Smarty Jones (horse)

Won Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes (USA-R, 7FD, Philadelphia Park)

2004:

Won Kentucky Derby (USA-G1, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
Won Preakness Stakes (USA-G1, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
Won Arkansas Derby (USA-G2, 9FD, Oaklawn)
Won Rebel Stakes (USA-L, 8.5FD, Oaklawn)
Won Southwest Stakes (USA-L, 8FD, Oaklawn)
Won Count Fleet Stakes (USA-L, 8f+70yD, Aqueduct)
2nd Belmont Stakes (USA-G1, 12FD, Belmont)

Honors

Eclipse Award, American champion 3-year-old male (2004)

Assessments

Rated at 128 pounds on the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings for 2004, tops among 3-year-olds worldwide and 2 pounds below the world's highest-rated racehorse, the 4-year-old Ghostzapper.

As an individual

A chestnut horse, Smarty Jones is well balanced but fairly ordinary looking and not particularly correct in front, although he has a good shoulder and an excellent hind leg. He had a smooth, efficient stride when racing and preferred cruising on or near the lead. Those who know him well have described him as highly intelligent and with a dominant attitude.

As a stallion

According to Jockey Club records, Smarty Jones has sired 31 stakes winners as of July 7, 2022.

Sire rankings

Per El Turf (www.elturf.com):

Led the Uruguayan general sire list in 2017.

Notable progeny

Bamba y Bamba (URU), Better Life (USA), Centralinteligence (USA), Smart D N A (USA)

Notable progeny of daughters

Misia Nena (CHI), Quasar (IND)

Connections

Foaled in Pennsylvania, Smarty Jones was bred and owned by Roy and Pat Chapman's Someday Farm. He was trained by John Servis. Following the Triple Crown series, the Chapmans retained a 50 percent interest in Smarty Jones (which passed to Pat Chapman's sole ownership after Roy Chapman's death in 2006); the other 50 percent was syndicated at a price yielding a total valuation of US$39 million for the colt. As Smarty's stud career progressed, Pat Chapman repurchased a number of shares in him to ensure that she would retain control over her beloved horse.

Smarty Jones entered stud in 2005 at Three Chimneys Farm. In November 2010, he moved to Ghost Ridge Farm in Pennsylvania, where he stood in 2011. He next moved to Northview Stallion Station's Pennsylvania division in 2012, where he stood through 2015. He then moved to Calumet Farm near Lexington, Kentucky, for 2016 and stood there through 2018 before moving again, this time to Equistar in Pennsylvania. Smarty Jones also shuttled to Uruguay, standing at Haras Cuatro Piedras for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season in 2011-2013 and at Haras La Concordia in 2017 and 2018.

Pedigree notes

Smarty Jones is outcrossed through five generations. Produced from multiple stakes winner I'll Get Along, he is a half brother to listed stakes winner Smartys Emperoress (by Holy Roman Emperor).

A half sister to multiple Grade 3 winner Cowboy Cop (by Silver Deputy), I'll Get Along is also a half sister to Cahill Miss (by Cahill Road), dam of stakes winner Manzottina (by Manzotti), and to Nice Dilemma (by Silver Deputy), dam of 2013 Mexican champion imported 3-year-old colt Ketal (by Fusaichi Pegasus). The dam of I'll Get Along, Dont Worry Bout Me (by Foolish Pleasure), is one of four stakes winners (including 1985 Delaware Handicap, USA-G1, winner Basie, by In Reality) produced from the Herbager mare Stolen Base, whose dam Bases Full (by Ambiorix) is one of five stakes winners produced from 1961 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Striking.

Books and media

Smarty Jones: America's Horse is a 30-minute made-for-television movie produced by Mt. Philo Films and released on October 31, 2004. It won the 2005 Eclipse Award for national television coverage.
Smarty Jones: America's Horse is a book by Sports Publishing LLC. It was released as a paperback on June 1, 2004.
Smarty Jones: Forever a Champion is the authorized biography of Smarty Jones. Written by Billy Valentine, it is based on multiple interviews with Smarty Jones' human connections. It was published in 2005 by Braveheart Press, LLC.

