I didn't say Smarty Jones was a great horse. I said he brought a lot of fans to the sport. These are two entirely different topics.

Good stuff. Thanks.

I agree, I love those old photos...though I have to say I kept looking for the PP punch line.

Sorry, then, I misunderstood.

Hopefully somebody can find a list of Laz Barrera's accomplishments for you. They were many. Besides Affirmed and Bold Forbes he also trained It's in the Air who defeated the mighty Davona Dale in the Alabama. He took over JO Tobin's training during his 3YO season and I believe was his trainer of record when he beat Slew in the Swaps. He was a major force in the game.

It was packed, no doubt about it, but I don't believe any of those attendance figures. And, I am including other TC venues as well.

Quick Version
From Wikipedia, therefore no need to link it.

Born in Havana, "Laz" Barrera was one of nine brothers who went on to become involved in thoroughbred horse racing in the United States. While in his teens, he began working at a racetrack in his native Cuba and within a few years was one of the country's most respected young trainers. Seeking increased opportunities in a larger market, in the 1940s Barrera moved to Mexico to race horses at the Hipodromo de las Americas in Mexico City then emigrated to the United States where he trained his first Stakes race winner in 1971. In the ensuing years he built a solid reputation and in late 1975 was given Bold Forbes to train who had been that year's Puerto Rican two-year-old thoroughbred sprint champion. Racing in the U.S. in 1976 under jockey Angel Cordero, Jr., Bold Forbes won several important races for Barrera including the Wood Memorial Stakes in record time. He went on to win the most prestigious race of all, the Kentucky Derby, finished third in the Preakness Stakes and, for a converted sprinter, pulled off a dramatic win in the 1½ mile long Belmont Stakes.

Barrera's accomplishments led to an offer from Louis & Patrice Wolfson to take over as head trainer for their Harbor View Farm in Ocala, Marion County, Florida. There, Barrera took charge of a horse named Affirmed who, under 18-year-old jockey Steve Cauthen, would become one of the great horses in American racing history. Affirmed was a two-time Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year winner and won Eclipse Awards in each of the three years he raced. Laz Barrera won fourteen Grade 1 Stakes races with Affirmed, the most by any stallion in history, and earned racing immortality by capturing the 1978 U.S. Triple Crown.

In a career that lasted almost fifty years, Laz Barrera trained six champions and more than 140 American Stakes race winners. He was the leading money-winning trainer from 1977 to 1980 and in the process became the only trainer to ever win four consecutive Eclipse Awards. In 1979, he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Laz Barrera passed away in 1991; the "Laz Barrera Memorial Stakes," a Grade II seven furlong race for 3-year-olds at Hollywood Park is named in his honor.

Thanks Randall.

Not being able to witness that Belmont, how much of a natural sprinter was he Andy? And how was he able to get him 12 furlongs.

1976 Belmont

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTrtq-zgZPw

Sadly I can't access Youtube from work. Will have to wait.

Randy Moss the horse player or Randy Moss the wide reciever?

To be honest my recall of specific careers isn't great from that time, though I was at Aqueduct when he won the 1975 Wood Memorial ( beating Songkisser easily ), but he was a bullet. He arrived in Saratoga in 1975 after having won, I believe, quite a few races in Puerto Rico, and simply demolished the field in one of the 2YO stakes leading up to the Hopeful. I cannot tell you what he did from there to the Wood. Honest Pleasure was all the rage going into that Derby, which I believe had a small field ( eight? ), after crushing in the Flamingo and Florida Derby ( where I believe he covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:46 4/5 ). But, Bold Forbes wired him in the Derby. From there, Honest Pleasure's connections vowed not to let him get away on the lead in the Preakness, and all hell broke loose ( much like in 1988 ), and while Honest Pleasure faded to fifth or sixth ( there were only six ) Bold Forbes did manage to run third to Elocutionist who took great advantage of the pace. As usual, few were left for the Belmont, and Bold Forbes gamely held off McKenzie Bridge and Great Contractor ( who had actually run 1 1/2 previously having competed in a 1 1/2 grass stake in Florida against olders a couple months or so previous ). While his competition was not super strong, it was an amazing achievement, especially for a horse who less than a year earlier was the sensation in 2YO sprints in Puerto Rico.

The rest of the year for him is sketchy to me but he may have made his one and only other start in the 7F Vosburgh where he was upset by the mighty My Juliet.

