INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When last we caught a glimpse of Gary Stevens, he was sliding off Rock Hard Ten after the May 15 Preakness and heading straight for the airport, hustling to get back to Paris for a big day of racing for the man who holds his contract, Andre Fabre.
The dramatic Belmont Stakes last Saturday generated all sorts of historic numbers, such as the record attendance of 120,139 and the staggering national betting handle of over $105 million for the card. Yet centuries from now, when future civilizations look for signs of intelligent life in the numbers that emerged from this momentous day of racing, the one that may puzzle them most is $3.30.
That's what Smarty Jones paid to place, and the more you think about it, the crazier it is.
NEW YORK - The "butterfly effect," a key component of chaos theory, is a term used to explain how seemingly tiny things cause enormous ones to happen. First described in 1972 by the meteorologist Edward Lorenz, it says that the flapping of a butterfly's wings in Brazil can set off a chain of events culminating in a devastating tornado in Texas.
Last Saturday, racing history was altered by a butterfly named Birdstone.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Now that the 3-year-olds are napping, at least for a while, it is time to commence the 20th anniversary celebration of the most memorable Horse of the Year campaign of the 1980's.
And what better way to start than on Saturday at Hollywood Park in the $350,000 Whittingham Memorial? During the Reagan era, the race was known simply as the Hollywood Invitational Handicap. If asked, however, the grouchy old battler named John Henry would have a slightly different description of the event. He called it, "Mine."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hollywood Park will do its share to maintain the Big Mo generated by Smarty Jones this Saturday when the track presents three of its most important events - the Oaks, the Californian, and the Whittingham - each of them brimming with rich tradition. Sort of.
Tradition has been taking a beating lately, thanks to a pair of celebrated icons who have very little say in the matter. Their names are being invoked to rip great holes in some very fundamental fabric.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Did jockey Stewart Elliott move too soon?
That is the question that will be asked by countless second-guessers in the immediate aftermath of the Belmont Stakes, and perhaps in the years to come, after Smarty Jones wilted in the stretch and lost his bid to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978.
ELMONT. N.Y. - It was a sad sight, recalled John Servis, an image that would not go away. The man sitting by himself at a Baltimore restaurant was about as successful as anyone in his business could be. But there he was, alone with his dark thoughts, the weight of the world on his shoulders, his face a map of unrelenting woe.
"I couldn't even imagine what the guy was going through," Servis said. "After what he started with at the beginning of the year, and have to go through all that hardship?"
ELMONT, N.Y. - On the morning of the Arkansas Derby, back in those distant April days when Smarty Jones was a mere figment of the national imagination, John Servis wrapped up his early work and went fishing. For four hours.
"I wish I could do that today," Servis said on Saturday morning, nine hours before the 136th Belmont Stakes was scheduled to be run.
ELMONT, N.Y. - If racing had not been understandably obsessed with Smarty Jones's Triple Crown bid for the last five weeks, we might still be talking about an unusual bounty of talent and quality in the sport this year: the true bumper crop of top-class older horses that has emerged this season.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Smarty Jones is an overwhelming favorite to win Saturday's Belmont Stakes and become history's 12th Triple Crown winner, but handicappers can raise a few legitimate questions about his supposed invulnerability.
Will his stamina-deprived pedigree hurt him at the 1 1/2-mile distance of the Belmont? Will the presence of the speedster Purge force Smarty Jones into a destructive duel for the lead? Will Rock Hard Ten, who finished second in the Preakness in only his fourth career start, improve enough to reverse the result at Pimlico?