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NEW YORK -- Bob Baffert felt horrible when he saw Smarty Jones fall back. His wife took it even harder.
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"She was crying when they hit the wire. She really wanted him to win," the famed trainer said. "But we know what that feels like."
More than anyone, actually.
The Belmont claimed yet another victim Saturday when Smarty Jones came up one length short of a Triple Crown, beaten in the stretch by long-shot Birdstone.
It marked the sixth time in eight years that a horse lost after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. And three of them -- War Emblem, Real Quiet and Silver Charm -- belonged to Baffert.
"I thought I had it with Real Quiet," Baffert said, referring to the 1998 race when Victory Gallop overcame a four-length lead in the final one-eighth of a mile. "That horse today, he took them as far as he could."
"When he took that final turn and headed home with the lead and the crowd going crazy, that's what you want to see," he said.
Bud Delp wanted just a little more. The trainer of Spectacular Bid, he hoped Smarty Jones would break the 26-year Triple Crown jinx.
"I think it's really disappointing he didn't win," Delp said. "But that's the history of the Belmont."
Like Baffert, Delp knows firsthand.
Delp trained Spectacular Bid, who entered the 1979 Belmont as the prohibitive 3-10 favorite - the same as Smarty.
The Bid was poised to give thoroughbred racing its third straight Triple after Seattle Slew and Affirmed. Instead, he weakened in the final quarter-mile, lost his lead and finished third to Coastal.
"Yeah, you're supposed to win when you're the odds-on favorite," Delp said. "I was really rooting for him today. He might've broken a little early, but I thought he had it."
At least his horse had an excuse. The morning of that race 25 years ago, a safety pin was found stuck a half-inch into the Bid's hoof. After the race, an infection spread and nearly killed him.
"Smarty Jones, he had no health problems," Delp said from Maryland. "I thought he was going to be a winner."
Jack Van Berg felt for the Smarty Jones camp, too. In 1987, his Alysheba got beat by 14 lengths by Bet Twice at the Belmont to end a Triple bid.
"Flashback? Sure, because it happened to me," the trainer said from Hollywood Park.
Van Berg spoke on a regular basis with Smarty Jones' trainer, John Servis, in the weeks leading up to the Belmont.
"John did a tremendous job with the horse. You couldn't ask for any more," he said. "I was a little worried up the backside, but hindsight is 20-20."
"Everybody wanted to see that horse win. It just didn't happen," Van Berg said.
Baffert held similar thoughts after War Emblem finished 19½ lengths behind Sarava in the 2002 Belmont, and Silver Charm was overtaken by Touch Gold in 1997.
Still, Baffert was sure that Smarty Jones helped attract a lot of new fans to horse racing with his first huge win.
"What's most important is to win the Kentucky Derby," he said. "The race today was for the people and history, but the Kentucky Derby is the big one. That's the one you want to win, and he did it."
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
