More Smarty Party Set in Philly

Dual Triple Crown race champion Smarty Jones is headlined in Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack's expanded card this season. Thirty-three stakes will be run.

He was gallant in the 2004 Kentucky Derby, besting the game Lion Heart in the stretch. And he was brilliant in the Preakness Stakes in a 11-1/2 length victory, a new length record for the second leg of the Triple Crown.

But a little fellow, barely a thousand pounds of flying hooves and jetting body, caught him in the distance of the Belmont Stakes. Smarty Jones thus became the 10th thoroughbred in as many tries, beginning in 1979 to 2004, to lose in the third leg of the classics.

We held our collective breath in Smarty's stretch run. So badly did we want the triple, and he was way out front, about to become, at long last, history's 12th Triple Crown champion. But little Birdstone kept coming, and coming, gaining and gaining. And even as our hearts pounded and we screamed for Smarty, we watched his stride start to lessen in the lead. We knew he was running out of steam too soon. Birdstone was going to catch him. We saw it coming. We screamed anyway, for Smarty.

When Birdstone caught him by a half length to put a damper on our Smarty Party, our lungs wheezed out air like balloons emptying and fizzing skyward. All the racing world wanted Smarty to win that race. Even the winning jockey, talented Edgar Prado apologized for Birdstone's win, saying he knew everyone wanted Smarty, but his job was to try to win.

In July, the Smarty Party will resume with the first Smarty Jones Classic slated for his home state and featuring stakes events for state-breds at Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack. Eight stakes will be run there that day for three-year-olds and up on dirt and turf.

Smarty's owners retired their champion in the fall of 2004 when bruised cannon bones put his heatlh at risk. Everyone wanted to see Smarty Jones race on, but the Chapmans saved Smarty from further pounding because he saved their farm with his outstanding career and his future in stud services. He now stands at Three Chimneys Farm for $100,000 per live foal.

Don't know about you, but I can't wait to see a Smarty baby champion. And think of the available family names - Smarty Pants, Smart One, Junior Smarty, Jonesy...