BELMONT WRAPUP: IT MIGHT TAKE 'SUPER HORSE' TRIPLE CROWN DROUGHT IS SO LONG FOR REASON.Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer ELMONT, N.Y. - If Smarty Jones Smarty Jones (born February 28, 2001) is a thoroughbred race horse, and winner of the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He is a third-generation descendant of Mr. couldn't win the Triple Crown, what is it going to take to break thoroughbred racing's going-on-27-year drought? Stewart Elliott Stewart Elliott (born on March 1, 1965 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a thoroughbred jockey. Elliott grew up in horse racing; his father was a jockey for many years, his mother rode show horses and was a riding instructor, and his uncle owns a racing stable in Canada. sounded a note of despair after he and Smarty Jones finished second to Edgar Prado Edgar S. Prado (born June 12, 1967 in Lima, Peru) is a thoroughbred horse racing jockey. Now a resident of Hollywood, Florida in 2004 Prado became the 19th jockey in thoroughbred racing history to win 5,000 races. and Birdstone in the Belmont Stakes Belmont Stakes Oldest of the three U.S. horse races that constitute the Triple Crown. The Belmont originated in 1867 and is named after August Belmont (see Belmont family). The stakes is held in early June at Belmont Park, near Garden City, Long Island; the course is 1.5 mi (2,400 m). on Saturday. ``You have to have a horse who can do just about everything,'' the jockey said. It is going to take a 3-year-old of a type that's increasingly rare - one versatile enough to win the 1 1/16- and 1 1/8-mile prep races that get a horse to the classics, to win the Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. at 1 1/4 and the Preakness at 1 3/16 to set up a Triple Crown possibility, and win the Belmont at the marathon 1 1/2. Most Triple Crown hopefuls are tripped up by the Belmont distance: Since Affirmed's Triple Crown in 1978, 10 horses have gone to the Belmont with a shot at the sport's ultimate prize. Five of them were ahead after 1 1/4 miles only to get caught. Four of the remaining five lost ground between the 1 1/4-mile mark and the finish. Only Pleasant Colony Pleasant Colony (May 4, 1978 - December 31, 2002) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first two legs of the 1981 U.S. Triple Crown series. A big, gangly horse, standing just under seventeen hands, Pleasant Colony was a grandson of the great Ribot. , in 1981, gained on the leader in the homestretch home·stretch n. 1. The portion of a racetrack from the last turn to the finish line. 2. Informal The final stages of an undertaking. Noun 1. . In the old days, when there were 11 Triple Crown sweeps between 1919 and 1978, things were different. Great horses were expected to run long. Distance races were carded regularly. Horses were bred with that in mind. Breeders were less fixated fix·ate v. fix·at·ed, fix·at·ing, fix·ates v.tr. 1. To make fixed, stable, or stationary. 2. To focus one's eyes or attention on: fixate a faint object. on quick bucks tied to fast sprint clockings at 2-year-old auction previews. Of the 11 Triple Crown winners, nine ran in subsequent races of 1 1/2 to more than 2 miles, and they combined for 15 wins in 28 starts at such distances. Try to find another major race as long as the Belmont Stakes these days. The Jockey Club Gold Cup The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a prestigious thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It is typically the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers in the fall at Belmont Park Noun 1. Belmont Park - a racetrack for thoroughbred racing in Elmont on Long Island; site of the Belmont Stakes Belmont Elmont - a town on Long Island in New York; site of Belmont Park , a 2-mile race when it was won by War Admiral, Whirlaway and Citation, and a 1 1/2-mile event when Affirmed won and Seattle Slew finished second, now is one of the nation's many 1 1/4-mile handicaps. Smarty Jones, who won from 6 furlongs to 1 1/4 miles during his eight- race streak, could have won at 1 1/2 Saturday even though his pedigree wasn't as suited to the task as the inconsistent Birdstone's. In retrospect, though, Smarty Jones would have needed more to go right during the 2:27.50 it took to run the race in front of a New York-record sports crowd of 120,139. ``It can get done,'' trainer John Servis said Sunday morning at the Belmont Park barn where Smarty Jones spent four days. ``But everything has to go right. Since January, everything went absolutely right ... but this last step didn't.'' Seemingly eager to compete, Smarty Jones dragged Elliott into a hard- fought lead and never got a breather as Rock Hard Ten and Eddington hung close, setting things up for Birdstone's late run down the middle of the homestretch to win by one length. The second and third quarter-miles of the race were run in 23.11 and 23.68 seconds, and the toll produced a slow final quarter of 26.98. Servis didn't blame Elliott for the defeat at odds of 35 cents on the dollar. ``Stew did a good job. You can't drag him (Smarty Jones) off the pace,'' Servis said. ``He felt he would have settled if those guys (Alex Solis on Rock Hard Ten and Jerry Bailey on Eddington) hadn't pressed him so hard. He knew they were just sacrificing their horses. He had horses breathing down his neck. I kind of thought it would set up like that.'' The next Triple Crown winner ``has to be a super, super horse,'' Birdstone trainer Nick Zito said the morning after his first Belmont Stakes victory. ``Not that Smarty An earlier device marketed by Fischer International Systems Corporation, Naples, FL (www.fisc.com) that used a standard 3.5" floppy drive to read smart cards. The smart card was inserted into Smarty, which resembled a floppy disk. isn't. He was worthy, but it (the Belmont) is just an incredible obstacle - a mile-and-a-half.'' --Ratings: Smarty Jones' failed bid to win the Triple Crown delivered the race's highest overnight rating in 27 years. NBC's telecast of Smarty Jones' loss Saturday drew a 13.4 rating and 27 share, the best Belmont overnight rating since Seattle Slew's 1977 Triple Crown-clinching victory produced a 15.4 rating and 47 share. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Kevin Modesti, (818) 713-3616 heymodesti(at)aol.com. |
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