Jeff Matty was only 13 when Smarty Jones captured the collective heart of the horse racing world by coming within a length of winning the Triple Crown in 2004. (Queue Tom Durkin: “And Birdstone wins the Belmont Stakes.”)
In his third year as executive director of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Matty came up with an idea to ensure that the legacy of the best Pennsylvania-bred ever would endure for generations to come.
The result is “The Ride of a Lifetime—The Smarty Jones Story,” a documentary scheduled to be shown for the first time Friday night at a party celebrating Saturday’s betPARX Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby and Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing. The documentary was funded by the PTHA, an initiative that was an easy sell, according to Matty.
“It was an easy pitch because of what he’s meant to so many people. We saw this as an opportunity to continue his legacy forever,” said Matty, who added that 100 percent of income earned by the PTHA from the movie will be returned to horsemen.
The documentary was produced by Philadelphia-based The WorkShop, which had not previously worked on a horse racing project. The main characters in the story appear, including Patricia Chapman of Someday Farm, who bred and owned the horse in partnership with her late husband, Roy, trainer John Servis, jockey Stewart Elliott, exercise rider Pete Van Trump and veterinarian Dr. Patty Hogan, who treated the horse after he suffered a serious eye injury as a 2-year-old.
“People were thrilled to participate,” Matty said. “It’s such a breath of fresh air. No one is more deserving than Mrs. Chapman. She’s the first lady of Parx.”
Matty said Bruce Casella, producer of Parx’s “Let’s Go Racing” show, Rich Romano, director of broadcast operations, and Rodney Eckenrode, of Equistar Farm in western Pennsylvania where Smarty Jones stands, helped make the film a success.
A son of Elusive Quality, Smarty Jones won his first eight starts, including the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, before being caught in the final strides of the Belmont Stakes, much to the chagrin of the vast majority of the 120,000 fans in attendance. He was retired after that race with more than $7.6 million in earnings.
The documentary took nine months to produce and it will premiere on a major streaming platform by late fall, according to Matty. The documentary is also a finalist to be shown at the Philadelphia Film Festival, which runs October 17-27.
“We wanted to make something that the older generation can re-live it, the younger generation can experience it and hopefully bring new fans to the game,” Matty said. “With racetracks and horsemen, we don’t always agree on everything, but we can all agree on how special this chestnut colt was.”
This press release has not been edited by BloodHorse. If there are any questions please contact the organization that produced the release.
