Can't say I'm very surprised, will say that it's sad news for racing.
Smarty Jones, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, was retired to stud today after it was discovered that the colt that had captured the imagination of a nation over the Triple Crown races suffered from chronic bruising.
Last week, after withdrawing Smarty Jones from the Pennsylvania Derby, John Servis, the colt's trainer, acknowledged that several bruises had to be cut out of Smarty Jones's hooves over the last five months, including one before the Kentucky Derby. The bruising was in the bottom of the cannon bones in all four fetlock joints.
Servis had hoped the colt would recover in time for the Breeders Cup Classic at Lone Star Park in Texas on Oct. 30. But after consulting with veterinarians over the weekend, the colt's owners, Roy and Pat Chapman, decided it was more prudent to retire the winner of eight of nine career races who had earned $7,613,155 for the couple.
The Chapmans, who bred Smarty Jones on their modest and aptly named Someday Farm in Pennsylvania, sold 50 percent of the colt's breeding rights to Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Ky., in June for more than $20 million. Earlier that month, Smarty Jones made a gallant run at becoming horse racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, only to come up a length short in the Belmont Stakes after Birdstone ran him down in the stretch.
"This is a fairly common injury in horses, caused by the wear and tear of racing," Servis said in a statement released this afternoon. "He would need three months' rest before he should resume training. This would knock him out for the rest of the year.
"If it were any other horse, you'd turn him out and bring him back to the track in late October and start building back up his conditioning," Servis said. "But this is Smarty Jones. I don't see anyway he can earn on the racetrack in a year what he can earn next spring in the breeding shed. And then you have the emotional trauma if anything should happen to him. I can't blame the Chapmans for retiring him."
While shopping the stallion rights for Smarty Jones to commercial breeders, the Chapmans insisted that potential partners allow them to race the son of Elusive Quality as a 4-year-old. But after consulting with veterinarians over the weekend, the couple had a change of heart.
"He'd start back in training about the time of the Breeders' Cup," said Roy Chapman. "If everything went right, he might make the Dubai World Cup, but he might not. That's just too many "if's" for a horse of this caliber, who has done so much and who has given us so much."
His wife, Pat, concurred, noting that Smarty Jones's exploits on the racetrack brought a windfall and fame not only to the couple, but to Servis and the colt's rider Stewart Elliott, both journeymen at the second-tier circuit of Philadelphia Park.
"After all he's done, I couldn't live with myself if I thought we were putting him in harm's way," said Pat Chapman. "He doesn't owe us anything, and we owe him a lot."
The chronic nature of the conditions was confirmed last week when Smarty Jones underwent a nuclear scan to determine if his feet were ready for him to proceed with training. The couple agonized over their star horse's fate before deciding to retire him.
"He had nine superb performances in eight months," said Dr. Larry Bramlage, an orthopedic equine surgeon who consulted on the case. "It is this type of accumulated inflammation that causes all athletes to cycle in and out of peak form."
Life after the Triple Crown races has proved difficult for horses that have recently tried to sweep the series, which requires victories at three different distances in Louisville, Baltimore and New York over a grueling five-week span.
Last year, the Derby and Preakness winner, Funny Cide, ran only twice after losing in the Belmont, finishing a desultory third in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park and ninth in the Breeders Cup Classic. He has run seven times this year as a 4-year-old, posting two victories, a second and three thirds.
In 2002, War Emblem rebounded from an upset in the Belmont to win the Haskell, but he was soundly defeated in the Pacific Classic and Breeders' Cup Classic before he was retired to stud in Japan.
Smarty Jones is one of only three undefeated winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, but fell a length short of joining Seattle Slew as only the second undefeated Triple Crown winner in history when Birdstone won the Belmont on June 5. He won his two starts at age 2 by a combined 22 3/8 lengths and his eight career wins, ranging from six furlongs to a mile and a quarter, were by an average of almost six lengths.
Smarty Jones will occupy the former stall of Seattle Slew at Three Chimneys, and like that great horse, is expected to attract scores of visitors who were thrilled by his performances in the Triple Crown. The farm has yet to determine a stud fee on their newest attraction, but breeding experts say it is likely to fall in the $75,000 to $150,000 range.
"I think 10 years from now we'll be saying that Smarty Jones was a great one on the track and a great one in the breeding shed," said the president of Three Chimneys, Dan Rosenberg. "He became America's Horse with his speed, charisma and way of overcoming the odds. Now it's Three Chimneys' turn to give Smarty Jones every chance to show what he can do."
