Tough Test for Derby Hopeful
Patricia and Roy Chapman were so despondent after the murder of trainer Bobby Camac and his wife in 2001 that they virtually got out of breeding and racing horses.
But the Chapmans, who were one of Camac’s important clients, kept a few horses, and one of them, Smarty Jones, was sent to trainer John Servis. Now that undersized colt, undefeated in five starts, has become one of the curiosities -- if not one of the favorites -- who might run in the Kentucky Derby on May 1.
First, though, Smarty Jones must clear his last pre-Louisville hurdle, the Arkansas Derby, which will be run Saturday at Oaklawn Park. At $1 million, the Arkansas Derby is richer than any Kentucky Derby prep except the Florida Derby, and for Smarty Jones it is the middle part of a $5-million carrot that is being dangled by the 100-year-old track in Hot Springs, Ark. Smarty Jones, having already won the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn, can collect the bonus if he adds wins in the Arkansas and Kentucky derbies.
Horses that use the Arkansas Derby as a gateway to Churchill Downs are usually lightly regarded, but Servis and the Chapmans are hoping that Smarty Jones will prove the exception, like Sunny’s Halo in 1983, Lil E. Tee in 1992 and Grindstone in 1996. All three of those colts went from the Arkansas Derby to the winner’s circle at Churchill, although only Sunny’s Halo combined for the Arkansas-Kentucky Derby double. Lil E. Tee and Grindstone both finished second at Oaklawn.
Smarty Jones’ rivals are counting on Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile route being the undoing of Servis’ colt, who has never run that far and has male bloodlines that suggest distance limitations. In the 1 1/16-mile Rebel, however, Smarty Jones won by 3 1/4 lengths and was still running hard at the end for Stewart Elliott, who has ridden him in all of his races.
“He’s not a big horse,” Servis said, “but he has a nice big stride to him. His mother [I’ll Get Along, whom the Chapmans sold for $130,000 when they all but left the business] was a router. I’ve been wrong before, but so far he’s shown no sign of not being able to handle a distance of ground.”
For the Chapmans, who have homes in Pennsylvania and Florida, Smarty Jones is a bittersweet reminder of the loss of the 60-year-old Camac, a well-liked Philadelphia Park trainer who won more than 1,800 races before his wife’s son, Wade Russell, allegedly shot him and his wife. Camac had sued Russell over allegations that his stepson defrauded him of about $70,000 in a check-forgery scheme. Russell has been charged with double murder; no trial has been scheduled.
“If it hadn’t been for Bobby’s murder, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in,” said Servis, 45, the son of a former jockey and West Virginia racing official.
Camac had arranged for the breeding that accounted for Smarty Jones, mating I’ll Get Along with Elusive Quality, a sire whose forte was sprinting. Smarty Jones is named after Mildred Jones, Patricia Chapman’s mother, whose birth date, Feb. 28, was the same as the horse’s.
Smarty Jones was lucky to even get to the races. Last year, the colt was being schooled in the starting gate when he reared up and hit his head on an iron bar above his stall.
“He got hurt bad,” Servis said. “He just went straight up. He fractured his skull and there was also eye-socket damage.”
Smarty Jones spent three weeks in a New Jersey equine hospital. He made his first start in November, beating maidens by 7 3/4 lengths at Philadelphia Park.
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Excellent Meeting, a filly who ran fifth in the 1999 Kentucky Derby, died March 28 after complications from colic surgery. Excellent Meeting raced for the late John Mabee and his wife Betty, who sold her for $3.9 million after she earned $1.4 million on the track.
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The two favorites in the Arkansas Derby, Smarty Jones and Borrego, drew the outside and inside posts, respectively, in an 11-horse field. Between them, in order, are Mambo Train, Shadowland, Every Adventure, Purge, Tricky Taboo, Mr. Jester, Hasslefree, Harvard Avenue and Pro Prado. ... In the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, another Kentucky Derby prep to be run Saturday, the 5-2 favorite, Lion Heart, drew the No. 6 post. The field, in order: Birdstone, Action This Day, The Cliff’s Edge, Limehouse, That’s An Outrage, Lion Heart, Mustanfar, Preachinatthebar and Breakaway. ... At Keeneland on Thursday, Ema Bovary won her ninth straight race by winning the Madison Stakes.