Can These Challengers Upset Smarty Jones?

Trainer Patrick Biancone has had enough -- he likens Lion Heart’s two losses to Smarty Jones to ring mismatches with Muhammad Ali -- but there is a clutter of other horses who will try to block the Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner’s Triple Crown bid in the Belmont Stakes.

Although Smarty Jones devastated the Preakness field with a record 11 1/2-length win Saturday at Pimlico, as many as 12 rivals might show up in New York on June 5, when a win in the Belmont would give racing its 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since Affirmed in 1978.

Some of the Belmont probables will be running for trainers who are hardly enamored with taking on Smarty Jones, who is undefeated in eight races. He is only the third Derby-Preakness winner to go into the Belmont with a perfect record. Majestic Prince had won nine in a row when, against trainer Johnny Longden’s wishes, he ran and suffered a career-ending tendon injury, finishing second to Arts And Letters in the 1969 Belmont. In 1977, Seattle Slew, extending his streak to nine races, won the Belmont and swept the Triple Crown.

“Smarty Jones looked like a superstar in the Preakness,” said trainer Bobby Frankel, who might run Master David in the Belmont. “He looks like a cinch in the Belmont, unless something goes wrong. He likes off tracks, fast tracks and he’s always in the race. He doesn’t need anyone to set the pace for him.”

Master David was second in the Wood Memorial, but finished 12th in the Derby, run on a sloppy track. To run in the Belmont, Frankel needs a solid effort from his colt next Saturday, when he runs in the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.

Other Belmont Stakes prospects running in the Peter Pan include Friends Lake and Swingforthefences. Belmont Park is also listing Rock Hard Ten and Eddington, who were second and third in the Preakness, as possible for the Belmont, along with The Cliff’s Edge, Birdstone, Royal Assault, Tapit, Castledale, Relaxed Gesture and Sinister G.

Lion Heart was stabled on the opposite side of Smarty Jones in the Preakness barn at Pimlico, which is about as close as Biancone wants to get. Lion Heart set the pace in the first two Triple Crown races, finishing second in the Derby and fourth in the Preakness.

“It was like being in the ring with Ali,” Biancone said. “Smarty Jones punched us out in Louisville, and he punched us out again here. At the eighth pole Saturday, my horse must have said, ‘Not again.’ If it had been boxing, I would have thrown in the towel. Smarty Jones is a freak, he’s a great horse. In the barn, he just looks like a horse, but when the gate opens, his light goes on. If he repeats what he did [Saturday], he’ll win the Belmont.”

Friends Lake, trained by John Kimmel, was another of those horses who went into the Kentucky Derby off a strong race but failed to fire at Churchill Downs. Friends Lake was 15th in the Derby after winning the Florida Derby seven weeks before.

“Smarty Jones was the only one who showed up in the Preakness. Somebody has to run against him,” Kimmel said of the Belmont. “But first we need to pass the Peter Pan hurdle [at 1 1/8 miles] and show that we’ll improve going a mile and a half in the Belmont.”

Three of the Belmont candidates -- The Cliff’s Edge, Birdstone and Royal Assault -- are trained by Nick Zito, who has won the Derby twice and the Preakness once, but is winless with 11 starters in his hometown race. The Cliff’s Edge, the Blue Grass Stakes winner, was scratched the day before the Preakness because of a bruised foot, but Zito may have him ready for the Belmont. Birdstone was eighth in the Derby. Royal Assault was fifth in the Wood, won by Tapit, but he won the Sir Barton Stakes, at 1 1/16 miles, on the Preakness undercard.

Zito likes the idea that Sarava, another Sir Barton winner, won the Belmont -- at 70-1 -- to spoil War Emblem’s Triple Crown bid in 2002. Pat Day, who has won three Belmonts, will ride Royal Assault on June 5.

On Sunday morning, Smarty Jones was taken by van the 100 miles from Pimlico to his home base at Philadelphia Park. Trainer John Servis has yet to map out a training schedule for his colt and is undecided about when he’ll ship him the 100 miles from Philadelphia Park to Belmont. Smarty Jones didn’t arrive at Pimlico until three days before the Preakness. Servis said that it is possible his horse won’t have a workout before the Belmont.

“You get so intense in watching a race that you don’t realize what’s happening,” Servis said. “Right afterwards, I thought he won by three, four or five lengths. When somebody told me we won by more than 11, I had to watch a rerun to be sure.”

Just as he did after the Derby, the cautious Servis hedged his bets about running in the next race. The Belmont purse is $1 million, but Smarty Jones also will be running for a $5-million bonus that comes with sweeping the Triple Crown.

“What I see right now, everything looks good for the Belmont,” Servis said. “But he has to go back to the track and hit on all cylinders and be aggressive before I can be sure.”

Servis said that owners Roy and Pat Chapman want to run Smarty Jones “for a long time, and I’m not going to jeopardize that for one race.”

The trainer added that Smarty Jones came out of the Preakness in perfect shape.

“This is a risky game,” he said. “You come to the barn every morning, and there might be a horse with a quarter crack, or one that’s cast himself in his stall, and you just hope that it’s not [Smarty Jones]. He hasn’t missed a step all the way through this. I’m almost afraid to talk about it.”

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Ten Most Wanted, whose five wins included the Travers, the Illinois Derby and the Super Derby, has been retired because of a ligament injury. Ten Most Wanted, whose sire, Deputy Commander, also won the Travers -- both for trainer Wally Dollase -- ran 13 times and earned $1.7 million. His Travers win followed a ninth-place finish in the 2003 Derby and a second to Empire Maker in the Belmont.

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Triple Crown Ratings

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Tribune Co. ratings for 3-year-olds leading up to the Belmont Stakes.

*--* Horse Trainer Jockey St W P S Last Race Next Race 1 Smarty John Stewa 8 8 0 0 Preakness Belmont Stakes Jones Servis rt (1st) Ellio tt 2 Rock Jason Gary 5 2 2 1 Preakness Belmont Stakes Hard Ten Orman Steve (2nd) ns 3 Lion Patrick Mike 7 3 3 0 Preakness Undecided-Sara Heart Biancon Smith (4th) toga e 4 Kristin Kent 17 5 4 2 Preakness Undecided-Holl Imperial Mulhall Desor (5th) ywood Park ism meaux 5 Mark Jerry 7 2 2 3 Preakness Belmont Stakes Eddingto Hennig Baile (3rd) n y 6 The Nick Shane 9 4 2 1 Kentucky Belmont Stakes Cliff’s Zito Selle Derby Edge rs (5th) 7 Ashado Todd John 9 6 2 1 Kentucky Undecided Pletche Velaz Oaks (1st) r quez 8 Todd Jose 10 5 0 3 Kentucky Undecided Limehous Pletche Santo Derby e r s (4th) 9 Tapit Michael Ramon 5 3 0 0 Kentucky Belmont Stakes Dickins Domin Derby on guez (9th) 10 Royal Nick Pat 5 2 1 1 Sir Barton Belmont Stakes Assault Zito Zito (1st)

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Triple Crown panel: Bill Christine, Los Angeles Times; Dave Joseph, South Florida Sun-Sentinel; Tom Keyser, Baltimore Sun; Neil Milbert, Chicago Tribune; Paul Moran, Newsday.