Horse Racing Triple Crown Conspiracy Theories
Smarty Jones' Belmont Was Curtailed By Eddington and Rock Hard Ten
Jun 5, 2009
In the June 14, 2004 edition of Sports Illustrated, Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey called the Belmont Stakes "...a rider's race". The jockey controls the pace and the final move to glory in the third race of the Triple Crown series, he claimed.
"He just bottomed out, the last 100 yards," Bailey, aboard fourth place finisher Eddington, remarked on Smarty's loss.
How much does a jockey control?
Stewart Elliott's Explanation
Smarty Jones' jockey, Stewart Elliott, was a thirty-nine-year-old embattled Philadelphia Park journeyman with less than a sterling reputation and no experience in the 1-1/2 miles Belmont Stakes. He had quietly captured over 3,000 wins away from the big stage of the Triple Crown races.
His explanation for Smarty's Belmont defeat -- the horse's first loss -- was plausible. He said the winded colt simply met up with too many furlongs in a single race. However, it had been Elliott's task to rate Smarty's speed. He apparently wasn't able to do it as the colt fought him early.
Soon after the race, Elliott disappeared. He had a mount in the next scheduled race that day.
No Post Race Celebration Plans
It would, therefore, have been a time-cramped celebration for Elliott had Smarty won the prestigious Triple Crown by capturing the Belmont, a feat accomplished only eleven times in the history of Thoroughbred racing.
Didn't Elliott think he could win (and forthwith be available post-race for a wildly celebrative television audience and interview) the Belmont on the horse everyone was banking on?
Bailey and Gary Stevens in the Belmont
In the 2004 Belmont, Bailey and another Hall of Fame jockey, Gary Stevens mounted on gargantuan Rock Hard Ten, engaged Smarty Jones in strength-sapping, lung-gutting early speed.
Elliott couldn't disengage Smarty to keep him out of the speed chase. Smarty liked to run up front, barely a stalker before striking hard, and he had won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes that way. Elliott had never guided a mount through the endless furlongs of the Belmont. Two early strikes?
Bailey and Stevens subsequently denied and playfully dismissed all softly spoken suggestions of a conspiratorial attempt to wear down Smarty and prematurely derail him to be preyed upon by a late closer, but the evidence remains.
Birdstone's Belmont Close
The early suicidal pace set up nicely for the closer Birdstone, ridden by experienced Belmont upsetter Edgar Prado. Voted to Thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame this year, Prado had beaten the Triple Crown threat War Emblem with 70-1 longshot Sarava in 2002.
Prado and Birdstone, sire of 2009's Triple Crown treat -- no longer threat -- Mine That Bird, lingered at the rear of the Belmont field of nine, waiting for the speedsters to play out and to launch their own closing charge.
Smarty Jones' Someday Farm
A Pennsylvania homebred from the financially challenged Someday Farm owned by folksy Roy and Pat Chapman, Smarty Jones traced back to the splendid stakes-winning producing mare, La Troienne. His sires, Elusive Quality and Smile, respectively, were not over-the-long-haul marathoners. They were of the short speed variety.
The Belmont, however, is run from the saddle up. Mounted experience counts. Bailey had said it himself. Stevens had flown in from France to ride the Preakness placed-but-erratic Rock Hard Ten.
Bailey--Stevens--Prado Belmont Wins
- 1991 --- Hansel --- Bailey
- 2003 --- Empire Maker --- Bailey
- 2002 --- Sarava --- Prado ----- 2004 --- Birdstone
- 2001 --- Point Given --- Stevens
- 1998 --- Victory Gallop --- Stevens
- 1995 --- Thunder Gulch --- Stevens
Unpredictably, on his biggest work day Elliott could find no way to rate the little horse who would be king.
Were Eddington and Rock Hard Ten sacrificial lambs steered on to stymie the Smarty party?