On how he was able to carry his speed the 1 1/2 of the Belmont.....it felt as though Cordero carried him over the wire. I can still remember watching that race.

I have been to all the belmonts since 1996 and 2004 was PACKED! I dont know if there were 120,000 but there were sooo many people there. That was before they blocked the college kids from bringing in beer.

Also, Smarty Jones very much increased the population of horse racing "casual" fans. At least for that 5 week period of the triple crown. I was living in PA at the time. Everyone was having Smarty Parties for the Belmont.

Even now when I talk about horse racing to the average Joe who has never been to the track they bring up Smarty Jones.

He was and will be one of my favorite horses of all time. I bought a nice painting of him from Nick Martinez over the summer. I wish i could use it as my avatar!

being from the south, i dont think you can understand the buzz that smarty created in the north east that great summer of 04 :p

It seems to me that Smarty has had as much to do with the return of Oaklawn Park to some degree of prestige and credibility in the eyes of the racing public (especially on the Coasts) as the increased purses from the slot money. While his owners might have been money hungry and sent him to the breeding shed much too soon, ever since Smarty completed the Southwest/Rebel/Ark Derby path through Oaklawn, every 3YO who shows up at Oaklawn with a hope of making the Derby gets compared to him.

Maybe not the most logical response, but to me makes as much since as naming a race at Lone Star after Ouija Board...

Maybe you are right, but I always felt that Oaklawn was a pretigious meet, and of course have found the recent comparisons to Smarty Jones amusing....as if somehow by racing on a particular surface one horse is somehow comparable to another.

The Lone Star comparison doesn't seem particularly out of line except that Oaklawn has been around for quite a while and Lone Star opened about a week ago. To be perfectly honest, changing one of their prep races to the Smart Jones seems like at best a cheap publicity stunt....which thankfully they have so far avoided.

The weather in 2004 wasn't great either. Spotty rain all day, temps in the low 60's. All I know is that having been to the Belmont a couple of times, I had to claim some space around the duck pond in order to even have a foot to set up my chairs and tailgate. That isn't normal for Belmont.

Maybe not... OR, maybe it has something to do with my age. Easy Goer got me into racing and I think that he would have put Smarty to shame, but that's JMO. :p

I dont know why you guys are down on this horse. won is first 8 starts including the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. won 7.6 million dollars. only loss was that gut wrenching belmont stakes where he showed as much courage as any horse has recently (besides Barbaro and his fight to live - but that was different). What else was he supposed to do?

Then he was retired, but thats not the horses fault, and it turned out he was actually injured. He brought some good people like John Service and Stewert Elliot some fame and ignited horse racing in PA.

I dont know what more we can ask from that champ. So what if he wasnt burning up tracks with track records and wouldnt be considered the "best of all time". The "best of all time" arguments are garbage anyway. Different things happen every year and there is no point comparing a horse that ran in 2004 to a horse that ran in 1989, 1973 or 1921. Just a waste of time.

Smarty did a lot for horse racing in 2004, he will undoubtedly be inducted into the horsey hall of fame and he is a great story and hopefully will sire some good horses.

Well said. Given that it is the closest "real" track to me, I have a special place in my heart for Oaklawn and I think that you, like most knowledgeable racing fans, appreciate the meet. However, as with most things between the Mississippi River and the Rockies, until Smarty came along most casual fans either ignored and/or failed to give the meet its due credit; I don't think that is the case anymore... That being said, I can see your point on the "cheap publicity stunt" and agree the Smarty comparisons are out of control, but I would like to see something at Oaklawn "memorializing" his accomplishments and maybe you're right a race is not it...

The amount of money he won is dramatically skewed by the $5 million bonus....but you knew that.

He will not " undoubtably be inducted " into the Hall of Fame. In fact, he should never be, and most likely will never be. Hell, we have people on this board arguing against Silver Charm, and while I can see both sides, he accomplished basically everything Smarty accomplished....and a whole lot more. To be honest, this is exactly the kind of distortions people have about Smarty Jones that wear me out.

How on earth did they have a Breeders Cup at Lone Star?

I feel like this has been said over and over and over, the Smarty Jones hype generated online and in print was overwhelming, and somewhat nauseating.

