Forget for a second how masterful the Preakness win was. This is how smart a horse Smarty Jones really is: He made sure the easiest moments of jockey Stewart Elliott's week turned out to be the race itself.
"It didn't seem to matter where I was on the track, my horse was running so easy," Elliott said. "So I just took him inside and he did the rest."
Athletes in trouble talk all the time about how the field of play is their sanctuary. For the span of just under two minutes on a hot, hazy Saturday afternoon, Smarty Jones cut through the chaos reigning on every side of him and turned Pimlico Race Course into a safe haven for his rider.
The two weeks between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness should have been time for Stewart to savor the biggest achievement of his career, to tell the story of how a 39-year-old jockey stuck in the bush-leagues doesn't lose faith with his sport, then gets his one shot at the big time and delivers beyond anyone's imagination.
That's how the post-Derby week began. Elliott went back Atlantic City and Philadelphia and rode cheap mounts to pay back all the people who told him to never give up.
Then came news that Elliott had failed to disclose an assault charge on a form for Churchill Downs, an omission that cost him a US$1,000 fine. Then came reports of another assault charge, and one of racing's most enchanting tales seem to be unraveling faster than the braid on a show horse's mane.
On the eve of the Preakness, Elliott confronted the whispers. He walked into the press box at Pimlico and stood before a dozen or so reporters. He took every question and answered each one by looking his questioner in the eye.
"I have nothing to hide. I've had a lot of personal problems and done some things that I'm not proud of," Elliott said. "But that's behind me."
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