Horse’s Success Never Gets Old

Roy Chapman doesn’t travel well, certainly not nearly as well as Smarty Jones, the colt who has presented him with Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins. But don’t mistake Chapman’s wheelchair for weakness.

For one thing, the salty 78-year-old Chapman doesn’t cotton to derogatory remarks about Smarty Jones’ jockey, Stewart Elliott.

“I read something in Kentucky that Stew was a novice rider,” Chapman said Saturday, after the Preakness was in the bag. “If he looks like a novice rider now, I’ll kiss your you-know-what.”

Chapman and his wife, Pat, who have been married since the mid-1980s, are enjoying the Smarty Jones ride, one that could have yet another happy, lucrative ending in the Belmont Stakes on June 5. The Preakness win was the eighth for their unbeaten horse.

“We know that someday, somewhere, he is going to get beat,” Roy Chapman said. “But we hope we can put that day off as long as we can.”

Pimlico furnished a golf cart so the Chapmans could get from their seats to the infield cupola, where the Preakness trophy was presented. They live in Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia Park, part of the year, and in Florida the rest of the time. Their horse was only the second Pennsylvania-bred to win the Derby and the sixth from that state to win the Preakness.

“I love the press,” Roy Chapman said at the post-Preakness news conference, “but we might take up residence in Nome, Alaska, the next three weeks, and see you in New York.”

Chapman might be running a blue-collar horse, but he’s not a blue-collar owner. He has sold too many Fords over the years to worry about money. Smarty Jones has already earned $7.4 million, and could enjoy another gigantic payday -- a $5-million Visa-sponsored bonus plus the Belmont purse -- if he wins in New York and sweeps the Triple Crown.

“We wouldn’t give it back, but the money’s not going to change our style, or my family’s style,” Chapman said. “But I sure hope the horse wins another one and helps racing. Maybe some new people will get to know the thrill of cashing a ticket on a horse, whether it’s Smarty Jones or some $4,000 claimer. Even if you’re just betting $2, racing is an absolute blast.”

Toward the end of the questions, somebody asked whether Chapman might have seen Seabiscuit run.

At first Chapman didn’t hear the question. His wife whispered it to him. His guffaw shook the microphone.

“Did I what?” Chapman chortled. “I just got that one. I’m ... I guess I am getting old. I trained him -- what the hell do you mean, did I see him run?”

*

There could be a small field for the Belmont. Rock Hard Ten and Eddington, who ran second and third Saturday, are bred to handle the 1 1/2-mile distance. Rock Hard Ten’s trainer, Jason Orman, said he would take a couple of days to decide.

It is unlikely that Lion Heart and Imperialism will try the Belmont.

*

Eighteen minutes before post time, Imperialism, who was saddled with the rest of the horses in the Pimlico infield, was sent to the indoor paddock for a new shoe to be installed on his left front foot. Five minutes later, he returned to the track.

“I don’t think it was a major factor,” trainer Kristin Mulhall said. “We’ll go home, freshen him up and look to the late summer.”

*

Rock Hard Ten, the next-to-last horse to be loaded into the gate, balked at going into his stall and delayed the start. But he ran a strong race for a colt who hadn’t run in six weeks and had run only three times before.

“Smarty Jones is as good as any horse I’ve ever seen,” said Gary Stevens, who rode Rock Hard Ten. “I’ve seen some good ones, I’ve been on some good ones and I was on a good one today.”

*

Other stakes winners on the Pimlico card were Royal Assault in the Sir Barton; Mr O’Brien in the Dixie; Seattle Fitz in the William Donald Schaefer Handicap; Artie Schiller in the Woodlawn; Abbondanza in the Hirsch Jacobs; Ocean Drive in the Gallorette Handicap; and Gators N Bears in the Maryland Breeders’ Cup.