130TH KENTUCKY DERBY

May 1, 2004

Roy Chapman

Patricia Chapman

Stewart Elliott

John Servis

STEWART ELLIOTT: I can't explain it. I mean, it's just unbelievable. I crossed the wire in front and it was -- it was like, I just can't explain it. It was unbelievable that I actually won the Kentucky Derby. It feels great. There's just no words for it.

STEWART ELLIOTT: At the 3/8 pole, I was biding my time. Lion Heart was sitting, but I knew I had a loaded gun underneath me and I was waiting. As long as nobody was coming at me from behind, I was going to sit till he straightened up. He switched leads and I figured it was time to go, and he went to running.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Everything went good. He broke good, and like I say, there was a few more horses there than I expected a little bit. We kind of jammed up a little bit, but no big deal. Things worked out fine. We got clear sailing down the back side. When he did get out, moved outside of Lion Heart, he was -- he kind of got on the bit and I knew we were going to be very dangerous from there.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Before the race, you know, my old Kentucky home is something. The people were right. I mean, that's pretty emotional. I think after my last race, the Arkansas Derby, it helped me a lot. I was pretty relaxed today, and the excitement afterwards and just realizing where you are and it's just unbelievable.

STEWART ELLIOTT: It is overwhelming. I can't believe it. (Laughing).

STEWART ELLIOTT: Like you say, he was inside, and, you know, I was just looking at some point to get him clear sailing. And when I had the chance, you know, I took it.

STEWART ELLIOTT: I think he was fine going for home. He was fine. He just turned for home. I waited for him to switch leads and he went on from there.

STEWART ELLIOTT: I was pretty confident. When we passed Lion Heart, my horse was running, and I knew somebody would -- it would take a horse running to come and get me.

STEWART ELLIOTT: The first time I watched the Kentucky Derby, I remember watching it from Danelliadar (ph). Well, that's maybe not the first time I watched it, but that's the one I remember when I was starting to ride, or getting ready when I decided I wanted to be a jockey. Last year, I watched it at home.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Sure, I dreamed about it, but it's kind of a dream.

STEWART ELLIOTT: I guess about the mid-80s sometime. You know, I had a little weight problem about the mid-80s, and I quit for about a year and a half. Then I started back.

STEWART ELLIOTT: The first part of your question, sir, I've been doing this a long time. A horse race is a horse race. Yes, this is the Kentucky Derby. But, a horse race is a horse race. You do what you think is right at the time and, you know, I've done this thousands of times. And I didn't understand the other part?

STEWART ELLIOTT: Yes, yes, I said, "Let it rain." (Laughter).

STEWART ELLIOTT: I haven't even -- I don't know, I was just glad to win the race. To tell you the truth, I'm so happy for Mr. and Mrs. Chapman and John Servis for sticking with me and giving me this chance. It's a great thing, you know, for -- I mean, they could have rode anybody in the world they wanted to, and they gave me this opportunity to let me prove myself.

STEWART ELLIOTT: I just galloped horses. That's all I know. You know, I've done this since I was a kid, 16. You know, I quit school and I wanted to be a jockey. And you know, I started fighting my way, I was battling it. I didn't know -- I knew I wanted to be a jockey, but I got to the point where I was miserable every day. I couldn't control it, and I knew I didn't want -- I didn't want that. I didn't want the fight, miserable. I couldn't keep the weight down. What do I do? I don't know nothing else. I mean, this is it for me. You know, I'd give up education, everything to do this. This is all I know.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Well, home is actually Pennsylvania, Philadelphia part. That's where I got on Smarty Jones. Mr. Servis was stabled there and Mr. and Mrs. Chapman had brought Smarty Jones to John to train, and that's how I ended up riding him.

STEWART ELLIOTT: When we left the gate, my horse was probably the most relaxed he has ever been and right then, I knew -- I didn't feel the distance was going to be a problem. I said, he's very relaxed today. I was just concerned on getting a good trip and we were starting to get bunched up a little bit there. I actually just, you know, nudged him just to keep my position in there, and he did the rest.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, home is -- Philadelphia has been my home for the last, you know, four years steady, but I don't know.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Well, sure. You know, horse racing, a lot of things can happen. You know, sometimes you have bad luck. You know, we're all human. Sometimes you make mistakes and something like that happens, you know, everybody can be replaced. But things have been going well, and I wasn't worried about anything like that.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Sure, why not? I think we just did it. He seems to be the people's horse, out of Philadelphia. I think so.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Well, I think, you know, I was young. I started doing this when I was 16. I was naturally light. And then as I started getting a few years older, my body wanted to grow and then I struggled with it. But then after taking some time off, I guess I just -- I just dedicated myself more. I knew that I wanted it back, and I just, you know, tried to discipline myself and work hard at staying light and keeping my weight, and things have worked out.

