Smarty Jones to get breeding lessons

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones is set to begin learning how to breed mares at his new home in Kentucky.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the newly-retired winner of $7.6 million in all but his last race -- the Belmont Stakes -- has taken up residence at the Three Chimneys Farm, where owner Robert Clay has gambled $38 million that Smarty will stir the pocketbooks of breeders, too.

"He's America's horse. He came along at the right time and did the right things," Clay said.

He also will have to be taught how to breed a mare.

The reproductive act does not necessarily occur naturally to a racehorse, and Three Chimneys President Dan Rosenberg said this learning curve requires great patience.

"You can't show them how to breed," Rosenberg said. "You let them figure it out. With some, it takes days. With others, I've seen it take weeks."

Patience, he said, is the most important teaching aid. Patience -- and a gentle mare who will kindly tolerate the young stallion's initial, fumbling attempts to breed.

If Smarty is a fast learner, his career at stud will begin in mid-February, the newspaper said.