- Reuters
Birdstone (left), with jockey Edgar Prado on board, wins the 136th running of The Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, yesterday. Birdstone won over the favourite Smarty Jones (right).
NEW YORK (AP):
SMARTY JONES lost his Triple Crown bid and his perfect record when Birdstone upset the popular three-year-old in yesterday's Belmont Stakes and toppled his chances to end a record 26-year drought without a winner of thoroughbred racing's most coveted prize.
The little red chestnut was poised to become the 12th Triple Crown champion when he turned for home, but Birdstone came flying down the stretch and took the lead inside the 16th pole to win by a length.
That move dashed yet another Triple Crown hopeful's attempt to do what no horse has managed since Affirmed in 1978.
A raucous crowd of more than 100,000 filled Belmont Park hoping to see the popular Pennsylvania-bred run into history.
Instead, this crowd, like many others, left disappointed and wondering when another Triple champion might grace this track.
FALL SHORT
Smarty Jones is the third straight Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, and sixth in the past eight years, to fall short in the 1.5-mile Belmont, the longest and most gruelling of the three races.
And so, the exclusive little club of 11 Triple Crown champions remains the same. And Smarty Jones is now the 18th horse to come tantalisingly close to winning it all, only to be tripped up in the race known as the 'Test of the Champion'.
Last year, New York-bred Funny Cide couldn't handle a wet track and was beaten by Empire Maker; two years ago, War Emblem stumbled at the started and finished eighth.
This time, it might have been jockey Stewart Elliott who asked Smarty Jones to move to the lead too soon, with about a mile to go.
By the time the nine-horse field rounded the final turn on a fast track, Smarty Jones had already worked harder then he had in winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. With jockey Edgar Prado urging on Birdstone, Smarty Jones had nothing left and lost for the first time in nine races.