I liked the colt, I was a fan, but after a while it was like revisionist history at work, as Santa would ride the Easter Bunny to a ghastly and unfair loss in the Belmont. It's all about perspective. Since Smarty other racing media "stars" have popped up with the same sort of annoying fervor- remember Rocky? Smarty Jones was a neat horse who deserved some media attention, but not the amount of hype that makes a regular race fan cringe. I'll fall off my chair if he's inducted in the Hall of Fame.

Oh, and I dedicate this to Mortimerdexterfoxworthy.

that 5 mill bonus still counted towards his earnings and was a big accomplishment. yes it dramatically increased his earnings, but Oaklawn laid the deal on the table and Smarty/Service/Elliot went out there and accomplished it.

I guess you and I differ about the HOF, I really believe he will be in there some day. Do you think Barbaro ever has a chance to be in the HOF?

speaking of the HOF - isnt the HOF process awful?

Look, the Hall of Fame has serious credibility issues, and recently has taken steps to change things. I hardly think they want to make themselves a bigger joke now by opening their doors to horses who accomplished little while generating a great deal of hype.

Perhaps Smarty Jones could be given the Mortimerdexterfoxworthy Award for fooling the most people in the shortest period of time.

And, honestly, don't be ridiculous about Barbaro. Seriously, while you are in Saratoga, you need to take a good look at some of the actual accomplishments of horses in the Hall of Fame. These horses you are talking about are laughable in comparison to the deserving names over there.

It's much better now that they have made it harder to get in. Whatever led to Mike Smith's induction had to be stopped!

And, while we are on the subject, Real Quiet has better credentials for the Hall of Fame than both Smarty Jones and Barbaro.

When do you foresee his induction? How about Charismatic? His are equivalent. War Emblem as well.

I 've always felt ,very strongly, that Dollar Bill and Victory Gall.........


...oh there I go again.








I'm sorry ,sir.

It won't happen again.

I understand your point about the HOF, but with how horse racing has been this decade, every horse is retired once they make it "big time". Do you really think none of these horses will make it into the HOF? They are all accomplishing "little" because they are taken to stud, with a few exceptions like Tiznow. (Lava Man has been accomplishing "a lot" because he's a gelding.. is he HOF worthy.. i dont know). Ghostzapper, Smarty, Afleet Alex, Point Given, etc. all taken to the shed when they could have had the chance to accomplish a lot more. At least Mineshaft ran an amazing 18 times. The game is changing so maybe the HOF requirements will be different.

Real Quiet, Charismatic and War Emblem were not undefeated heading into the Triple Crown. If you remember, Smarty Jones and Barbaro were the only undefeated winners of the KY Derby since oh whats his name, that good horse back in the 70's? Oh yea, Seattle Slew. And there have only been three other horses to win the KY Derby while undefeated (and I had to look this up) Majestic Prince, Morvich, and Regret. Smarty and Barbaro are in pretty good company.

You are correct, because of the other horses' accomplishments after the triple crown. SJ and Barbaro were never able to race after the Triple Crown, so who knows.

Still if you ever see a list naming the undefeated winners of the K Derby, those are the 6 horses on the list. SJ and Barbaro accomplished what they did to deserve being on that list.

Undefeated Derby Winners
2006: Barbaro (6-0)

2004: Smarty Jones (7-0)

1977: Seattle Slew (7-0)

1969: Majestic Prince (8-0)

1922: Morvich (12-0)

1915: Regret (4-0)

http://www.49abcnews.com/news/2006/m...cky_derby_win/

The group that Barbaro faced was much much better than the one Smarty faced....Lion Heart? Ughh.

You are parading out skewed facts for what reason?

Horses get in the Hall of Fame based on their careers, not what might have been, and Smarty Jones and Barbaro did not have careers worthy of the Hall of Fame or even comparable to the names you are mentioning. The fact that there were some similarities to their race records is irrelevent.

Here is a fact....War Emblem accomplished more in his career than Smarty Jones. Real Quiet accomplished more in his career than Smarty Jones. These are facts. What Smarty might have done had he not been " injured " is merely conjecture. His race record is unworthy of Hall of Fame discussion....much less inclusion.

Yeah and it's not like he would've beat Bernardini. Now there is a hof horse.

His actual accomplishments were greater than Smarty Jones....and he has as much chance of being in the Hall of Fame as Spooky Mulder.

He was my introduction into horse racing....