Sunday, June 06, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
JOE HAWK: He's now just another Jones
The $100 betting slip floating faceup in a urinal in the men's room across from the Stardust race and sports book said it all Saturday.
No, it wasn't "Pass on it!"
That might have been smart advice before Smarty Jones was led into his No. 9 starting gate on a cloudy early evening at Belmont Park in New York. But 1 1/2 miles and almost 2 1/2 minutes later, the pointed advice left by a smarting, Smarty Jones smarty-pants was all the disgruntled -- OK, the male disgruntled -- could target.
And the line of fellow bettors who took him up on it was long and, shall we say, direct in releasing its pent-up frustration. Talk about taking the cake; uh, this one took the urinal cake.
Ah, but that's what makes a horse race, folks.
We may know who we think should win. We may think we know who will win.
But as horse racing has taught us time and again, to "know" and to "think" are two wholly different things. The sport of kings has made jokers out of many over the years.
"This is the worst (expletive) day of my life," said T.J. Martin of La Canada, Calif., who held his hands high in anguish for a full minute after Smarty Jones' bid to become thoroughbred racing's 12th Triple Crown winner was dashed by 36-1 long shot Birdstone down the homestretch. Trainer Nick Zito's 3-year-old charge began challenging Smarty Jones at the clubhouse turn and went on to win by a full length as a packed Stardust race-and-sports-book crowd watched in stunned disbelief.
"We get teased with this every (expletive) year," Martin said. "It (expletive) (expletive)!"
That is one way of putting it.
Or, you could look at it from the standpoint of someone who went against the odds -- Smarty Jones was a 1-5 favorite -- and made some money betting the field against the chestnut colt at another Strip property at plus-230.
"Belmont is a wacky track," said Michael Licchi of New York City, in town for a friend's bachelor-party weekend. "The odds of a horse winning a Triple Crown these days? It's like betting on the (Boston) Red Sox to win the World Series."
Still, most in the know believed if there was a horse to do it, Smarty Jones was the one. Twenty-six years of disappointment -- and growing disillusionment in the once-proud sport -- would end the moment this popular Philadelphia-bred "re-Affirmed" it could and would be done.
Smarty Jones, whether he knew it or not, was to be what Michael Jordan was to the NBA when it sorely needed him, what Barry Bonds has been to Major League Baseball when it had to have him. He was to be the face, long and lovable, that would launch a new generation of horse racing fans.
Instead, he's just another "Jones, S." in the phone book of sports runners-up.
"In every sport, they market a star player. Horse racing needs a superstar. Hopefully, Smarty Jones will be that horse," Stardust race and sports book director Bob Scucci said about an hour before post time.
Once the race was run, all Scucci could do was shrug and smile sheepishly.
"Six of the last eight years ..." he said of a Triple Crown bid being tripped up down its prized homestretch. "It hurts. It's like the air being let out of a giant bubble.
"You know this could have been a big moment for the sport when even the owners of the other horses were saying how great it would be if Smarty Jones won."
Not to be. Again.
It took an elderly horse racing handicapper sitting nearby, her fingers fumbling through her permutation of betting slips, to provide a different perspective on what this five-deep crowd of fanatical and simply curious had just witnessed. This gentle soul raised her head and nodded toward a small TV screen in the sports book where an ABC News feed was documenting the career of President Ronald Reagan, who died Saturday at age 93.
"You know," she said softly, "we lost a great one."
Yes, ma'am. And President Reagan died Saturday, too.
Joe Hawk's column is published Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 387-2912 or jhawk@reviewjournal.com.
