Crown doesn't fit Smarty Jones
People's champion fades down the stretch as Birdstone wins gruelling Belmont
By ROB LONGLEY, At the Belmont
The winning rider, trainer and owner apologized. A rowdy New York crowd of 120,139 -- a Belmont Park record -- went from delirium to dead silence in the flash of the finish line.
Talk about a Smarty party pooper.
Once again, a Triple Crown was buried yesterday here on Long Island in the Belmont Stakes. It took a 36-1 long shot named Birdstone, who ran down Kentucky Derby and Preakness champion Smarty Jones some 13 strides before the wire, to spoil the fun.
Game until the end, Smarty Jones finished a length behind the late-charging winner, ensuring the Crown remains one of sport's most elusive prizes.
It will now be at least 27 years between winners and one has to wonder if we'll ever see another thoroughbred join the regal roster that includes Secretariat, Affirmed and Seattle Slew.
"As much as it hurts me to say it, what we just saw is one of the things that makes horse racing so great," said Smarty Jones' gracious-in-defeat trainer, John Servis.
"That's horse racing. You just saw it. It's as good as it gets."
Well, almost. For a fleeting moment when Smarty Jones opened a three-lengths lead on the field at the top of the stretch, it looked like racing may have been poised to get its 12th Triple Crown winner.
But Toronto-born jockey Stewart Elliott was unable to get his mount a breather at any point during the aching 1 1/2 miles, and Smarty Jones didn't have the kick to bury his competition.
When Smarty seized the lead, the roar in the sprawling Belmont grandstand was deafening. But quietly stalking the champ was Birdstone and jockey Edgar Prado. Smarty Jones kept running, but Birdstone was running faster, reaching the wire in 2:27.50.
Another eight lengths back in third was Royal Assault. Those who took the bold stand to bet against the 1-5 favourite were rewarded handsomely with a $74 US payoff.
"At the top of the stretch, I still thought I had a good shot," said Elliott, who had never ridden in a Triple Crown race prior to this year. "But I looked over and I saw Birdstone and I thought I might be in trouble."
It was muted joy for winning trainer Nick Zito. A proud Brooklyn native who has finished second in the Belmont five times, he finally got the big prize in his home town.
He did it with a fresh horse who regrouped after a disastrous eighth in the Kentucky Derby and benefitted from the early frontrunners softening the favourite.
"I said to John, 'I'm very sorry,' " Zito said. "But this is a sport and the Triple Crown is a great thing. People talk about wanting to change it, but I say leave it the way it is.
"Leave the logistics, it's just a tough thing to do."
So tough that it's starting to look impossible now that six horses in the past eight years have been denied at the Belmont. Smarty Jones had been so dominant in winning the first two legs, it looked like he might be the one. Undefeated in eight career starts, he romped in the Preakness, winning by a record 11 1/2 lengths.
But yesterday he faced pressure in the early going from Purge and Rock Hard Ten, a double-pronged attack that made it impossible for Smarty Jones to settle.
Unlike the second jewel, where a horse needs to be aggressive, the Belmont requires a more measured attack and circumstances conspired against Smarty Jones.
"I knew going down the backstretch that it was going to be awful tough," Servis said. "The trouble is, you have to get your horse so sharp for the Preakness and then the complete opposite for the Belmont. That's a tough task to get done."
Not just tough. Darn near impossible.
THE BELMONT BLUES
Horses that lost in the third jewel of the Triple Crown
2004 -- Smarty Jones (2nd).
2003 -- Funny Cide (3rd).
2002 -- War Emblem (8th).
1999 -- Charismatic (3rd).
1998 -- Real Quiet (2nd).
1997 -- Silver Charm (2nd).
1989 -- Sunday Silence (2nd).
1987 -- Alysheba (4th).
1981 -- Pleasant Colony (3rd).
1979 -- Spectacular Bid (3rd).
1971 -- Canonero II (4th).
1969 -- Majestic Prince (2nd).
1968 -- Forward Pass (2nd).
1966 -- Kauai King (4th).
1964 -- Northern Dancer (3rd).
1961 -- Carry Back (7th).
1958 -- Tim Tam (2nd).
1944 -- Pensive (2nd).
