THIS LOSS SMARTS FOR RACING FANS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing 

On the May evening when Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby and became a household name, his owner Roy Chapman greeted the press with a jocular warning.

``Be careful what you ask me,'' the Philadelphia man said in the Churchill Downs press room. ``Remember, I'm a car dealer. I tend to speak my mind.''

Yeah, you know car dealers - honest to a fault.

How's that for a deluded self-image?

Chapman's warning came to mind this week. He's a car dealer, all right. Pulling the old bait-and-switch.

To the fans whose two dollars drive the game, Chapman and his wife Patricia said they intended to keep Smarty Jones in competition at age 4 in 2005, and only then retire him to a lucrative stud career.

But now, with a not-terribly-serious injury posing the first threat to their plans, the Chapmans have announced that Smarty Jones is being retired immediately and sent to Kentucky for breeding.

They sucked in the customers with an ad for a brand-new Cadillac.

But now they've sold us a used Buick.

Smarty Jones could have become something special after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and coming within a length of the Triple Crown in the Belmont, could have been not only a domin ating runner but the rare star 3-year-old to race on as an older horse.

Instead, he becomes a racetrack cliche, the young star stolen away by breeding interests before his popularity can pay off for the sport.

Despite his Belmont defeat by Birdstone, Smarty Jones came out of the Triple Crown season the subject of more anticipation than any horse in memory. After a few weeks' rest, he was expected to return to action in a summer race at either his Philadelphia Park headquarters or Monmouth Park in New Jersey. Then it would be off to Lone Star Park near Dallas for the Breeders' Cup Classic and a chance to nail down the Horse of the Year title.

One could only imagine how good he might become at 4 - the age when thoroughbreds typically reach their physical and mental peaks.

But trouble surfaced as trainer John Servis began to crank up Smarty Jones for the summer races. Servis said last week that hoof problems would prevent him from running in the Pennsylvania Derby on Labor Day, an event that would have packed Philadelphia Park. Then came Monday and the retirement announcement made in a telephone conference call with the Chapmans, Servis, a leading veterin arian and officials of Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky.

The explanation was that Smarty Jones has ``chronic bruising'' in all four fetlock joints, the equine equivalent of sprained ankles, the result of nine races (eight of them wins) without a significant break.

If he were to race again next year and ``anything went wrong, it would break our hearts,'' Patricia Chapman said.

But for the Chapmans to make it sound as if their decision was based on humanitarian concerns is a case of Ford dealers trying to give the real issue the dodge. Veterin arian Dr. Larry Bramlage made it clear that horses routinely come back to competition from such conditions after a few months' rest and called the risks ``minor.'' The fact, as Three Chimneys owner Robert Clay said, is that the retirement decision was mostly about money.

In a deal announced in June, Smarty Jones' breeding rights were syndicated for $39 million. It's worth about half that amount to the Chapmans.

Not to oversimplify this, but it's the old story, owners doing the math and seeing that the potential benefits of racing a horse are outweighed by the risk to his breeding value of a life-threatening injury or even a few reputation-sapping defeats.

It's hard to argue with the Chapmans if they think they made the smart decision. None of us can honestly say what we would do faced with the same choice. Easy for me to tell Roy and Pat what to do with their $20 million.

But when you have a horse with the talent to be one of the all-time greats, with the triumph-over-adversity life story to be a hero, with likeable and well-spoken handlers like the Chapmans and Servis and jockey Stewart Elliott to promote him, you can't make a decision like this with the sales manager's calculator alone.

No matter what Servis tried to argue this week, Smarty Jones retires not having proven himself a great horse. He never faced older horses. He didn't stand the test of time.

Racing fans are poorer for being denied the chance Smarty Jones would have earned the label of ``great.''

Racing fans might be the last true romantics in sports, people who believe there's a pot of gold at the end of the risk-reward rainbow, who believe in the potential for every good young horse to step up and stretch out and be the one.

Racing fans deserve to have a horse like Smarty Jones in the hands of an owner with a heart as big as theirs.

Instead, once again, they get an owner with a both eyes on the window sticker.

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