There was a column written recently about the “decline” of the American superstar and the “ascendancy” of the English superstar. According to the column, America’s “liberal use of drugs” is the culprit for the U.S. decline, while the exportation to England of young horses with Northern Dancer blood was...

History will be made in Pennsylvania this Saturday, Sept. 22 when Parx Racing hosts two $1 million stakes for 3-year-olds, as well as a $300,000 stakes. One of the rich events, the Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, will be the first grade I stakes ever run in the Keystone State. Among those entered...

Pennsylvania battles to keep funding by Tom LaMarra The two will be forever linked: the 2004 Triple Crown run by Smarty Jones and passage of the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act several weeks later. The Pennsylvania-bred racehorse was so popular that slot machines authorized by the...

This story appeared in the May 8, 2004 issue of The Blood-Horse, with several new graphs added. Get out the cheese steaks and pretzels. It's party time in Philly. After Pennsylvania-bred Smarty Jones' stirring May 1 victory in the 130th Kentucky Derby, the City of Brotherly Love has found the real Philadelphia...

The following story first appeared on Bloodhorse.com on Aug. 15, 2004. Once again, the fans flocked to the glitter palace that for a brief moment in time was Philadelphia Park. They came to get one final glimpse of the equine king who ruled there for three glorious months, and who was now abdicating...

The following two stories first appeared on Bloodhorse.com on May 5 and May 8, 2004 Hail the Conquering Hero The full moon had all but faded from the morning sky, and a salmon pink sunrise was now illuminating the tan sheet-metal barns on the Philadelphia Park backstretch. Inside Barn 11, peering out...

This story appeared in the May 22, 2004 issue of Blood-Horse magazine Get the golden coach ready; we're heading to the ball again. After so many failed attempts, maybe this time Smarty Jones can fit into that elusive glass slipper, and Thoroughbred racing and the Visa Triple Crown finally can live happily...

The following story first appeared in the April 28, 2007 issue of Blood-Horse magazine, with a few additions thrown in. This feature, about Team Smarty and what became of everyone, will kick off our “Smarty Jones Tribute Week,” in preparation for his departure for Uruguay next month. Each day we will...

Thirty-three years. The number now stands out in bold type, an unimaginable figure; one that lifelong horse racing fans never imagined possible. For many, 1978 seems like another lifetime ago. Heck, I was four years old at the time when Affirmed won the Triple Crown, still another eight years away from...

Tarry Bratton is standing outside the stallion barn on a sun-splashed late October morning when his cell phone trills. Scanning the caller ID, his eyebrows arch. After a brief conversation a huge smile bursts across Bratton’s face. “We got him.” “Him” would be Smarty Jones, the legendary chestnut racehorse...