Baltimore ? Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide won last year’s Preakness Stakes by 9 3/4 lengths, the second-largest margin in the history of the race.

Saturday, new Derby winner Smarty Jones bettered the record of 10 lengths set in 1873 by Survivor, the winner of the first Preakness, winning by 11 1/2 lengths.

Smarty Jones, like Funny Cide, and like four other horses since 1997, will be at Belmont Park on June 5 trying to join Secretariat, Affirmed and Seattle Slew as Triple Crown winners instead of Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), Charismatic (1999) and War Emblem (2002) as those who could climb only two-thirds of the way up the mountain.

What sets Smarty Jones apart from the other five no-cigars are his unbeaten status, his ability to handle any track condition, his demeanor and his athleticism. The last quality gives him the best chance to prevail. Since the rough start to his career, when he fractured his skull in a gate accident before he even had a chance to run his first race, Smarty Jones has become smarter by the start.

Many horses are one-dimensional, preferring to run on the lead (like War Emblem) or fall back off the pace and make one big run (like Real Quiet). Some need cool weather and a dry track, like Funny Cide. Some just get right at the right time, like former claimer Charismatic.

Smarty Jones has carried his form for seven months, won all eight of his career races on five different race tracks, on fast and sloppy tracks, at distances of seven furlongs to a mile and a quarter.