Smarty Jones!

Those words, with plenty of enthusiasm, have been all around Philadelphia the past few weeks, leading up to Smarty's run towards the Triple Crown.

Yesterday, at the Belmont Stakes, he lost.

Given that Smarty Jones, a horse, is what passes for a prominent Philadelphia sports figure these days, his defeat is not much a surprise. Philadelphia, you see, has had more than its fair share of sports disappointments. There's no need to catalog them all, but as a taste, consider the fact that the Eagles have lost three consecutive NFC championship games.

That Philadelphians rallied around this horse is expected. In a town that craves championships as much as this one, people will embrace whatever likely candidate is around.

What's fascinating, however, how that Philadelphia took to Smarty Jones. Smarty's owner, Roy Chapman, captured Philadelphia's feelings towards Smarty perfectly when he described him as a "blue-collar horse" and "a horse of the people."

On the face of it, this is absurd. In what way is an animal bred and trained to run fast around a track similar to a member of the working class? In what way is Smarty Jones a horse of the people? There's no collective ownership arrangement, where all of Philadelphia stands to benefit financially from Smarty's successes. Smarty Jones has led a rather privileged and pampered life* with no connections to the masses of people that have come to adore him.

But the fact that Philadelphia has come to see Smarty Jones as a tough, working-class horse is rather telling about the self-image of Philadelphia. Philadelphians see themselves as tough and gritty. Philadelphia has a chip on its collective shoulder, especially when it comes to sports.** When Philadelphia sports teams succeed, that success is seen as the result of hard work and overcoming odds, not through the talent of the team or players involved (for the best example of this, look at the 1993 Phillies).

It's no surprise, then, that Smarty Jones took on these characteristics in the minds of Philadelphians as he rose to prominence. Stories about his small size came up again and again. His humble home, Philadelphia Park, contrasted sharply with the plusher environs of Saratoga and Kentucky. In short, Smarty Jones became the archetypal Philadelphia sports hero.

This isn't to say, of course, that these facets of the Smarty Jones story are false. My point is that these aspects were played up while others, like the fact that his physical ratings are nearly flawless, were virtually ignored. Philadelphians don't want to hear about a tremendously gifted horse that wins because he's flat-out a better horse than the rest. Philadelphians want a horse that works hard and succeeds under less than ideal conditions, just like them.

*I'm leaving aside my vague concerns about the inhumane aspects of horse racing. I don't know all that much about the sport itself, so I'm not in an educated position to judge.

**For more on this, see this paper on Philadelphia's memories of Veterans Stadium.