Fun facts

Smarty Jones' name came from Roy Chapman's affectionate nickname for his mother-in-law, Mildred Jones, who shared a February 28 birthday with the colt.
Smarty Jones was bred on the recommendation of trainer Robert Camac, who trained his dam I'll Get Along to 12 wins and advised the Chapmans to breed her to Elusive Quality.
That Smarty Jones ever made it to the track was something of a miracle after he reared in the gate while schooling as an unraced 2-year-old and fractured his skull. The resulting swelling of his head was so severe that the colt got the nickname of “Quasimodo” at the New Jersey Equine Clinic where he was treated, but he survived without apparent physical or psychological aftereffects.
Smarty Jones' Thoro-Graph figure for the 2004 Rebel Stakes was the fastest ever given to a 3-year-old up to that time.
The Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission declared May 1, 2004, to be “Smarty Jones Day” in honor of the colt's Pennsylvania origins and connections.
Smarty Jones was the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby with a first-time Derby trainer and first-time Derby jockey since Spectacular Bid took trainer Bud Delp and jockey Ron Franklin to victory in 1979.
Smarty Jones was the second Pennsylvania-bred to win the Kentucky Derby, following Lil E. Tee in 1992.
Smarty Jones' margin of 11½ lengths in the Preakness Stakes was the largest in the race's history.
Following Smarty Jones' Preakness victory, the colt was featured on the covers of both Sports Illustrated and ESPN.
Smarty Jones was the third horse to come into the Belmont Stakes with a chance to sweep the American Triple Crown while unbeaten. The first two were Majestic Prince, who ran second to Arts and Letters in 1969, and Seattle Slew, who completed the triple in 1977.
Smarty Jones' Belmont Stakes crowd of 120,139 was the largest in Belmont history and made Smarty Jones the heaviest Belmont favorite (at 1-5) since Spectacular Bid in 1979.
Smarty Jones' retirement in August 2004 short-circuited plans for a US$10 million match race in late September between him and his Belmont Stakes conqueror, Birdstone. The connections of both horses had reportedly agreed to the idea although a site had not yet been determined.
All eight of Smarty Jones' victories were at different distances.
Smarty Jones set a single-season North American earnings record of $7,563,535 in 2004. Part of Smarty Jones' huge bankroll came from a US$5 million bonus offered by Oaklawn Park to any horse that could sweep its major Kentucky Derby preps—the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby—plus the Kentucky Derby.
Smarty Jones' human connections won the 2004 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Award as the people who did the most for racing that year in the judgment of the New York Turf Writers' Association. Smarty's trainer, John Servis, also shared the NYTWA's Red Smith "Good Guy" Award with John Imbriale.
At Three Chimneys Farm, Smarty Jones was given the stall in the stallion barn that had belonged to 1977 American Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew.
Unlike most Three Chimneys stallions, Smarty Jones was not ridden regularly for exercise as the injuries that ended his racing career proved to be chronic and too severe to risk further harm through the horse's bearing a rider's weight.
In 2010, a “Moneigh” abstract painting by Smarty Jones fetched a sales-topping US$3,141.57 in an auction benefiting the Thoroughbred rehoming agency ReRun. The purple-and-red painting outsold works by such equine celebrities as Big Brown, Curlin, Cigar, Funny Cide and A.P. Indy.
The Smarty Jones Stakes is a Grade 3 event over the synthetic surface at Parx Racing (formerly Philadelphia Park). As of 2019, it was carded for 3-year-olds at 8.5 furlongs. Oaklawn Park also hosts a Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds; this race kicks off Oaklawn's series of Kentucky Derby preps and as of 2020 is a listed race at one mile on dirt.
Smarty Jones' stall in the Calumet Farm stallion barn was previously the home of 1944 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Pensive and 1949 Kentucky Derby winner Ponder, both Calumet homebreds.

Photo credit

Photo taken by Avalyn Hunter at Three Chimneys in 2006.

Last updated: December 28, 2023