June 6, 2004
Triple Frown
Smarty Jones came into yesterday's running of the Belmont Stakes a 2-5 favorite, but left as yet another casualty of one of sport's most difficult tasks. The almost super horse who set a record winning the Preakness three weeks ago was caught in the last 100 yards of the long stretch run, disappointing millions of fans, but showing a lot of heart. As sportwriter Tim Price explains:
For the sixth time in the past eight years, a horse has come to the long, wide oval at Belmont Park and lost the Triple Crown in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes. The growing gap of years with no Triple Crown winner is now 27. It's the longest stretch in the history of the sport, by two years, with no Triple Crown winner. But even the quickest look at the details of the race will show why Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Smarty Jones lost the Belmont to 36-1 long shot Birdstone. Just dust off the stopwatch and do a little math.
It all came down to the last 1/4 mile, which Smarty Jones ran in 27 seconds. That's about 4 seconds slower than every other segment of the race. Had this one been a mile and a quarter, like the Derby, it would have been a rout. Instead, Smarty smply ran out of gas. A great race, just a disappointing ending.
Posted by glenn
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