Smarty Jones captured hearts on the 2004 Triple Crown trail. He's been elected to the Hall of Fame
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — It's time for another Smarty party.
Twenty-one years after Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the chestnut colt has been elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame announced Thursday that he was the lone candidate in the contemporary category to appear on the majority of ballots, with 50% plus one vote required for election. It was his first year on the ballot.
Bred in Pennsylvania, Smarty Jones won eight of nine career starts and won the Eclipse Award for 3-year-old males in 2004.
That year he became the first undefeated Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew with a 2 3/4-length victory. Two weeks later, Smarty Jones won the Preakness by a record 11 1/2 lengths to set up a Triple Crown bid. His hard-luck story captured hearts along the way, with schoolchildren writing letters wishing him luck and people throwing Smarty parties.
But he was beaten by a length in the Belmont Stakes by 36-1 shot Birdstone in front of a record crowd of 120,139 in New York.
During Elections
Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election.
Smarty Jones retired after the Belmont with career earnings of $7,613,155. He was owned by Roy and Pat Chapman, trained by John Servis and ridden by Stewart Elliott.
Also elected were racehorses Decathlon and Hermis and trainer George H. Conway by the 1900-1959 Historic Review Committee. Edward L. Bowen, Arthur B. Hancock III and Richard Ten Broeck were elected by the Pillars of the Turf Committee.
The newest Hall of Fame members will be enshrined on Aug. 1 in Saratoga Springs, New York.
___
AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Casey Schmitt's 1st career grand slam powers Giants past Dodgers 6-2 in series opener
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Logan Webb tossed seven innings of two-hit ball, Casey Schmitt hit his first career grand slam off Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 on Friday night in the series opener between the NL West's top two teams. Webb (6-5) allowed two runs, struck out four and walked three for his first win since May 16 against the Athletics. He twice struck out Shohei Ohtani, who was hitless in four at-bats. Schmitt's grand slam traveled 423 feet to left-center with two outs in the third, snapping a 1-1 tie. Yamamoto sandwiched walks to Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos around two strikeouts before walking Wilmer Flores to load the bases and set up Schmitt. Yamamoto (6-5) gave up five runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked a season-high five. Willy Adames homered for the Giants in the first. In the second, Webb walked Freddie Freeman and Will Smith back-to-back to open the inning before Max Muncy's fielder's choice grounder to first and Andy Pages' sacrifice fly scored Smith. The Dodgers added another run on Teoscar Hernández's homer off Webb in the seventh. The teams are meeting for the first time this season, and it's the latest they've gone in a season without playing each other since 1999. The Dodgers were 9-4 against the Giants last year, including 6-1 at home. Key moment Giants catcher Andrew Knizer had his first hit and first homer of the season off Justin Wrobleski in the eighth. The ball went off the wall in center. Key stat Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. The Giants rapped out 10 hits, including three by Dominic Smith. Up next Giants RHP Landen Roupp (4-4, 3.29 ERA) starts Saturday. LHP Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 4.35) goes for the Dodgers. ___ AP MLB:
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Narváez's walk-off single in 10th lifts Red Sox over Yankees 2-1
BOSTON (AP) — Carlos Narváez hit a walk-off RBI single off the wall in the 10th inning after Aaron Judge hit a tying solo home run in the ninth and the Boston Red Sox rallied to beat the New York Yankees 2-1 on Friday night. Ceddanne Rafaela added an RBI. Boston has now won its last three against its longtime rivals. The loss snaps a three-game overall win streak for New York, which came in off a sweep of Kansas City last week. Jarren Duran grounded out to open the 10th, moving automatic runner David Hamilton to third. Reliever Tim Hill (3-2) then walked Rafael Devers. After a strikeout, Narváez came to the plate. Garrett Whitlock (5-0) pitched a scoreless 10th to salvage a master performance by Boston starter Garrett Crochet, who pitched a career-high 8 1/3 innings, yielding four hits and striking out seven. Crochet gave up just three of those hits over eight innings, striking out Judge each of the first three times he faced him. His luck ran out the fourth time when Judge unloaded on Crochet's seventh pitch of the at-bat — a 99.6 mph fastball — belting it 443 feet over the Green Monster. Crochet was replaced by Aroldis Chapman, who got the final two outs of the inning. Yankees starter Ryan Yarbrough gave up four hits over 4 2/3 innings, walked three and struck out three. PIRATES 2, CUBS 1, 10 INNINGS CHICAGO (AP) — Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to help Pittsburgh beat Chicago. The Pirates loaded the bases in the 10th on Ke'Bryan Hayes' infield single and a walk to Henry Davis. Kiner-Falefa then drove in Adam Frazier with a flyball to left off Drew Pomeranz (2-1). Kiner-Falefa also threw out Ian Happ when he attempted to score from first on Kyle Tucker's two-out double in the fifth inning. Dennis Santana (2-1) got five outs for the win, and David Bednar worked a perfect 10th for his 10th save. Pirates ace Paul Skenes struck out five in five scoreless innings. He allowed four hits and walked two while throwing 95 pitches, 60 for strikes. Skenes was matched by Cade Horton, who permitted three hits in 5 2/3 shutout innings for the NL Central leaders. Each team scored in the eighth. The Pirates jumped in front when Davis scored on Oneil Cruz's chopper near the mound. Reliever Brad Keller made an errant throw to the plate. PHILLIES 8, BLUE JAYS 0 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber hit a three-run homer, Ranger Suárez struck out six in seven shutout innings and Philadelphia beat Toronto. Suárez (5-1) continued to shine since his return from an early season back injury. He allowed seven runs in his first start of the season and has allowed only seven total in his next seven starts. The Phillies have won three of their last four games, and remain in the thick of the NL East hunt, even with key pieces Bryce Harper and Aaron Nola nursing injuries. Suárez received a standing ovation from Phillies fans when he walked off the mound in the seventh after throwing his 94th pitch. He got all the help he needed when the Phillies scored four runs off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman (5-5) in the second inning. Brandon Marsh socked an RBI double off the wall for a 1-0 lead and Schwarber connected on his 22nd homer of the season, a 410-foot shot to dead center that landed just beyond the outstretched glove of Myles Straw. BRAVES 12, ROCKIES 4 ATLANTA (AP) — Marcel Ozuna hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to give Atlanta the lead and the Braves stormed back from a three-run deficit to beat Colorado. Ozuna's homer to left field off Victor Vodnik (1-2) drove in Alex Verdugo and Matt Olson. Ryan McMahon had three hits for Colorado, including a two-run homer in the first. A three-run homer by Michael Harris II in the sixth off Jake Bird tied it at 4. Ronald Acuña Jr. doubled on the first pitch from Germán Márquez and scored on Olson's sacrifice fly. Acuña added singles in the third and fifth innings and stole second base in the fifth on his first attempt since returning on May 23 after missing almost a full season following surgery on his left knee. A leaping catch by left fielder Jordan Beck in the seventh robbed Acuña of another hit. Olson drove in three runs on three hits. TIGERS 11, REDS 5 DETROIT (AP) — Gleyber Torres homered twice and Riley Greene drove in four runs to help Detroit beat Cincinnati. Greene had a solo homer in the third and a three-run double in the sixth as the Tigers improved to 19-4 in series openers. TJ Friedl and Elly De La Cruz homered for the Reds. Torres homered on the first pitch from Nick Martinez (4-7). It was Torres' fourth career leadoff homer, with the first three coming for the Yankees. TJ Friedl tied it with a third-inning homer off Keider Montero (3-1), but Greene homered over the Cincinnati bullpen to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the inning. Javier Báez homered in the fourth to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead, but Elly De La Cruz hit his 14th homer in the fifth — the fifth solo homer of the game. Detroit finally created some distance with a four-run sixth. Martinez walked Báez to start the inning and was replaced by Scott Barlow, who allowed a single and a walk to load the bases. Torres ended Barlow's outing with a sacrifice fly, but Taylor Rogers didn't fare any better. RAYS 7, METS 5 NEW YORK (AP) — Danny Jansen hit a two-run homer to cap Tampa Bay's six-run sixth inning and the Rays came back to beat New York and snap its six-game winning streak. Mets starter Clay Holmes exited after five innings with a 5-1 lead, but Paul Blackburn was charged with four runs while giving up hits to four of the five batters he faced. Jake Mangum chased Blackburn with a two-run single and José Caballaro followed with a run-scoring groundout against Max Kranick (3-2) before Jansen hit a 389-foot homer to left on a 2-2 pitch. The Mets stranded seven runners over the final four innings. New York lost at Citi Field for the first time since May 28 and dropped to 27-8 at home. Eric Orze (1-0), who pitched briefly for the Mets last season, earned his first big league win by getting three outs after Rays starter Taj Bradley exited without recording an out in the fifth. Bradley gave up five runs — all unearned. Mason Montgomery, Garrett Cleavinger, Edwin Uceta and Pete Fairbanks — who earned his 13th save — combined for four scoreless innings for the Rays, who won despite committing a season-high three errors and issuing seven walks. RANGERS 3, WHITE SOX 1 ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Josh