Another Seabiscuit in the making

LAST year’s wonderful film Seabiscuit told the inspirational tale of a runt horse who just kept on winning and in doing so captured the heart of Depression-hit America.

No movie can ever match reality, however, and the story of Smarty Jones and jockey Stewart Elliot has America on the edge of its collective seat as the last leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, approaches. What’s more, this is a story with a strong Scottish angle to it.

The tale starts with a trainer, Bobby Camac, and two owners, Roy and Pat Chapman, who were the kind of average horse people who keep the sport going worldwide. Owning and breeding were the Chapmans’ hobbies and Camac was their trainer working out of their farm near Philadelphia. Roy is 78, has emphysema and must constantly wear an oxygen mask.

Bobby Camac advised them on breeding but shortly after doing so for the last time, Camac and his wife were shot dead by a member of their own family who is now serving 28 years for manslaughter. The distraught Chapmans wanted to quit their hobby and sell their horses, but trainer John Servis persuaded them to keep a couple of colts from Camac’s last batch for fun.

One was Smarty Jones, named after Mrs Chapman’s mother Mildred, and though not the most imposing colt in the Servis yard, his trainer could see he was fast, but also fractious.

Elliot, meanwhile, had almost been on skid row with alcoholism. He had always been recognised as a decent jockey on America’s east coast, but he had weight problems in his 20s and turned to drink. Four years ago, with his life collapsing around him, he beat up and hospitalised one of his own friends. The incident and the resultant court case made Elliot confront his demons and now 39, he has been booze-free ever since. Teaming up with Servis he became leading rider at Philadelphia Park and met the woman who is now his fiancee, 22-year-old Lauren Vannozzi. But despite a career total of more than 3,000 wins he was still the ‘little guy’, a journeyman jockey.

Enter Smarty Jones. Elliot and he ‘clicked’ from the off, just like fellow Canadian Red Pollard and Seabiscuit all those years ago. But last July, Smarty’s suspect temperament almost killed them both. The colt reared up in the starting stalls, throwing Elliot and smashing his own head off an iron bar. The horse fractured its skull and an eye socket, and there were fears for his life, while Elliot badly damaged a shoulder.

Servis got the horse back to fitness, and Elliot stayed away from the crutch of alcohol. On the track, Smarty Jones flew to victory after victory, with the Arkansas Derby bringing them to national attention.

But would the Chapmans and Servis ditch Elliot, who had never ridden in the Kentucky Derby, for a big-name jockey? This was no movie, but they had read the script. Elliot kept the ride and in a rain-drenched Run for the Roses, Elliot coped superbly and Smarty did the rest. The Preakness Stakes, won by a record 11 lengths, followed in sensational fashion, and now the third leg of the Triple Crown beckons.

If they win, Smarty Jones will become the highest-earning horse in history with more than $13m in prize money, including two $5m bonuses. With his ten per cent share, Elliot will become an instant millionaire. The entire racing world should hope that Smarty Jones wins next Saturday. God knows the sport, and America in general, needs new heroes right now.

The cheers should be especially loud in Scotland, because Stewart - note the Scottish spelling - is the son of a Scottish mother, Myhill, who came from a long line of Scottish horse-handlers and emigrated to Canada with her father, Woodbine trainer J.J. Stewart, in 1957. His father Dennis, a jockey who rode in nine countries in his 22-career and is now a trainer himself, is the brother of a well-known figure on the British racing scene, Bobby Elliot from Leith, formerly Mark Johnston’s head lad and now a trainer in his own yard at Formby, Lancashire.

Stewart Elliot is apparently proud of his Scottish ancestry, and his mother is a typical Scottish matriarch - she hasn’t quite forgiven him for not living up to her ambition for her son, which was that he should become a vet.

Instead, Stewart Elliot is set to become a legend. And even if he and Smarty Jones don’t win the most important race of their lives next Saturday, they should not worry, for they are already winners in the race called life.