NEW YORK -- Smarty Jones got acquainted with Belmont Park
during his first gallop around the sprawling track Thursday under
the watchful eye of owners Roy and Pat Chapman.
The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner galloped once around the 1½-mile track under exercise rider Pete van Trump.
More than 100 reporters and photographers tracked his every move, including when he simply stood in his stall gazing out at the crowd.
"The horse went great and everything is right on schedule,"
trainer John Servis said. "He seemed to really like it and bounced
over it like he did at Churchill," where he won the Derby.
Smarty Jones will gallop again Friday and practice standing in
the starting gate in preparation for Saturday's Belmont Stakes. A
victory would make him the first Triple Crown winner in 26 years.
The horse looks fine. It's his handlers who are beginning to feel the jitters.
"We're starting to get nervous," Servis said. "The fact that we have a chance to make history is starting to set in."
Servis and his stable pony accompanied Smarty Jones during his
brief time out of the barn. The chestnut colt spent the rest of the
day in his stall, alternately napping and eating.
He was never alone.
Stable foreman Bill Foster pulled up a white plastic chair
outside Smarty Jones' stall, and security guards were posted
nearby. Nearly everyone who wandered by Barn 5 detoured to the side
yard for a glimpse of the small horse who has captured the public's
fancy.
"He likes the cameras," Foster said. "He's not afraid of
people."
Smarty Jones arrived from his home base at Philadelphia Park on
Wednesday. If he becomes the 12th Triple Crown winner and first
since Affirmed in 1978, he also would be the first to complete the
series sweep without a race over the Belmont surface.
Roy Chapman kept up in his wheelchair, equipped with an oxygen
tank to help with his emphysema. He has run horses before at
Belmont and was glad to be back.
"It's a great track," he said. "All we need now is racing
luck. You always need racing luck."
Smarty Jones is stabled in the same barn as 1973 Triple Crown
winner Secretariat, and it's located next to the barn of 2003 Derby
and Preakness winner Funny Cide.
The weather forecast for Saturday includes a 10 percent chance
of rain.
"A little rain wouldn't hurt us Saturday," Chapman said.
"Smarty loves an off track."
Smarty Jones is 8-for-8 and won the Arkansas Derby in the mud
and the Kentucky Derby in the slop.