlico draped with Black-Eyed Susans.īut that unmistakable light in his eyes has not faded at all. Through his eyes, he demands acknowledgment. Hearing footsteps approaching his stall, the compact chestnut contentedly munching hay in a shaft of afternoon sunlight lifts his head and listens for a moment before boldly striding through deep straw bedding to see who is there.Īs he approaches, the look in his eye is bright, intense, magnetic.Įven if visitors did not recognize who they were seeing when encountering this horse in the hallowed shrine that is the Calumet Farm stallion barn, they would want to know. But within a day or so he saw no threat from us and has been fine since.Still light on his feet: Smarty Jones at Calumet. 'Like any new stallion Smarty Jones came in wanting to establish his dominance, he would not want to be caught in his stall or he would try to bite at you. (He) and English Channel are side by side and they are getting on well together.

'He seems to be a horse that as long as he has grass under his feet he's happy. 'Smarty Jones is doing great so far he has worked right into the routine here at the Calumet stallion barn,' Kane said.

Roy and Pat Chapman's Someday Farm, which bred Smarty Jones in Pennsylvania and retains a controlling interest in the stallion, decided to relocate the fan favorite to Kentucky this year. Two years later, when Ghost Ridge Farm announced it would be taking a step back from standing stallions, Smarty Jones was transferred to Northview Stallion Station's Pennsylvania division. Retired to Three Chimneys in Kentucky for the 2005 season, Smarty Jones stood there for six years before moving to Pennsylvania’s Ghost Ridge Farm. Eberhardt/Blood-Horse ( ORDER THESE PHOTOS)įarm manager Eddie Kane said the Calumet team is still getting to know Smarty Jones, but that he has been a class act since shipping from Northview Stallion Station.

Smarty jones horse