Roy Chapman, 79; Thoroughbred Owner’s Smarty Jones Won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in ’04

Roy Chapman, who with his wife, Pat, raced Smarty Jones, the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, died Friday at his home in the Philadelphia suburb of Doylestown, Pa. He was 79 and had suffered from emphysema in recent years.

Chapman, who owned car dealerships in the Philadelphia area, was involved in racing for more than 20 years. Smarty Jones, who never raced again after his Triple Crown attempt was thwarted by Birdstone in the Belmont Stakes, was foaled at the Chapmans’ Someday Farm in Chester County, Pa.

“He was a great guy and a great competitor,” trainer John Servis told The Blood-Horse magazine. “He went out in style. I’ll give him that. He had a great couple of years with Smarty.

“In the short time I trained for him, I enjoyed it. He was a great guy to train for. My favorite moment was at the Kentucky Derby when he said, ‘Be careful what you ask me because I’m a used-car salesman and I’m from Philadelphia.’ ”

Besides Smarty Jones, the Chapmans raced eight other stakes winners, including I’ll Get Along, the dam of Smarty Jones, who won more than $276,000.

Before winning the Derby and Preakness, Smarty Jones had won five consecutive races. The Belmont was his only defeat, and he finished with more than $7.6 million in earnings.

The image of Roy Chapman, tethered to an oxygen tank because of the disease, became an enduring image of Smarty’s career.

“Smarty Jones was some of the best medicine he had,” Pat Chapman said.

Smarty Jones scored other stakes victories in the Nursery at Philadelphia Park, the Count Fleet at Aqueduct, the Southwest Stakes, the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

By winning the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas and Kentucky derbies, Smarty Jones earned a $5-million bonus for Chapman. It had been offered by Oaklawn President Charles Cella as part of the track’s 100th anniversary.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.