NY Times
Smarty Jones, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, was retired to stud today after it was discovered that the colt that had captured the imagination of a nation over the Triple Crown races suffered from chronic bruising.
Last week, after withdrawing Smarty Jones from the Pennsylvania Derby, John Servis, the colt's trainer, acknowledged that several bruises had to be cut out of Smarty Jones's hooves over the last five months, including one before the Kentucky Derby. The bruising was in the bottom of the cannon bones in all four fetlock joints.
Servis had hoped the colt would recover in time for the Breeders Cup Classic at Lone Star Park in Texas on Oct. 30. But after consulting with veterinarians over the weekend, the colt's owners, Roy and Pat Chapman, decided it was more prudent to retire the winner of eight of nine career races who had earned $7,613,155 for the couple.
The Chapmans, who bred Smarty Jones on their modest and aptly named Someday Farm in Pennsylvania, sold 50 percent of the colt's breeding rights to Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Ky., in June for more than $20 million. Earlier that month, Smarty Jones made a gallant run at becoming horse racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, only to come up a length short in the Belmont Stakes after Birdstone ran him down in the stretch.
"This is a fairly common injury in horses, caused by the wear and tear of racing," Servis said in a statement released this afternoon. "He would need three months' rest before he should resume training. This would knock him out for the rest of the year.
"If it were any other horse, you'd turn him out and bring him back to the track in late October and start building back up his conditioning," Servis said. "But this is Smarty Jones. I don't see anyway he can earn on the racetrack in a year what he can earn next spring in the breeding shed. And then you have the emotional trauma if anything should happen to him. I can't blame the Chapmans for retiring him."
While shopping the stallion rights for Smarty Jones to commercial breeders, the Chapmans insisted that potential partners allow them to race the son of Elusive Quality as a 4-year-old. But after consulting with veterinarians over the weekend, the couple had a change of heart.
"He'd start back in training about the time of the Breeders' Cup," said Roy Chapman. "If everything went right, he might make the Dubai World Cup, but he might not. That's just too many "if's" for a horse of this caliber, who has done so much and who has given us so much."
His wife, Pat, concurred, noting that Smarty Jones's exploits on the racetrack brought a windfall and fame not only to the couple, but to Servis and the colt's rider Stewart Elliott, both journeymen at the second-tier circuit of Philadelphia Park.
"After all he's done, I couldn't live with myself if I thought we were putting him in harm's way," said Pat Chapman. "He doesn't owe us anything, and we owe him a lot."
The chronic nature of the conditions was confirmed last week when Smarty Jones underwent a nuclear scan to determine if his feet were ready for him to proceed with training. The couple agonized over their star horse's fate before deciding to retire him.
"He had nine superb performances in eight months," said Dr. Larry Bramlage, an orthopedic equine surgeon who consulted on the case. "It is this type of accumulated inflammation that causes all athletes to cycle in and out of peak form."
Life after the Triple Crown races has proved difficult for horses that have recently tried to sweep the series, which requires victories at three different distances in Louisville, Baltimore and New York over a grueling five-week span.
Last year, the Derby and Preakness winner, Funny Cide, ran only twice after losing in the Belmont, finishing a desultory third in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park and ninth in the Breeders Cup Classic. He has run seven times this year as a 4-year-old, posting two victories, a second and three thirds.
In 2002, War Emblem rebounded from an upset in the Belmont to win the Haskell, but he was soundly defeated in the Pacific Classic and Breeders' Cup Classic before he was retired to stud in Japan.
Smarty Jones is one of only three undefeated winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, but fell a length short of joining Seattle Slew as only the second undefeated Triple Crown winner in history when Birdstone won the Belmont on June 5. He won his two starts at age 2 by a combined 22 3/8 lengths and his eight career wins, ranging from six furlongs to a mile and a quarter, were by an average of almost six lengths.
Smarty Jones will occupy the former stall of Seattle Slew at Three Chimneys, and like that great horse, is expected to attract scores of visitors who were thrilled by his performances in the Triple Crown. The farm has yet to determine a stud fee on their newest attraction, but breeding experts say it is likely to fall in the $75,000 to $150,000 range.
"I think 10 years from now we'll be saying that Smarty Jones was a great one on the track and a great one in the breeding shed," said the president of Three Chimneys, Dan Rosenberg. "He became America's Horse with his speed, charisma and way of overcoming the odds. Now it's Three Chimneys' turn to give Smarty Jones every chance to show what he can do."
NY Times
