5/2/2004

Smarty is just that!

When the dust settles and all has been said and done, it will be recorded that, after so much hype about the 130th. Kentucky Derby being a wide open affair, the favorite (most ironically) came out on top!

The first unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977, Smarty Jones is a rare beast who has overcome a great deal in his meteoric career that started out at lowly Philadelphia Park and may well, curtesy of the $5 million bonus that he picked up for winning the Rebel H'Cap, Arkansas Derby and K.Y. Derby, see him become the first thoroughbred to exceed $10 million in lifetime earnings by the time he is finished.

So..so much for dosage indexes, fashionable riders etc. This guy, by a sprinter out of a mare by a sprinter, confounded all of his critics. And the most remarkable aspect of his triumph was the fact that he raced up will the leaders throughout and yet was never going more strongly than at the wire!

Indeed, running into the clubhouse turn in tight company (and being squeezed, too) the winner seemed to thrive on the pressure, levelling out beautifully down the backstretch and finding more every time his very capable rider called upon him. Not often do horses respond in this way, and the manner in which Smarty reeled in Lion Heart and then sped of to victory, smacked of so many dreams: of perfect horses that just keep on improving their position.

So now its off to Pimlico and the VISA Triple Crown hype will be on, with all kinds of nonsense about Smarty Jones being the people's horse, like Funny Cide last year. And suddenly the media will get into Stewart Elliott's head, as the realization sets in that Smarty Jones is the real thing.

Whatever, and whether 2004 yields a Triple Crown winner or not, this year's Kentucky Derby was priceless (maybe Master Card should takeover sponsorship?): confirming that horseracing is all about special horses. Something that those in charge of promoting the sport should reflect upon.

NEXT....Derby fall-out.