Smarty Jones was one of the BEST three year olds I have ever seen. The horse was fantastic out of the gate... Had the speed to get a good stalking position, had a very high cruising speed. And most importantly to go with all this talent, had a ton of heart. The Belmont was flat out the pinnacle of this horses career. Double teamed by two very, very good horses and he still barely gets beat. Unbelievable. Smarty ran against a very good group of 3 yo imo. Amazing animal visually in stride. Because he does not have the breeding of Bernardini, and the awesome conformation of a horse like Point Given or Fu Peg, he is not considered as highly as he should. All you have to do is watch Smarty run and it says it all.
AA was not as talented but had every bit the heart. I believe the level of horses AA ran against did not match up at all with Smartys Group. Flower Alley may flatter AA. But I dont really consider this comparison valid because the horses have changed so much from 3 to 4 years old.