NOT SO FAST FOR SMARTY.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing 

Though the calendar says August, the Horse of the Year contest could have been over this week, the trophy all but engraved and shipped to Smarty Jones for display on the mantle in the one-time people's horse's plush stall at that Kentucky breeding farm.

But three things happened to keep the campaign alive as the 2004 season makes the turn toward the major late-summer races and the Oct. 30 Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park in Texas.

Pleasantly Perfect won the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sunday, the nation's top-ranked older horse avoiding back-to-back defeats that would have doomed his Horse of the Year chances.

Ghostzapper ran away with the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park in Saturday, his 10 3/4-length victory and astonishing 128 Beyer speed figure in a New Jersey-shore rainstorm making Bobby Frankel's stretched-out sprinter the wise-guy Eclipse Award voter's horse to watch for a late championship push.

And somebody stood up and cried ``Whoa!'' to those who might rush to declare Smarty Jones the champion of anything so soon.

That was Patrick Biancone, trainer of Lion Heart, a contender to win Saturday's $1 million Travers Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga, who argued that three colts are in the running for the 3-year-olds championship.

``One is Smarty Jones, and we know one is Lion Heart and one is Birdstone,'' Biancone said in a pre-Travers telephone press conference on Tuesday. ``You know, it's like a triangular match. You know Smarty Jones beat Lion Heart (in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness). But Birdstone beat Smarty Jones (in the Belmont). Let's see what happens between Birdstone and Lion Heart.

``(If) Birdstone wins on Saturday, I will vote for him,'' said Biancone, although he won't have a vote unless he becomes a turf writer or racing executive.

Lion Heart (Joe Bravo riding) and Birdstone (Edgar Prado) are 3-1 co- second choices to 2-1 Purge (John Velazquez) on the Travers morning line. The seven-horse field includes The Cliff's Edge, Eddington, Sir Schackleton and Suave.

Meanwhile, among the older horses: Six-year-old Pleasantly Perfect, with the Dubai World Cup in his column, can persuade Horse of the Year voters by winning the Breeders' Cup Classic for the second year in a row. Four-year-old Ghostzapper, who'd never raced farther than 7 furlongs before the 1 1/8-mile Iselin, can sweep them all aside if he handles the big class jump to the Oct. 2 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park and the Breeders' Cup Classic.

It appears the Horse of the Year chase will end not disappointingly early, in August, but when it usually does, in October.

--The weekend: Nine turf runners are expected for Sunday's Del Mar Handicap, including Sunset Handicap winner Star Over the Bay, Escondido winner Sarafan, and fillies Dimintrova and Moscow Burning.

With Inspiring out of the race with shin problems, Souvenir Gift is favored over eight other 2-year-old fillies in Saturday's Del Mar Debutante. Tyler Baze rides Souvenir Gift for trainer Sam Semkin.

--Something to celebrate: Dan Hendricks watched on TV in a Del Mar executive's office as Littlebitofzip won a maiden race on Wednesday, marking the trainer's first victory since a July 7 motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.

``It's a good win,'' said Hendricks, whose horses had been 0 for 19 at the Del Mar meet. ``This will get us going. It should put a charge into the barn.''

After Littlebitofzip's victory under apprentice rider Alex Bisono, paying $32.60 to bettors, Hendricks was represented in the winner's circle by his wife Samantha.

Hendricks has visited the track three times in his wheelchair since beginning rehabilitation at a facility near Del Mar. He expects to be running the barn again by the start of the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita in late September.

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OUT OF THE GATE

- Kevin Modesti