ONE MORE...:

'Smarty' plants a pasting on Preakness pretenders (JIM O'DONNELL, May 16, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times)

Only two questions lingered after the 129th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday:

No. 1, why did they wait until after the race to paint the championship colors of Smarty Jones on the Old Clubhouse cupola near the infield of Pimlico Race Course?

No. 2, what will Ol' Smarty's margin of victory be in the Belmont?

The apparently invincible 3-year-old answered all other questions and once again took the breath of the racing nation away, moving closer to the first Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978 with a historic 11-1/2-length romp in the 1-3/16-mile Maryland classic.

The margin of victory was a Preakness record, shattering the 131-year-old standard set by Survivor, who won the inaugural in 1873 by 10 lengths. Funny Cide came close last year, winning by 91/2 lengths.

The roll on the Old Hilltop delighted a record on-site crowd of 112,668 and kept Smarty Jones ($3.40) a perfect 8-for-8 in his career. He is expected to attempt to become the first unbeaten Triple Crown winner since Seattle Slew (1977) in the $1 million Belmont on June 5.

''If he tells us he wants to go, we go to the Belmont,'' trainer John Servis said. ''This is one sensational race horse.''

The sensational race horse more than lived up to his hype, awakening the echoes of Secretariat's 31-length victory in the 1973 Belmont as he laid waste to nine foes. His closing kick -- just as in recent victories in the Kentucky and Arkansas Derbies -- seemed positively celestial.

The kick he put on yesterday was breathtaking. He put up that margin with plenty left in his tank. The amazing thing about Secretariat though is that even with that 31-length victory, and obviously no pressure from anybody, he still set the track record that day. In fact, not just the track record but the world record for the distance. It's as if he was racing history that day, and whupped it good.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 16, 2004 11:07 AM