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PHILADELPHIA - Weakened by emphysema, Roy Chapman was ready to end his career as a thoroughbred owner when a little chestnut colt named Smarty Jones galloped out of nowhere and gave him a ride to remember. Chapman, who owned the 2004 Derby and Preakness winner, died Friday after a long battle with the respiratory disease. He was 79. "Smarty Jones was some of the best medicine he had," said his wife, Pat Chapman. She said her husband died at their home in the Philadelphia suburb of Doylestown. Smarty Jones, who was based at Philadelphia Park, captivated the nation with his hard-luck story and compelling bid to sweep the Triple Crown. After winning the first two legs, Smarty fell a length short in the Belmont Stakes of being the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. Roy Chapman, tethered to an oxygen tank because of the disease, became an enduring image of Smarty's run. Shortly after the chestnut colt won the Derby, Chapman gave those around him a scare when he clutched his chest. "He was a great guy and a great competitor," Smarty Jones trainer John Servis told racing Web site bloodhorse.com. "He was a great guy to train for." The Chapmans, who owned auto dealerships around the Philadelphia area, got into thoroughbreds in the 1980s and owned Someday Farm in Chester County. The Chapman's trainer Bob Camac suggested breeding I'll Get Along with the stallion Elusive Quality, and on Feb. 28, 2001, Smarty Jones was born. The colt was named after Pat Chapman's mother, who was nicknamed "Smarty." Camac saw early signs the horse could be something special. But a few months later Camac and his wife were slain at their farm in New Jersey, prompting the Chapmans to consider getting out of horse racing for good. They sold off Someday Farm and nearly all their horses except for two, one of which was Smarty Jones. The horse went on to a remarkable career in which he won eight of nine starts and more than $7 million. Smarty Jones survived a brush with death when he slammed his head on an unpadded iron bar while practicing in the starting gate at Philadelphia Park in July 2003. The accident fractured his skull, shattered orbital bones and nearly caused him to lose an eye. John Servis, a trainer at Philly Park also waiting for his shot at the big time, guided Smarty Jones to wins in the Derby and Preakness the next year. He lost to Birdstone in the Belmont. Less than two months after the race, Smarty was diagnosed with bone bruises in his hooves. The Chapmans retired him in the summer of 2004 and he now stands at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. The Chapmans met when Pat walked into his car dealership in the mid-1970s looking for a Granada. Roy spotted her and struck up a conversation. The pair, who shared a love of horse, married a few years later. They eventually bought show horses and then got into thoroughbred racing. Chapman "was the very embodiment of the Kentucky Derby dream," said Churchill Downs chief executive officer Tom Meeker. "Roy Chapman will always be an inspiration for those who pursue the dream of winning the Kentucky Derby, and were all better for having known him," Meeker said. Another prominent horse owner, Bob Lewis, also died Friday. Lewis came close to winning Triple Crowns with Silver Charm in 1997 and Charismatic two years later. "Both were extraordinarily astute businessmen who wore the love of their horses and their families on their sleeves," said Robert Clay, owner of Three Chimneys, which also stood Silver Charm for Lewis. "There was no one harder to negotiate with because each was a businessman with a capital 'B,' and no one better to stand a horse for because the horse always came first." In addition to his wife, Chapman, a Philadelphia native, is survived by a sister, three children, two stepchildren and seven grandchildren. Funeral services were scheduled Wednesday.
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