A full second faster if he was asked? And the life threatening injury to his head make him a better runner?

Sounds like Smarty has already started to reach "legend" status to some of us.

Isn't a horse being handridden vs. hardridden to the wire an illusion many times? What I mean, the assumption that it means the horse could have run much faster is not usually true. I remember hearing this argument about Empire Maker last year, how he won the Wood without Bailey ever touching him and he was "playing around" in the stretch. Meanwhile, Funny Cide was "all out". Well, it turns out Funny Cide beat him in the Derby.

I think assuming that Smarty was going to run a full second faster in the Preakness borders on outlandish. That puts his Beyer around 125 or so, and his T-Graph figure where, negative 6?

He doesn't need to run faster to win the Belmont, he can even run a bit slower and win.

And I can't believe that almost killing himself has made him better. If I did, I might get out the razor blades.....