5.1.2004	Photo By: Jeremy Lyverse
Throughout the spring he had outrun a sprinter's pedigree and his critics and, on Kentucky Derby Day, Smarty Jones outran a field of the nation's finest 3-year-olds and all of his doubters.

Throughout the spring he had outrun a sprinter's pedigree and his critics and, on Kentucky Derby Day, Smarty Jones outran a field of the nation's finest 3-year-olds and all of his doubters.

Someday Farm's Pennsylvania-bred caught the front-running Lion Heart with a furlong to go and pulled away to score a 2 ¾-length victory in the 130th Kentucky Derby (Grade I) at soggy Churchill Downs. Smarty Jones skipped over a track left "sloppy" by a mid-afternoon downpour that drenched a crowd or 140,054 and completed the 1 ¼-mile distance in 2:04.06 under jockey Stewart Elliott.

Steve Taub's Imperialism closed from far back to finish third under jockey Kent Desormeaux and Dogwood Stable's Limehouse, ridden by 2003 Derby winner Jose Santos, was fourth.

Smarty Jones, who brought a perfect record of six victories in as many races into Derby 130, became the first unbeaten winner of the "Run for the Roses" since Seattle Slew in 1977 and just the fifth unbeaten winner in the history of the race. Elliott, a regular at Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Park, earned a Kentucky Derby victory in his first shot at America's greatest race and became the first rookie rider to win the race since Ronnie Franklin won aboard Spectacular Bid in 1979.

"It's just unbelievable," said Elliott. "I crossed the wire in front and it was, it was like - I just can't explain it. It was unbelievable that I actually won the Kentucky Derby. It feels great. There's just no words for it."

The John Servis-trained colt broke from the gate as the $4.10-to-1 favorite in the field of 18 3-year-old Thoroughbreds and became just the second favorite to win the race since Spectacular Bid won that '79 running as an odd-on choice. The colt is the highest priced favorite to win the Derby and paid $10.20 to win.

"I've dreamed about this my whole life," said Servis. "It's always been a goal. I hoped one day that I would be here. I didn't know if I ever would."

Smarty Jones also earned the $5 million "Centennial Bonus" from Oaklawn Park, which was offered to the horse that swept the Arkansas track's Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby (GII) and the Kentucky Derby. The result was an extraordinary pay day for the son of Elusive Quality owned and bred by Patricia and Roy "Chappy" Chapman's Someday Farm. Along with the bonus, Smarty Jones collected the $854,500 winner's share of the Kentucky Derby's $1,154,800 purse.

Roy Chapman admitted that he and his wife had received several offers to purchase Smarty Jones in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

"I don't think this horse has ever got the respect he was really due," said Roy Chapman. "We've had a lot of offers and I've got the feeling we're going to get a couple of more now. I think the price might have just gone up a little bit."

Total wagering on the 130th Kentucky Derby was a record $89,860,167, which established a North American record for betting on a single event. Attendance at Churchill Downs was down from the 148,530 that watched the race a year ago, but this year's crowd was a record for a Derby Day with a wet track and marked the ninth consecutive year that Derby attendance had topped 140,000.

Smarty Jones is now the only member of his crop of Thoroughbreds who has a chance to win the Visa Triple Crown and the $5 million bonus that goes to the horse that takes the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. But Servis hesitated to commit his unbeaten colt to a run in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, which is scheduled for May 14 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

"I have to see how he came out of this race, how he handles it," said Servis. "I can't imagine him training any better than he did this week. Now, if comes out of this race and continues to train like that, then I'm going to get real excited about the Preakness."

Lion Heart, a son of Tale of the Cat trained by Patrick Biancone, finished as a runner-up in his third consecutive race since he capped an impressive 2-year-old season with a win in the Hollywood Futurity (GI) at Hollywood Park. But Biancone was more than encouraged by his colt's brave effort under jockey Mike Smith and the French-born trainer said Lion Heart would move on to the Preakness.

"I have great respect for the winner…he's a champion," said Biancone. "I hope, if everything goes well, in two weeks we can get revenge. Perhaps we can have an Affirmed / Alydar rivalry."

Affirmed and Alydar dueled through the Triple Crown in 1978, with the former defeating the latter in each of those races.

Imperialism rallied strongly in the stretch after encountering early traffic problems and finished 3 ¼-lengths behind the top pair. The effort pleased 21-year-old trainer Kristin Mulhall, who participated in her first Kentucky Derby.

"We're very pleased," she said. "Of course, it was great for us to be here. He didn't mind the muddy track. He handled it well. He got stuck on the inside, but when he was finally asked to move, he did great."

The Kentucky Derby was run on a wet track for the first time since 1994, when the track was also labeled "sloppy."

The Kentucky Oaks-Kentucky Derby Daily Double of Ashado and Smarty Jones returned $60.20.

The winning time by Smarty Jones was the slowest since Sunday Silence covered the 1 ¼-mile distance in 2:05 over a "muddy" track in 1989.

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