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The chants of "Go, Smarty!" quickly turned into cries of "No, Smarty" at Philly Park.
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Thousands of fans jammed Smarty Jones' home track in suburban Philadelphia to cheer on the small red chestnut, only to leave disappointed by his failed Triple Crown bid.
"The Philly jinx rides again," fan Jeff Rosenthal said. "We should be getting used to this by now."
With Smarty Jones leading the charge down the stretch Saturday at Belmont, the crowd inside the Philly Park bar had started celebrating early. Then Birdstone passed the hometown hero.
The din that had begun at 9:30 a.m. when the doors opened was lost amid a deafening silence. Smarty Jones lost by a length.
Just before post time, Rosenthal had said: "This horse has no idea what he has riding on his back: the hopes and dreams of this city."
After capturing the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, many fans hoped Smarty Jones would bring an end to Philadelphia's 21-year championship drought.
"I still love him," Theresa Jones said as she shuffled past a pile of discarded betting slips. "He's still No. 1 in my book."
Bad actor
It took a blindfold to get Rock Hard Ten into the starting gate at Belmont Park.When the horse balked on his first approach, the starters walked him in a circle and tried again. He backed up and jockey Alex Solis patted his neck reassuringly.
Rock Hard Ten wasn't buying it. He kicked his hind legs, jumped and turned sideways. Solis jumped off and the starters tied a green blindfold over the colt's eyes.
This time, he went in.
Trainer Jason Orman wasn't discouraged by Rock Hard Ten's fifth-place finish after the colt pressed the pace for more than a mile in the 1½-mile race. The colt was the 6-1 second choice behind Smarty Jones.
"I think we might have been too worried about Smarty Jones and not worried enough about everybody else," he said. "He's had three tough races in five weeks. He's danced every dance. He's a good horse and you'll hear more from him later on."
Nervous Purge
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Purge was beaten before he set foot on the track. The colt finished last in the nine-horse field after setting the early pace in the 1½-mile race."He got pretty wound up on us in the paddock, and he got excited in the post parade," Pletcher said. "He kind of unraveled with the crowd. He got a little too fired up."
When Purge gave up the lead to Smarty Jones on the backside, Pletcher turned his attention to Smarty.
John Velazquez and Purge were so far back, the jockey watched the infield video board to see what was happening in the stretch.
"I would have liked to have seen a Triple Crown, but that's how it goes," he said.
Smarty's earnings
Smarty Jones earned $200,000 for finishing second, and increased his career total to $7,613,155.He remained fourth on the all-time list of North American horses, behind Cigar, Skip Away and Fantastic Light.
Had he won, Smarty Jones would have collected a $5 million bonus for sweeping the Triple Crown and $600,000 from the Belmont purse, catapulting him to the top of the list.
Smarty souvenirs
Among the most popular souvenirs were $2 win tickets on Smarty Jones.Fans purchased them with the intention of not cashing them had the colt won the Triple Crown, hoping the tickets would increase in value in years to come.
At least two people took souvenir hunting to the extreme. One person arranged to purchase 10,000 tickets -- at a cost of $20,000 -- and another bought 6,000 tickets.
"We had never before had much of a market for souvenir tickets," said Bill Nader, senior vice president of the New York Racing Association. "But we've seen a huge appetite for $2 Smarty Jones tickets."
Hollywood Park in California gave away $2 win tickets to the first 10,000 fans through the gates Saturday, which cost the track $20,000.
Record crowd, handle
A record crowd of 120,139 watched Smarty Jones' Triple Crown bid.The old mark was 103,222 for the 2002 Belmont, when 70-1 long shot Sarava derailed War Emblem's Triple try.
The crowd bet a record $14,461,402 on the 13-race card, bettering the old mark of $13,165,397 for the 2001 Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park.
Total handle, which includes wagering from all North American outlets, was $110,994,890, bettering the old mark of $98,835,163 for the 2001 Breeders' Cup.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
