Elmont, N.Y. ? Does Smarty Jones have the heart of a champion?

We will know the answer to that question today when the pride of Pennsylvania tackles the long, imposing Belmont Park stretch where so many Triple Crown dreams have died.

Everything will be on the line for Smarty Jones in the 136th Belmont — his perfect record, a $5-million bonus for sweeping the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont, and a place in history alongside such thoroughbred greats as Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed.

Smarty Jones can duplicate Seattle Slew’s 1977 feat of sweeping through the Triple Crown undefeated for his career.

Secretariat set the standard in 1973 when he smashed his competition and the record books in a 31-length romp that stands alone in Belmont history.

And Affirmed was the last Triple Crown winner, in 1978.

It takes a special horse to conquer the 11/2-mile Belmont distance — a horse with heart, literally and figuratively.

When Secretariat died 17 years after his Belmont win, an autopsy revealed that his heart weighed 22 pounds. That’s almost three times larger than the average a thoroughbred’s heart, which weighs about eight pounds.

It helped explain in part why Secretariat mastered the demanding Belmont distance with such relative ease. At the point in the race when most Triple Crown pretenders find their breathing labored and their legs beginning to wobble, Secretariat kept running as if he was on a morning gallop.

Smarty Jones doesn’t have Secretariat’s intimidating physique. But you can’t question the colt’s heart.

In the Preakness, it wasn’t just that he drew off to a record 111/2-length victory, which was impressive enough. But more important to his Belmont chances was his fitness. Smarty Jones never seemed to draw a deep breath in the 13/16-mile race. By the time he was brought to a stop an eighth of a mile past the finish line, he was about 20 lengths in front of the field.

“He finished that race very easily and galloped out very strong,” said his jockey, Stewart Elliott. “When he pulled up after the race he wasn’t even really tired, so the extra distance in the Belmont shouldn’t bother him.”

Trainer John Servis thinks that if an autopsy is performed on Smarty Jones after he dies, the result will show that the colt — like Secretariat — was an unusual animal.

“If it happens that they do an autopsy, they’re going to find something very unusual about this horse,” Servis said. “Whether he has a huge heart or huge vascular channels, I don’t know.

“But I do know there’s something that makes this horse as special as he is.”

Smarty Jones will have to be special to win today because, as we’ve seen in five of the past seven Belmonts and nine times since 1978, just being good doesn’t cut it when the Triple Crown is on the line.

Because Smarty Jones is undefeated, and given his superiority in the Preakness three weeks ago, expectations have spiraled off the charts. It’s hard to convince anyone that there won’t be a coronation after the Belmont.

No one expects Smarty Jones to lose. In fact, Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat in 1973, said this colt could win the Belmont by 25 lengths.

“I don’t care if he wins by a nose, as long as he wins,” Servis said.

All that’s left now is for Smarty Jones to beat eight foes — and 26 years of history — to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed.

“The fact that we have a chance to make history has started to set in,” Servis said. “It makes you nervous.

“But we’re ready.”