VICTORY GIVES ELLIOTT OVERDUE ATTENTION.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI LOUISVILLE, Ky. - An unknown when he climbed onto the back of 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. in the Churchill Downs Churchill Downs, Ky.: see Louisville. saddling paddock Saturday, 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. was an inspiration by the time he climbed off minutes later in 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. winner's circle win·ner's circle n. pl. winners' circles An enclosed area at a racetrack where the winning horse and jockey are brought for awards and publicity. Noun 1. . America did not merely meet a very good thoroughbred jockey when Elliott became the first Derby rookie in a quarter-century to ride the champ. It came face to face with the dream of every athlete who has ever been stuck in the bush leagues looking up at the big time. A face that has wide blue eyes Blue eyes are eyes that have blue irises (see eye color), and may also refer to:
adj. 1. Not disconcerted or embarrassed; poised. 2. Not concealed or disguised; obvious: unabashed disgust. at the thought that it could be posing for front-page photos. ``I can't explain it,`` Elliott said of the experience of passing that magical post in front of the Twin Spires 2 3/4 lengths ahead of the next horse and jockey Horse and Jockey (An Marcach) is a village in County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, on the N8 National Primary Route from Dublin to Cork. It is situated km ( mi) south of Thurles, at the junction of the N8 and the N62. . ``I mean, it's just unbelievable. It's unbelievable that I actually won the Kentucky Derby.'' There's a reason that jockeys like Stewart Elliott don't win the Kentucky Derby, and we just saw it's not that they lack the talent to get a horse from the starting gate starting gate n. Sports 1. A series of stalls with interconnected doors that open simultaneously at the beginning of a race. 2. to the finishing line the fastest. It's that they ride not at Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may be several places:
There, it doesn't matter how many winners they ride, and Elliott has ridden more than 3,000. They aren't going to make connections with owners and trainers of good horses. And if they aren't going to get the horses, well, good luck to them. Elliott watched the 2003 Derby on TV at Philadelphia Park. He didn't change, although it helped that he didn't actually quit the sport nearly two decades ago, as he intended. His top clients among the trainers and owners at Philadelphia Park changed. John Servis John C. Servis (born October 25, 1958 in Charles Town, West Virginia) is an American thoroughbred horse racing trainer who was a relative unknown until May 2004 when his horse Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby. and Roy and Patricia Chapman got Smarty Jones. Elliott, who is 39 years old but doesn't look it and hails from Toronto, started riding Smarty Jones when the colt was running against maidens and cheap fellow Pennsylvania-breds in the $56,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes nursery stakes Noun, pl a race for two-year-old horses last November, and he has continued to ride him through what has become seven victories in seven career starts. Servis was told by smart people to replace Elliott with an experienced Derby jockey. Servis told them Stew can do. Let's hear it for loyalty. ``Masterful,'' Servis said of Elliott's performance Saturday, when he worked Smarty Jones out of the pack chasing Lion Heart, went after the leader on the far turn of the rain-muddied track, and vigorously powered the winner clear with a left- and right-handed whip. ``Unfortunately, I may not get Stewart back at Philadelphia Park. You know, when people see how good of a rider he is, he can go anywhere he wants to go.'' For about a year-and-a-half in the mid-1980s, where Elliott wanted to go was anywhere that he didn't face a daily struggle to maintain riding weight. He quit competing and made his living as an exercise rider. Galloping the horses into shape for the jockeys. ``That (riding horses) is all I knew,`` Elliott shrugged Saturday. ``I've done this since I was 16. I quit school. I wanted to be a jockey. But I was battling weight. I was young. My body wanted to grow.'' He missed the competition. ``I just wanted it back,`` he said. ``I guess I worked harder, dedicated myself and made it back.'' He dreamed of the Derby. ``But,`` he said, ``it was only a dream.'' Now he's on the same list of Derby-winning jockeys as Eddie Arcaro, Bill Shoemaker, Johnny Longden, Bill Hartack and Jerry Bailey. He's ridden as many Derby winners as Laffit Pincay, Pat Day or Steve Cauthen. A two-time winner, Kent Desormeaux, was asked in the Churchill Downs jockeys room Saturday evening if he could relate to what Elliott just did. ``I don't think he can relate to what he just did,`` Desormeaux said. But, sure, Stewart Elliott can relate. He's been dreaming of this forever. Every minor-leaguer in every sport dreams of his or her version of this. Until Saturday, how many believed it could come true? CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Stewart Elliott has won more than 3,000 races in his career, but it went unnoticed until Saturday's victory at the Kentucky Derby because he rides at smaller tracks in Pennsylvania. Al Behrman/Associated Press |
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