Three Left for Smarty Jones?

The saga of Smarty Jones apparently will have three more chapters on the racetrack.

Mike Chapman, the son of Roy and Patricia Chapman, who own the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, said the 3-year-old colt would race three more times in 2004, then probably would be retired to begin his stud career in Kentucky.

Chapman cited the high cost of insurance as the main reason Smarty Jones probably won’t race as a 4-year-old.

“It would cost my parents more than $1 million to insure him next year,” Chapman told Bloomberg News on Tuesday. “He’ll probably be retired because our current insurance [at an undisclosed premium] is good through the end of the year.”

Smarty Jones, winner of eight of nine starts, could have become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 but was upset by Birdstone in the Belmont Stakes on June 5.

He will make his next appearance -- as expected -- in the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 6 at Philadelphia Park, then return to Belmont Park for the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 2, then conclude in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 30 at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

In both the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Smarty Jones will be running against older horses, which he has not done.

The Chapmans have said they would like the colt to race again at the track where he began his career, Philadelphia Park, so he’ll run there in the Pennsylvania Derby rather than in the more prestigious Travers Stakes on Aug. 28 at Saratoga.

If Smarty Jones won all three races and finished with 11 wins in 12 starts, he would become the richest thoroughbred of all time with close to $11 million in purses. Cigar is the leader with $9.9 million. Thanks primarily to the $5-million bonus he collected for winning the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby, Smarty Jones has earned about $7.6 million.

Trained by John Servis, Smarty Jones would already have the earnings record had he won the Belmont Stakes. He would have collected $600,000 as the winner’s share of the purse, plus a $5-million bonus for a sweep of the Triple Crown.