Battle Of Two Champion Thoroughbreds, Smarty Jones Against Afleet Alex – Who Wins?

By Author: Lee Lane-Edgar
Total Articles: 365
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Two of the most popular champions from the first decade of the 2000’s were Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex. To this day, fans of both still keep tabs on how they and their progeny are doing. But who was really the better horse? And who would win in a match race?

Both of them won American Champion Three Year Old Male Horse honors, Smarty Jones doing so in 2004, and Afleet Alex winning them the next year in 2005. Afleet Alex won three Grade 1 races, the Hopeful as a two year old, and then the Preakness and Belmont Stakes as a three year old. Smarty Jones won two Grade 1’s, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Smarty Jones had the better record, having won 8 of 9 races, his only loss being a length loss in the Belmont Stakes. Afleet Alex had an outstanding record as well, however, winning 8 of 12 career starts and finishing in the top two 10 of those 12 starts.

Both ran won the Arkansas Derby which was their prep for the Kentucky Derby. They both received similar speed figures for their wins, Afleet Alex receiving a 108 and Smarty Jones a 107 for their respective efforts. Afleet Alex won in slightly better ...
... time and drew away powerfully from his competition to win by 8 lengths whereas Smarty Jones registered a more workman like performance, winning by 1 ½ lengths. Visually, Afleet Alex was just incredible that day as he exploded clear of the field and looked like he could run around the track again. Smarty looked solid in the Arkanas Derby but was actually led by 3 lengths in mid stretch and won by a diminishing margin. I would give the edge to Afleet Alex in this race.

Smarty Jones was the 2 ¾ length winner of the 2004 Kentucky Derby, and did so over a sloppy track, receiving a 107 Beyer Speed Figure for his effort. He seemed to glide over the mud effortlessly and would have been tough for any Derby winner to beat that day. Afleet Alex on the other hand just didn’t put in his game that day and got beat by a length, finishing third. He certainly ran well, but those that had followed him had a sense he was capable of a lot more.

Afleet Alex certainly had a breakthrough race in the Preakness in which he rocketed past horses on the far turn, but the pacesetter that day named Scrappy T., veered out and impeded Afleet Alex. This caused Afleet Alex to clip heels with Scrappy T and stumble, after which jockey Jeremy Rose had to call on all his balance just to stay in the saddle. Unbelievably, Afleet Alex regained his footing and actually took off once again as if the whole incident didn’t even faze him, eventually drawing off to win by almost 5 lengths.

Smarty Joneses Preakness was just as impressive, though he did not encounter the unforeseen circumstances which Afleet Alex did. He simply drew off powerfully to win by one of the largest winning margins ever, winning by 11 ½ lengths over a talented field. Smarty Jones was assigned a 118 Beyer for the effort and Afleet Alex got a 112 for his performance, though to be fair, without the trouble, Afleet Alex could likely have won by at least a few more lengths which would have given him a comparably high Beyer.

Smarty Jones was defeated in his bid to become the 12th Triple Crown winner in the final strides of the 2004 Belmont by a horse named Birdstone. Smarty Jones was challenged early and did appear to be a bit too headstrong down the backstretch for a race of that 1 ½ distance, but Smarty Jones also wasn’t likely optimally bred for the marathon distance of the Belmont. Afleet Alex on the other hand exploded into the stretch passing Derby winner Giacomo like he was standing still, after which he proceeded to draw off powerfully, running the fastest last quarter of a mile for the Belmont in the past 40 years, a quarter which he ran in 24 and 1/5 seconds (Smarty ran his final quarter in 27 and 1/5 seconds). To be fair though, Smarty Jones actually ran a faster Belmont time of approximately 2:27.70 whereas Afleet Alex ran his winning Belmont in 2:28.75. Smarty was pushed through a much faster early pace, but I have a feeling that given how much Afleet Alex had in the tank that day, he would have been able to run down Smarty Jones at the Belmont distance of 1 ½.

Where does this leave us in terms of a match race? Smarty Jones always struck me as a middle distance runner whose optimal distances were anywhere from 7 furlongs to 10 furlongs. Smarty Jones even won a 7 furlong stakes race at Philadelphia by 15 widening lengths. Afleet Alex did win the G2 Sanford and G1 Hopeful at six and seven furlongs, respectively so he was certainly a talented sprinter as well.

In a six or seven furlong sprint, I give the edge to Smarty Jones, winning by a length. From between a mile to 1 ¼ miles, I think they take turns beating each other, and at distances beyond 1 ¼, I give the edge to Afleet Alex. They both won Grade 1 races over a sloppy track so that factor might be negligible.

What do you think? Why not become a VIP and set up your own match race between Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex and see who would win. Try them out in the mud in a sprint, or try them out at the 1 ½ mile Belmont Stakes distance and see who would really win.

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