- Pennsylvania shines—thanks to the Chapmans
and many others
“Never again will I watch you ride into the sunset without
me,” Patricia Chapman once declared to her husband, Roy.
“From now on, I’m going with you.”
Riding was a skill Mrs. Chapman had somehow bypassed in her youth,
but she began taking lessons. And the next year, true to her word,
she joined her husband—on a foxhunting trip in Ireland.
The Chapmans told that story last December, after Smarty Jones
won the Pennsylvania Nursery by an awesome 15 lengths.
If Smarty Jones had never won another race, I would never have
forgotten the Chapmans, mostly because of that story. Now I think
about it every day. Pat “Just Do It” Chapman’s
determination, and startling athleticism, so much resembled that
of her undefeated colt.
It’s a cliche that owners and breeders often put their heart
and soul into their horses. But that may be exactly what happened
with Smarty Jones.
Now that a Pennsylvania-bred has won the Kentucky Derby—for
the second time in 12 years—Pennsylvania is getting some
long overdue recognition for the many top-quality horses it’s
produced over the years.
Starting with Iroquois, who in 1881 became the first American-bred
runner to win the Epsom Derby, the list grows longer every year
and includes:
- Three members of racing’s Hall of Fame: Parole (the nation’s
leading earner in the 1880s), the immortal Go for Wand and steeplechase
great Flatterer.
- Eleven millionaires, topped by Smarty Jones ($7,413,155) and
Japanese performer Nobo Jack ($3,813,486 through 2003), and also
including Alphabet Soup ($2,990,270), With Anticipation ($2,660,543),
Yankee Affair ($2,282,156), Tikkanen ($1,599,335), Lil E. Tee
($1,437,506), Go for Wand ($1,373,338), Russian Rhythm ($1,272,258),
High Yield ($1,170,196) and Bessarabian ($1,032,640).
- Two Kentucky Derby winners: Lil E. Tee (1992) and Smarty Jones
(2004).
- Three Breeders’ Cup winners: Alphabet Soup (Classic-G1,
1996), Tikkanen (Turf-G1, 1994) and Go for Wand (Fillies-G1, 1989).
- Leading sires Danzig, Lyphard and Storm Cat.
- Ten champions: Ambassador of Luck (Eclipse Award-winning older
filly/mare, 1983), Bessarabian (a two-time champion in Canada,
1984 and ’85), Flatterer (four-time Eclipse Award-winning
steeplechaser, 1983-’86), Go for Wand (Eclipse Award-winning
filly at 2 and 3, 1989 and ’90), Martie’s Anger (Eclipse
Award-winning steeplechaser, 1979), Mrs. Penny (England’s
champion 2-year-old filly of 1979), Pistol Packer (highweighted
3-year-old filly in France in 1971; retired as France’s
leading female money-earner); Russian Rhythm (last year’s
One Thousand Guineas-G1 winner and champion 3-year-old filly in
England); Selkirk (topweighted miler in England at 3 in 1991;
highweighted for seven furlongs plus in the International Classifications
in 1992; among Europe’s leading sires); and Turgeon (topweighted
3-year-old colt in France in 1989, topweighted older horse in
Ireland in 1990, and Europe’s champion stayer in 1991).
|
|
