Smarty Jones Is Leaving as Quickly as He Arrived

[foo_bar]

Smarty Jones was retired to stud yesterday almost as suddenly as he captured the nation's imagination last spring, when he rolled to victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes before sustaining his only loss at the Belmont Stakes in a gallant, but ultimately leg-wobbling defeat just yards away from capturing the Triple Crown.

The farm has yet to determine a stud fee for Smarty Jones, a son of Elusive Quality, but breeding experts said it is likely to be between $75,000 to $150,000 a coupling.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/03/sports/othersports/03smarty.html?hp

[Dookus]

1. damn

that's almost TWICE what I get.

[JSJ]

2. retiring to stud? now, that's SMART(y) n/t

[bread_and_roses]

3. Such a disappointment...

but hard to quarrel with...so much money. And these horses risk their lives every time they set foot on a track. Still...this guy is one a lot of people think is the real deal, and now we'll never know. It would have been particularly interesting to see what he was at four, when he was fully mature.

And damn the NYT for that mean-spirited "leg-wobbling description." It's a nasty reference to his not being "bred for the distance" of the Belmont. Smarty was beaten one length, while excepting Birdstone the next "bred-for-distance" horse was eight lengths behind.

Thanks for the ride, Smarty, it was great fun.