Smith homered and scored all three Texas runs in his fifth consecutive two-hit game to help the Rangers beat Chicago. The leadoff hitter had a single in the first and scored on Corey Seager's sacrifice fly. Smith's seventh homer was a 396-foot drive to right-center in the third, then he walked ahead of Marcus Semien's RBI double that made it 3-0 in the fifth. Smith was 2 for 3 with a walk and is hitting .435 (10 for 23) during a career-best streak of five multihit games. Jacob Webb (4-3), the second of seven pitchers in a bullpen game for the Rangers, worked two innings for the victory as they won for the fifth time in six games. Robert Garcia loaded the bases in the ninth before closing out his fifth save in seven chances. White Sox starter Adrian Houser (2-2) allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. He struck out two and walked four. ASTROS 10, TWINS 3 HOUSTON (AP) — Jose Altuve and rookie Jacob Melton drove in three runs each as Houston jumped on Chris Paddack early and cruised to a win over Minnesota. Paddack (2-6) tied career highs by allowing 12 hits and nine runs — eight earned — in just four innings for his third straight loss. Houston rookie starter Colton Gordon (2-1) gave up six hits and two runs with five strikeouts in a career-high six innings. Jeremy Peña tied a season-high with four hits and rookie Cam Smith had two hits and two RBIs as the AL West-leading Astros won their third straight. Willi Castro, Royce Lewis and Ty France all hit solo homers for the Twins, who were blown out for the third time in four games after losing to Texas 16-4 Tuesday and 16-3 Thursday. BREWERS 3, CARDINALS 2 MILWAUKEE (AP) — Freddy Peralta struck out six over six innings of one-run ball and Milwaukee scraped out just enough against Erick Fedde for a victory over St. Louis. After retiring the Cardinals in order through the first three innings, Peralta (6-4) gave up four hits and a walk. St. Louis has lost six straight to fall 1 1/2 games back of second-place Milwaukee and six games behind first-place Chicago in the NL Central. The Cardinals scored a run in the fifth when Alec Burleson and Nolan Arenado opened the inning with back-to-back doubles, and cut it to one run in the ninth on Victor Scott's RBI single off Trevor Megill. Fedde (3-6) also faced the minimum through three. Milwaukee's first hit came in the fourth when Sal Frelick led off with a single that hit Fedde on the left wrist. ATHLETICS 6, ROYALS 4 Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Austin Wynns and Luis Urías hit home runs, Luis Severino pitched 7 2/3 strong innings, and the Athletics beat Kansas City 6-4 on Friday night to end a 14-game road losing streak and hand the Royals their fourth straight loss. Severino (2-6) allowed six hits and a first-inning run on an RBI double by Salvador Perez. He surrendered 17 hits and 13 earned runs in his two previous starts covering 11 1/3 innings. Wynns hit his fourth home run — a solo shot with two outs in the second off Royals starter Michael Wacha (3-6) — to tie it 1-1. Urías hit Wacha's second pitch in the fourth out to left for his seventh homer and a 3-1 lead. Nick Kurtz drove in the second run for the A's with a two-out single in the third. The Athletics pulled away after Wacha left with two on and one out in the sixth. Jacob Wilson greeted reliever Steven Cruz with a single to load the bases. Cruz fanned Brent Rooker on three pitches but walked Tyler Soderstrom to force in a run. Max Muncy followed with a two-run single for a 6-1 advantage. Cruz fanned Kurtz with his 22nd pitch to end the inning. Wilson went 2 for 5 and scored twice.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Royce Lewis' injury woes continue with another hamstring strain
HOUSTON (AP) — Minnesota third baseman Royce Lewis strained his left hamstring in the ninth inning of the Twins' loss to Houston on Friday night. Lewis pulled up as he was running to first base on a single in the ninth and was replaced by a pinch-runner. Manager Rocco Baldelli said after the game that he strained his hamstring but that they didn't know how severe the injury was. 'He actually tested relatively well after the game upon examination in the training room,' Baldelli said. 'We're going to bring him in tomorrow and check him out, see how he comes in. A lot of the times you learn a lot just by how the guy shows up the next day, how he can move around, what he's capable of doing. That will tell us a lot, and then we'll be able to make a decision of some kind as far as the next step one way or the other.' The injury comes after he missed the first 35 games of the season with a moderate strain of the same hamstring that occurred running out a ground ball in spring training. Lewis, the first overall pick in the 2017 draft, has been plagued by injuries in his career. He played just 82 games last season while missing time with a severe quadriceps strain and a groin injury. Those injuries came after he tore the ACL in his right knee in both 2021 and 2022. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Lewis, who homered Friday night, is hitting .202 with two home runs and nine RBIs in 30 games this season. ___ AP MLB:
