Rivals See Little Hope Against Smarty Jones

While the owners of eight horses coughed up $10,000 apiece Wednesday to enter against Smarty Jones in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, their trainers didn’t exactly gush optimism about stopping the undefeated colt’s Triple Crown steamroller.

Bobby Frankel, who won the Belmont last year with Empire Maker, said he was running Master David because a trainer without a Belmont horse, Allen Jerkens, thought he should. Nick Zito, who is sending out both Birdstone and Royal Assault, sounded as though his horses were running for second money. Todd Pletcher, whose contender is Purge, questioned his own sanity for trying to beat Smarty Jones in the Arkansas Derby seven weeks ago.

Smarty Jones, who has won all eight of his races, just as Seattle Slew did when he swept the Triple Crown in 1977, is the 2-5 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/2 miles, the longest race in the series. The last odds-on horse to win the Belmont was Affirmed, the 11th and most recent Triple Crown champion, in 1978. There have been nine horses who have won the first two legs of the series since then, five in the last seven years.

Smarty Jones, owned by his breeders, Roy and Pat Chapman, and trained by John Servis, is given a better chance here than Funny Cide, War Emblem and the rest because of the way he dominated the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. The Derby, run in a quagmire at Churchill Downs, turned into a two-horse race, Smarty Jones beating Lion Heart by 2 3/4 lengths. Rival trainers rationalized that their horses would move up because of better footing two weeks later in the Preakness, but Smarty Jones left the crowd at Pimlico gape-jawed with a race record 11 1/2-length rout.

Still, Servis, a 45-year-old Philadelphia Park trainer who’s a newcomer to the Triple Crown, is fully grounded for the Belmont. “I’m a little excited, and a little nervous,” he said Wednesday after Smarty Jones drew the outside post in the nine-horse field. “It’s going to be tough, just waiting for the race to get here.”

Post positions are of little consequence in a 12-furlong race around a 12-furlong oval. As recently as 2002, Sarava, who thwarted War Emblem’s Triple Crown bid, won from No. 11 in an 11-horse field. The year before that, Point Given was a winner after drawing the outside stall in a nine-horse group.

On Wednesday, posts for seven other horses had already been drawn, which left only No. 1 or No. 9 when it came Smarty Jones’ turn.

“I’m glad we got the 9 instead of the 1,” Servis said, “and I’m happy with the 9. This will give us a nice run into the first turn, and [jockey Stewart Elliott] can sit outside, get comfortable and secure a good position.”

Master David wound up with the inside post. Outside him, in order, are Purge, Caiman, Birdstone, Rock Hard Ten, Royal Assault, Tap Dancer, Eddington and Smarty Jones. Rock Hard Ten, though finishing second in the Preakness, is the 8-1 third choice on the morning line, behind Smarty Jones and Purge at 5-1. The Belmont, the 11th race on a 13-race card, will be run at 3:30 p.m. PDT. It is a $1-million race, with $600,000 to the winner, but Smarty Jones could pocket an extra $5 million for sweeping the series. He’s already won a $5-million bonus from Oaklawn Park, for winning two races in Arkansas and the Kentucky Derby, and a win Saturday would send him past Cigar, who is No. 1 on the North American money list with $9,999,815.

Belmont officials expect the track attendance record -- 103,222, set in 2002 when Sarava knocked off War Emblem -- to be broken. With no rain in the forecast and temperatures in the 70s, there will be a fast track.

“I don’t think pressure will be a factor in my performance,” said Elliott, who’s never ridden in a Belmont, has seldom ridden at Belmont Park and hasn’t had a winner here since 1999. “Just getting my horse to relax is the main thing.”

The late Bill Shoemaker, who won five Belmonts, said that the two toughest races to ride were anything at 6 1/2 furlongs down the hill at Santa Anita and the 1 1/2 miles of the Belmont Stakes. Shoemaker said that the Belmont was disorienting because American jockeys usually ride at shorter distances.

“You know where you start and you know where you finish,” the 39-year-old Elliott said. “But naturally if you’re not at Belmont all the time, it’s a bit of a disadvantage. It’s almost like riding on a mile track with two turns, except it’s a 1 1/2-mile track.”

Smarty Jones usually wins while coming from just off the pace, but by default he could be on the lead Saturday. Purge won his last race, the Peter Pan Stakes, from just off the pace, and his jockey, John Velazquez, would like to see him in a similar position Saturday.

Neither Servis nor Elliott thinks that Smarty Jones is incapable of winning on the front end, although there hasn’t been a Belmont won that way since Swale in 1984.

“If my horse is in front,” Servis said, “they’ll be going pretty slow, and I can’t say I’m worried about that. If we’re not in front, I hope the pace is quick enough so that we can run them down at the end.”

With a police escort on Wednesday, Smarty Jones was transported the 100 miles from his home track, Philadelphia Park, and arrived at Belmont shortly before noon. He is stabled at barn 5, which is where Secretariat was bedded down en route to his Triple Crown sweep in 1973. Smarty Jones has had only one timed workout since winning the Kentucky Derby five weeks ago. Servis said that his horse would gallop with his favorite pony, Butterscotch, at 5:30 a.m. today and be schooled in the starting gate Friday.

Although opposing trainers have struggled to mount cases for their horses, Servis said he knew that his first Belmont wasn’t a fait accompli.

“I’m concerned about all the other horses,” he said. “We’re not letting our guard down. We know they’ll all be coming to get us.”

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Belmont Stakes Field

The field, in post-position order, for Saturday’s 136th Belmont Stakes, the final leg of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown for 3-year-olds. Where: Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Post time: 3:30 p.m. PDT. TV: Channel 4 (coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. PDT). Distance: 1 1/2 miles. Purse: $1 million. First place: $600,000, second: $200,000, third: $110,000, fourth: $60,000, fifth: $30,000.

*--* PP HORSE Jockey Trainer Owner Odds 1. MASTER DAVID Jose Santos Bobby Frankel Georgica 20-1 Stable, Stephen Mack and Andrew Rosen 2. PURGE John Velazquez Todd Pletcher Starlight 5-1 Stables LLC 3. CAIMAN Ramon Dominguez Angel Medina Victor Achar 50-1 4. BIRDSTONE Edgar Prado Nick Zito Marylou 15-1 Whitney Stables 5. ROCK HARD TEN Alex Solis Jason Orman Mercedes 8-1 Stable LLC, Madeleine Paulson 6. ROYAL ASSAULT Pat Day Nick Zito Tracy Farmer 20-1 7. TAP DANCER Javier Castellano Ed Allard Gilbert 50-1 Campbell 8. EDDINGTON Jerry Bailey Mark Hennig Willmott 10-1 Stables Inc 9. SMARTY JONES Stewart Elliott John Servis Someday Farm 2-5

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