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Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind
I think he was a terrific horse and I really liked him. I just don't think that overall he displayed a talent that was as good as the one many people believed. That doesn't necessarily make me right, and clearly you and I disagree on him, but overall I think he was a cut below what I would consider special.
I actually wanted him to win that BC Sprint just to prove that he really did have an explosive A-game. Ultimately I'm just not sure he did. But, as you said, illness may have prevented him from displaying it.
Part of my problem is that I read so much misplaced adulation on boards like this that I sometimes fall victim to going overboard the other way when I see horses being overrated. No doubt that was the case with Smarty Jones.
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Keep this in mind when you remember the zealots... he was extremely UNDERRATED throughout the '04 Derby Trail. In the Rebel, he went off at 7/2 behind a MAIDEN WINNER (Purge), and blew his doors off. However, he still wasn't even considered good enough to be included in Derby Future Wager #2 (which is why the Field went off as such a heavy favorite, which doesn't usually happen Pool 2). Even in the Derby, he was a lukewarm favorite despite being lengths better on paper and much the best visually to that point because "he couldn't go the distance" and a horse that started at Philly Park "couldn't win the Derby". Was he overrated post-career? Yes, because it was incomplete. Sadly, we got fed a bucket of lies and never got to see a completed campaign.
I will give you this... I highly doubt he would have hit the board in the '04 BCC. What we do know is the one horse that beat him has never earned the respect he should get- he's one of a very select group that has won NY's premier age restricted races (Champagne, Belmont, Travers). Who knows what he would have done at 4? I don't think it's fair to speculate either way.