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Dateline: 05/01/2004
Throughout the spring he had outrun a sprinter's pedigree and his critics and, on Kentucky Derby Day, Smarty Jones outran a field of the nation's finest 3-year-olds and all of his doubters. Someday Farm's Pennsylvania-bred caught the front-running Lion Heart with a furlong to go and pulled away to score a 2 1/4-length victory in the 130th Kentucky Derby (Grade I) at soggy Churchill Downs. Smarty Jones skipped over a track left "sloppy" by a mid-afternoon downpour that drenched a crowd or 140,054 and completed the 1 ¼-mile distance in 2:04.06 under jockey Stewart Elliott. Steve Taub's Imperialism closed from far back to finish third under jockey Kent Desormeaux and Dogwood Stable's Limehouse, ridden by 2003 Derby winner Jose Santos, was fourth.
Smarty Jones, who brought a perfect record of six victories in as many races into Derby 130, became the first unbeaten winner of the "Run for the Roses" since Seattle Slew in 1977 and just the fifth unbeaten winner in the history of the race. Elliott, a regular at Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Park, earned a Kentucky Derby victory in his first shot at America's greatest race and became the first rookie rider to win the race since Ronnie Franklin won aboard Spectacular Bid in 1979.
The John Servis-trained colt broke from the gate as the $4.10-to-1 favorite in the field of 18 3-year-old Thoroughbreds and became just the second favorite to win the race since Spectacular Bid won that '79 running as an odd-on choice. The colt is the highest priced favorite to win the Derby and paid $10.20 to win. Smarty Jones also earned the $5 million "Centennial Bonus" from Oaklawn Park, which was offered to the horse that swept the Arkansas track's Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby (GII) and the Kentucky Derby. The result was an extraordinary pay day for the son of Elusive Quality owned and bred by Patricia and Roy "Chappy" Chapman's Someday Farm. Along with the bonus, Smarty Jones collected the $854,500 winner's share of the Kentucky Derby's $1,154,800 purse.
Lion Heart, a son of Tale of the Cat trained by Patrick Biancone, finished as a runner-up in his third consecutive race since he capped an impressive 2-year-old season with a win in the Hollywood Futurity (GI) at Hollywood Park. Imperialism rallied strongly in the stretch after encountering early traffic problems and finished 3 1/4-lengths behind the top pair.
There were five other stakes on the Derby card. Full results with photos for them are here.
Full results chart from Equibase ">Full results chart from DRF
Smarty Jones with the Derby Roses. Jockey Stewart Elliott said, "It is just unbelievable. We bunched up a bit on the first turn but things turned out great. It was a good trip. I crossed the wire and I can't explain it; There aren't words to describe it. At the three-eighths pole, I knew I had a loaded gun underneath me. I was just going to sit until he straightened up and switched leads. He really went to running." Owner Roy Chapman said, "To see a horse that was born on the farm that we had and look at the stall he was born, I'm still a little nervous. We have an awful lot of horses, had an awful lot of fun, and sometimes you have to cheer loud when you have a $10,000 claimer winner as any. You love them all. But no, we've never raced at this level. Never thought we would get here, until we met Smarty and this guy (trainer John Servis) sitting next to me.
Eventual second place finisher Lion Heart leads the way first time past the finish line. Smarty Jones is in the line of horses behind him with the blue cap. Lion Heart's jockey Mike Smith said, "He heard the crowd roar and thought it was time to go. I had a great trip and had every opportunity to beat him, but Smarty Jones just had another gear today. I thought I had enough horse (to hold off Smarty Jones) at the 4 1/2. I tried to get away from him and he hung with me, so I knew it was going to be a dogfight to the end. Everything worked to a 'T', but I didn't win."
Smarty Jones in the post parade. Winning trainer John Servis said, "Man, that was great. That was a beautiful race. Picture perfect. An absolutely masterful ride. You know, when Stu reached back and really got after him and he started to pull away, it was just passed the eighth pole and the first thing I thought of, Bob Baffert told me: John, you've got a good horse. If you're fortunate enough to win the race, when they go past the eighth pole and you know you're going to win it, you're going to be overcome by a feeling that I can't explain to you, and you'll never -- you'll never get over it. Every race you run in will never be the same like the Kentucky Derby. He actually had a little bit of a tear in his eye telling us. When this horse came to the eighth pole, I was thinking about what he said. He's right, it was just overwhelming."
Second place finisher Lion Heart in the post parade. Trainer Patrick Biancone said, "We are very happy. He stayed the trip. He ran a big race. They all had to run over the same track conditions. I have great respect for the winner...he's a champion. I hope, if everything goes well, in two weeks we can get revenge. Perhaps we can have an Affirmed / Alydar rivalry."
Third place finisher Imperialism in the post parade. Jockey Kent Desormeaux said, "I'm the kind of jockey who likes to run out of horse at the sixteenth pole, then get into my bag of tricks and figure out a way to get them to win anyway. But today I went under the wire with a horse with a ton of run left in him. The reason that happened was that all around the turn - for about 200 yards I'd say - I was about frozen in my position. The horses all around me weren't going anywhere. I finally decided I had to go out and around, and when I did, the horse cut it loose. But I'd given him too much to do. I didn't want it that way, but it turned out that way." Trainer Kristin Mulhall added, "We're very pleased. Of course, it was great for us to be here. He didn't mind the muddy track, he handled it well. He got stuck on the inside, but when he was finally asked to move, he did great."
Todd Pletcher, trainer of fourth place finisher Limehouse (pictured here) and eighth place finisher Birdstone, said, "First of all I definitely would like to salute the winner. He ran great race and he's a champion. I hate making excuses and I know the fans hate it too, but The Cliff's Edge lost his two front shoes during the race. Due to that fact, you definitely have to give my horse a lot of credit. The little man (Birdstone) lost a shoe too, his left front. Sometimes you're a messenger for how this game works. Knock on wood, if Cliff is ok, hopefully the Preakness will be next. We'll probably not go with Birdstone."
Michael Dickinson, trainer of Tapit who finished ninth, inspects the track just before the Derby. He said, "Ramon (jockey, Dominguez) said he didn't handle the track. In his last race (Wood Memorial) he was just cruising. Ramon never had to ask him for his run. Today was different. The track was a little sticky for us. He never got running. Ramon said he was never running well enough to win. We'll either go in the Preakness or Belmont. We'll decide in about a week's time."
Photos courtesy of Tina Hines.
