5/6/2004

Pimlico not worthy of the Preakness and Smarty Jones

Round 2 of the US Triple Crown will be staged a week from this Saturday at Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore. And for a few moments the focus of the sports’ world will be upon the Preakness Stakes (named after its first winner, when the race was called The Dinner Party Stakes) and this year’s star attraction, Smarty Jones.

But, if John Servis, Smarty’s trainer, is as smart as his venerable charge, and has one iota of respect for him, he will make his Preakness mission a smash and grab job. For Pimlico is without doubt one of the most decrepit racetracks on the North American continent (certainly not a worthy site for a classic to be staged) and a quick in-and-out job from nearby Philadelphia Park should be all that’s necessary.

Described as ‘Old Hilltop’, today’s Frank Stronach-owned track is sadly no more than a pile of rubble, waiting to fall down, surrounded by a concrete, rat-infested shanty-town of a backstretch…..situated in one of the worst areas of Baltimore, where convenience stores bar their windows, and at Preakness time the local hoodlums push shopping carts around the streets, to transport the booty that they plunder from misguided visitors.

Go to Pimlico today and you could fire a cannon through the grandstand without hitting anyone. So no wonder Stronach would like to knock the place down. The trouble is, it has one fleeting moment of excitement each year, when the Preakness is staged. And, in a sport that is steeped in tradition, this fixture is never likely to be moved elsewhere.

So what’s in-store for Kentucky Derby survivors? Well….a tighter, cylinder-shaped track, with long straights and sharp turns, that often favors speed….particularly when sloppy. In the past, horses like Snow Chief and Hansel, who both ran deplorably at Churchill Downs, have rebounded with a vengence at Pimlico. And this has been primarily due to the fact that the field is usually much smaller and the race itself takes on the feeling of an ordinary race, not a cavalry charge. In fact a comparison could be made with the Grand National Steeplechase and any other long distance chase at a regular park racecourse in England.

What is also a huge factor, going into the Preakness is the pressure put upon the Kentucky Derby winner’s jockey. Going into this year’s Derby, Stewart Elliott was a virtual unknown with nothing to lose. Now, though, the heat is on him, like nothing that he has ever experienced before. And all kinds of experts will be speculating about what happens if Hard Rock Ten gets an easy lead? And can he overcome an outside post position? Blah…blah…blah!

The fact is Smarty seems to be an all-round pro, who won from the extreme outside in Arkansas Derby (also on an off-track), handles the slop, can lay up, lead, stalk, whatever. Indeed this may be the race when he dispels, for once and for all, the skeptics’ notions that he may just be the best of a bad lot, because this year’s Kentucky Derby winner looks like the real deal: a push-button horse. The sort that all punters dream of.

So, if Smarty Jones, the so-called ‘peoples’ horse’ and Sports Illustrated cover-star, wins the Preakness, the pressure will get even greater when he moves on to round 3, with it’s promise of another $5 million bonus. Then everyone will be questioning his stamina etc. But at least he will be performing on the grand stage, because Belmont Park is as splendid and appropriate a venue for such a spectacle as Pimlico is sad and redundant.