PATRICIA CHAPMAN: I'm kind of numb right now. It's been an incredible journey. I don't really know how I'm feeling right now. How about you?

ROY CHAPMAN: To see a horse that was born on the farm that we had and look at the stall he was born, I'm still a little nervous, but it's an incredible feeling. Just be careful what you ask me. (Laughter) I'm from Philadelphia, No. 1, and number two, I'm a car dealer, so I say things that are on my mind. So be careful what you ask me. (Laughter) Go ahead, Pat.

PATRICIA CHAPMAN: And being a car dealer, he had a good suggestion for what Stewart should do with his money. He should go to Chapman Ford and buy a car. (Laughter).

ROY CHAPMAN: From horse number one, any horse, it was always a dream to get to the Kentucky Derby. Did we ever think we would be here? No; I've got to be honest with you. My wife, calls, says we are backing out. We have an awful lot of horses, an awful lot of claimers, had an awful lot of fun, a lot of fun, and sometimes you have to cheer loud when you have a $10,000 claimer winner as any. You love them all. But no, we've never raced at this level. Never thought we would get here, until we met Smarty and this guy sitting next to me. I'd like to add something before I forget to do it. I met John Servis at Philadelphia Park. Philly? Where's Philly Park? The first day we saw Smarty, watched him work out, he sat down with me, he said, "Chappy, this is a nice horse. This horse could go somewhere." I said, "John, only thing I want to go to, a horse like, this I want to go to the Derby." He laid me out a plan, and that day, I swear to you as I sit here, that day, here is what we are doing with this horse, and if he goes the way we'll say he goes, he'll go to the Derby. He did not deviate one inch. He ran it just the way he was going to run it that day. So without the Servis team, and Smarty's talents, we would not be here.

ROY CHAPMAN: I told you, be careful what you ask me. John, when he won the -- in Pennsylvania, John said, "We're going to go to Arkansas." I live in Florida for the winter and Arkansas was the furthest thing from my mind. I said, "You sure you want to go to Arkansas?" He said, "Yes, that's a good place to train, there are some races out there that I think he can do well in, and we'll get to the Derby." So, that's it. That's when we went to Arkansas. When he started winning out there and winning the races he won, I thought we were well on our way, I really did. Of course, when he won the Arkansas Derby out there, I knew we had a horse that was talented enough to come here. And you guys all watched the race today; I think he did a pretty good job. (Laughter).

JOHN SERVIS: Well, I said all along, you know, the Arkansas Derby for me was the real pressure race. That was a do-or-die race for us. We put all our eggs in one basket. We knew that going in. When that worked out the way it did, when we came here, my horse was just doing so well. It takes the pressure off. When you come here and your horse is doing everything right, there's no reason to be fretting and getting him upset and getting worried. Everything went just really, really perfect.

JOHN SERVIS: I thought he broke very good. He got some speed from the outside, and Stu got him relaxed real well, I don't mean coming to the wire the first time, made it a little tight on him and bounced him around a little bit. I had a little anxious moment because I wasn't sure how he would handle that because he really had had pretty clear trips in all his races. He handled it really well, handled his position well. Down the back side, he got some outside pressure, they were trying to push him down on the deep rail and I noticed Stewart had his head cocked a little to the outside so he was keeping off the rail holding his position. At the 3/8 pole making his move toward Lion Heart, I'm watching through my binoculars, I see Stu still sitting and Lion Heart dug in, which he always does. When they were going head-to-head, I could see that Stu really had not asked him yet, and I was starting to really feel good then.

JOHN SERVIS: Absolutely. I'm like any trainer. I've dreamed about this my whole life. It's always been a goal. I hope one day I would be here. I didn't know if I ever would. When this horse ran the race he ran in the nursery, I talked to Mr. Chapman and Ms. Chapman, I said, "You know, we might need to go to Arkansas and put this horse on the Derby trail." They were great. They said, "Listen, you get us to the Derby, you go do what you have to do." When somebody tells you that, and they gave you carte blanche to go get the job done, it makes it a whole lot easier.

JOHN SERVIS: You know, when Stu reached back and really got after him and he started to pull away, it was just passed the eighth pole and the first thing I thought of, the other day, right before the unfortunate incident with Wimbledon, I was talking with Bob Bafford and Bafford told me, he said: John, you've got a good horse. If you're fortunate enough to win the race, when they go past the 8th pole and you know you're going to win it, you're going to be overcome by a feeling that I can't explain to you, and you'll never -- you'll never get over it. Every race you run in will never be the same like the Kentucky Derby. And my wife and I were both there, and it was -- he actually had a little bit of a tear in his eye telling us. When this horse came to the 8th pole, I was thinking about what he said. He's right, it was just overwhelming.

