Smarty's Over

Retired

From racing because of bone bruises in four ankles, Smarty Jones, who hadn't run since June 5, when his one-length loss to Birdstone in the Belmont Stakes cost him the Triple Crown. The 3-year-old had been scheduled to return to the races on Labor Day weekend, at the Pennsylvania Derby in his hometown of Philadelphia, but trainer John Servis discovered a bruise on the colt's left front hoof on July 26. The next day Servis sent his charge to an equine clinic in New Jersey, where vets performed a nuclear scan of the horse's feet. Owners Roy and Pat Chapman said that those tests revealed "chronic bruising of the bottom of the cannon bone in all four fetlock joints."

Smarty Jones captured the attention of the nation by winning more than $7 million and sweeping through his first eight races before falling short in the Belmont. His injuries are most likely the result of that rigorous seven-month campaign, which stretched from his first start last November through the Triple Crown. "This type of accumulated inflammation causes all athletes to cycle in and out of peak form," says Larry Bramlage, a surgeon at Kentucky's Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, who was consulted on Smarty's condition. "We bring horses back from this injury all the time. The risks are minor."

But minor risks are major complications for a colt whose breeding rights were sold for a reported $48 million five weeks ago. While the Chapmans and Servis had been adamant about running the eager chestnut—pointing him to the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30—speculation about the end of the colt's career began before he was diagnosed with his first bruise. How could anyone risk that breeding money by competing? "Any other horse, you'd turn him out and bring him back in late October," said Servis last week, "but this is Smarty Jones. I don't see any way he can earn on the racetrack in a year what he can earn next spring in the breeding shed."