Elliott enjoying ride
By ROB LONGLEY -- Toronto Sun
Spend a week at the racetrack, let alone a lifetime, and you quickly learn about odds.
At age 39, Stewart Elliott had accepted that they were stacked against him becoming anything other than what he was -- a competent, productive rider of cheap thoroughbreds.
Then along came Jones. A freaky fast, undefeated three-year-old colt named Smarty Jones, who has dramatically altered the life of the Toronto-born jockey.
In the two minutes and four seconds it took to win the Kentucky Derby on May 1, Elliott went from a little-known journeyman to the little guy who hit it big.
They cheered for him at Woodbine, where Elliott once rode and where his mother, Myhill, is an assistant trainer. They cheered at Smarty's home, Philadelphia Park, a haven for working-class horses and working-class horsemen such as Elliott and the champ's trainer, John Servis.
Tomorrow, here in steamy Baltimore at rickety Pimlico Racecourse, the Smarty party will continue in the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.
"Naturally we're going to do our best and keep trying to go full force, but for me the pressure's off," Elliott said this week. "The Kentucky Derby is like night and day compared (with any other race). Having experienced that one time, it really helped.
"There's a lot at stake, but I do what I always do whether it's a $4,000 US claimer or a $1-million race."
Seven-for-seven in his career, Smarty Jones has become quite a story the past two weeks. At Pimlico, he is bedded down in the traditional stall reserved for the Derby champion, a tribute to his lofty status.
Since the magical Derby ride, Elliott has seen his world change, too, tasting the good and bad of life in the faster lane.
His earnings of $8,025,355 are the second highest in North America this year. Bloated by the $5-million bonus Jones collected for winning the Arkansas and Kentucky Derbys plus the Rebel Stakes, Elliott has more than doubled what he has made in the previous best year of his career.
"I've been riding mostly at cheap tracks and on mostly cheaper horses all my life," Elliott said. "This will give me an opportunity to make some money for retirement."
The price of fame is a two-sided coin, however. Late last week it was revealed that Elliott has an unsavoury chapter or two in his past. Reports surfaced that in 2001 he entered a guilty plea for a wild beating of a friend and earlier in the year faced assault charges stemming from incidents involving his then-girlfriend.
Yesterday, the Kentucky Racing Commission fined Elliott $1,000 for not disclosing past criminal charges -- which is required -- on his application to ride in the Derby.
"I've got nothing to say about it," Elliott said. "It's just something I'd rather not talk about."
Not to justify his transgressions, but Elliott isn't the first jockey to end up in a brawl. And he seems to want to look forward rather than back.
Given how cool he was in his first Derby mount, it's unlikely his new-found celebrity status will hinder him when he tries to urge Smarty Jones past 10 rivals in tomorrow's middle jewel.
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"Everybody saw the race, everybody saw the ride," Servis said of the Derby. "I see rides like that from Stewart Elliott every day."
An owner or trainer less confident or less loyal might have bailed on Elliott prior to the Derby. It happens all the time in racing. Bur Servis stuck by his man and both are much richer for it as a result.
"Winning the Kentucky Derby is one of the greatest things that can happen," Elliott said. "And it's even greater to win it with your buddies. We're all pals and we did it together."