PATRICIA CHAPMAN: The naming of the farm, we thought about it for weeks after we moved in and we talked about all of the things we were going to do there some day, "Some day, some day..." We were trying to tie a name in with the circle and the "C" on the circle and nothing would work. Some day we were going to do this and some day we were going to do that. And my husband said, "I think we ought to call it Someday Farm," so we did. And we have four of our five children with us and no grandchildren. We have two daughters-in-law and I have a brother and sister-in-law with me, niece and nephew and a couple of other friends that came with two of our children. But we have seven grandchildren who were watching the race today. I think maybe at Philadelphia Park, wherever that might be.

JOHN SERVIS: That's an unbelievable feeling. I knew. This horse had trained so good all week long. The first day we got here, I took him out and gave him just a nice, light gallop with the pony and he went really, really well. And to come back and work the way he worked, and just as good as he trained, I felt pretty confident. I didn't want to blow my own horn. I tried to stay low-key, but I felt really good about how he was doing. When they came to the 8th pole and he started to draw off, I'm thinking, if my knees were not buckling, I probably would have jumped out of the box.

JOHN SERVIS: I can't explain it. The pressure, again, and in the Arkansas Derby, was so great for the very reason -- we all wanted to get to the Derby, but I, personally, wanted to get to the Derby for them, for the situation. You know, back in November, they asked me, you know, you just do what you need to do; get us to the Derby. To be able to come here for them, I was so relieved and was so happy for them and, you know, right before the race, I leaned over to Chappy and I said, "Chap, whatever happens, we've had a great ride." And he said, "Absolutely, John, absolutely." And then to get the job done like that, it's just -- I'll be telling my grandchildren about this and their grandchildren about it, hopefully.

JOHN SERVIS: Well, I mean, it was masterful. I go back to the beginning of the week when people were asking me about him, and I said, after this Derby, unfortunately, I might not get Stewart back at Philadelphia Park. (Laughter). You know, people see how good of a rider he is, he can go anywhere. This kid has got a lot of talent. He can go anywhere he wants to go. It's up to him. I mean, I'm sure the phone is going to be ringing off the hook. It was a masterful ride.

JOHN SERVIS: I don't know if he ran different at all, to be very honest with you, it was more of a preventative thing. I talked it over with my vet, Dr. Baker, and we went with a very small dose. I talked it over with Mr. and Mrs. Chapman, and I just -- I think back to the situation with Demons Be Gone, and this is our first time here, and it might be our last time here, I don't know. But I just wanted to take away all the excuses.

JOHN SERVIS: I have to see how he came out of this race, how he handles it. Quite frankly, he's had a pretty tough schedule since February. His races have been about three weeks apart. You know, he's carried his weight really well. I couldn't ask this horse to train any better than he trained this week. I can't imagine him training any better than he did this week. Now, if he comes out of this race and continues to train like that, then I'm going to get real excited about the Preakness. Again, I'll have to see how he is out of this race, and I'm sure we'll discuss it tonight and we'll play it day by day.

ROY CHAPMAN: I don't think we noticed anything about how he had run on the farm. I'm not going to go through this story again, but we had just decided to get out of the horse business, or most of it, because it's pretty obvious the problem I've got. But we had some blood stock agents that were looking at other horses we were getting rid of and they did want to buy smarty, but he was out in the field with his mama. I, thank God, decided to keep him and not sell him. He just had that look in his eye. My wife is the one that buys horses because of the look they have got in their eye. She said, "The horse has just got that kind of look in his eye. Let's keep him." We didn't see him run or anything. We just liked him. And George, also, kept calling every once in awhile to say, "You've really got a nice colt here, you've really got a nice colt here." That's the story, really.

JOHN SERVIS: Yeah, my two sons walked over with me, and that was a great feeling. I know they were really excited, and the reaction from the crowd, I think was great for them. You know, there's a lot of people that doubted this horse because of the path we took. He had only run in one graded stake. But because it is such a great story, I think there was a lot of people rooting for us, and that's probably what made him the favorite. But I'm sure that they are cashing their tickets now and are tickled to death. This is my wife, Sherry, of 23 years.

JOHN SERVIS: Again, I'll sit down with Mr. and Mrs. Chapman tonight and we'll discuss that. Personally, I see no reason why we wouldn't take him back to Philadelphia. He's always trained really well there, and that's where he grew up. But we'll discuss that tonight.

ROY CHAPMAN: You said the right thing. We've had a lot of offers and I've got the feeling we're going to get a couple more now. I think the price might have just gone up a little bit. I'll make a statement in general, but I don't think this horse has ever got the respect he was due, I really don't. I've heard -- I'm not going to mention names. I watched one handicapper who has been here for 22 years, I'm not sure he even mentioned Smarty's name, to tell you the truth. Another handicapper said, you know, he's a good horse but he's really not going to beat anybody; he's kind of a freak. I hope he reads the paper tomorrow and understands this freak just won this race today, pretty handily, pretty handily. (Laughter). But I just hope he gets the due he was due.