Editing Smarty Jones (section)

==Background==
Born at Fairthorne Farm in [[Chester County, Pennsylvania]], the horse was named after Milly "Smarty Jones" McNair, the mother of co-owner Pat Chapman. The two shared a birthday, and Mrs. Chapman wanted to honor her late mother. She said the horse was a strong-willed actor from birth and her mother too was a bit of a smart aleck as a child who had gotten the nickname "Smarty."

He is a third-generation descendant of [[Mr. Prospector]], and as such Smarty Jones is related to many recent [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|Triple Crown]] hopefuls including [[Funny Cide]], [[Afleet Alex]], and [[Fusaichi Pegasus]]. Also included in his pedigree are Triple Crown winners [[Secretariat (horse)|Secretariat]], [[Count Fleet]], [[War Admiral]], [[Gallant Fox]] and [[Omaha (horse)|Omaha]], and such other Triple Crown race winners as [[Northern Dancer]], [[Foolish Pleasure]] and [[Man o' War (horse)|Man o' War]], who is #1 on the list of [[Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century]].  His dam was multiple stakes winner [[I'll Get Along (horse)|I'll Get Along]].

Pat Chapman and her husband, Roy "Chappy" Chapman, originally hired [[Robert W. Camac|Bobby Camac]] to train Smarty Jones, but in December 2001, Camac and his wife were murdered by Camac's stepson, Wade Russell, who was eventually convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison. "It was a total shock, numbing," Roy Chapman said. "We didn't know what to do next." This tragedy, combined with Roy Chapman's failing health, resulted in the Chapmans' decision to disband their small breeding operation, retaining only two of their horses. One was Smarty Jones, the product of a breeding between their winningest horse, the mare [[I'll Get Along (horse)|I'll Get Along]], and the stallion [[Elusive Quality]]. Despite these influences, his Dosage Index of 3.40 suggested that he was capable of competing in the classics.<ref name="Horse-Races"/> In 2002, Smarty Jones was sent to [[Bridlewood Farm]] in [[Ocala, Florida]], to prepare for racing.<ref>Bannon pg 24</ref>