wow.

i didn't know anyone at that time that thought of SJ as being some sort of superstar.

You must not have lived within 500 miles of Philadelphia for five weeks in 2004 then.

That Belmont crowd was pretty insane.

They wanted to tar and feather Jerry Bailey because he opted to try and put a little bit of early pressure on Smarty Jones with Eddington of all horses.

I suppose Bailey must have re-watched the film of Touch Gold's Belmont win where McCarron had challenged Silver Charm early - backed off right away - and came again to wear him down in the stretch. Bailey should have known that what works with a tactically gifted horse like Touch Gold would not work with a grinding plodder like Eddington ... but still, the Smarty Jones fans acted as if Bailey pulled out a crow bar and went Tonya Harding on Smarty Jones.

The real thing that hurt SJ and helped Birdstone in that race - was the insanely pre-mature inside move Rock Hard Ten made. SJ got a very serious mid-race challenge from a fairly good horse. Friggen Bailey getting Eddington to breath on SJ for a few seconds was so overblown.

Indian Charlie, are you serious? You didn't know ANYONE that thought of him as a superstar? That Belmont drew over 120k.

that 120k fig is dubious at best

Trivia....

who was the morning line favorite in the Kentucky Derby the year Smarty Jones won it?

It was PACKED that day Freddy.

Was it Tapit? Had to have been him or Lion Heart if not Smarty Jones.

Seriously? I'd say 120k was pretty accurate.

The Cliff's Edge?

Correct.

Yep, it was The Cliff's Edge. I forgot how much Battaglia loves Kentucky racing.

Busiest day in the history of Erie's OTB as well. They gave out free $2 win bets on Smarty Jones to everyone who walked in and had signs on Peach street saying "bet on Pennsylvania bred Smarty Jones right here" with arrows pointing to the OTB.

It was one of those super sized OTB's with three huge-ass rooms and it was hard to move around that day. Stupidest promotion to ever work. That place was like a morgue for the Charismatic Belmont.

The Cliff's Edge

the Cliff's Edge?

I believe he also had Pulpit the ML favorite the year of SC, Free House, and Captain Bodgit.

120,139 according to the NYRA Media Guide.

lol. you certainly were not there. where'd you pull that comment from?

Spoken like someone who wasn't there.

I'm not sure how many of that 120k I personally knew. Probably not many, and of those, I doubt any of them thought of him in the same way they'd think of a Secretariat type.