BELMONT Smarty earns a vacation

The Derby and Preakness winner will take a three-week break from racing.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Smarty Jones is going on vacation.
The small chestnut colt who captured the public's fancy has earned a rest after a grueling five-week stretch in which he came up one length short of winning the Triple Crown.
Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, but was overtaken in the stretch by 36-1 long shot Birdstone on Saturday in the 11/2-mile Belmont Stakes.
Trainer John Servis plans to give Smarty Jones three or four weeks off.
"I'll let him rest up and put him on a schedule for the Breeders' Cup [in October]," Servis said Sunday after getting his first good night's sleep in quite a while.
"We're not done. We've got a lot more things ahead of us."
Upcoming races
After the break, Smarty Jones could run in the Pennsylvania Derby at his home track near Philadelphia as a thank you to the local fans. Then there's the Breeders' Cup in Texas.
Owners Pat and Roy Chapman want to run Smarty as a 4-year-old next year.
As expected, Smarty's rivals went after him with a vengeance in the Belmont. They forced him into the lead with a mile to go and pressed the pace so much that the colt was tiring when he hit the top of the stretch.
When jockey Stewart Elliott tried to urge Smarty home to victory, he had already run too fast and Birdstone blew past him.
"Stew was a little upset. He felt he would have settled if those guys hadn't pressed him so hard," Servis said. "He knew they were just sacrificing their horses. He had horses breathing down his neck."
No blame
And Servis didn't blame any of the other jockeys for their tactics.
"If you got a horse going for the Triple Crown, he's got a bull's-eye on him. Those people have nothing to lose," he said. "You pull out all the stops."
Winning trainer Nick Zito didn't mind being a bit player in Smarty's big show.
"Smarty Jones was a worthy star," he said. "The average person was there because of Smarty Jones. He has done a lot."
Zito, who won his first Belmont in 12 tries, apologized to Servis after the race. Winning jockey Edgar Prado expressed regret at spoiling Smarty's party, as did Birdstone's owner Marylou Whitney.
The Chapmans plan to tour Kentucky horse farms in the next few weeks in search of a future home for Smarty Jones once his breeding days begin. They want a place that will allow easy access to fans.
"If he had settled, he would have got 11/2 miles," Servis said. "You would have had a Triple Crown winner, I guarantee that. In my heart, I feel he was the best horse."