Grueling road for the Chapman family.

Byline: Mike Jensen

ELMONT, N.Y. _ Smarty Jones galloped by the first turn at Belmont Park, tearing right by his chuckling owners as trainer John Servis, holding a rein alongside his pony, strived to keep Smarty from really taking off. Five minutes later, at 7:05 a.m. on Friday, Smarty came jogging around, restrained, his head down.

"This is when you wish you had the farm back," Patricia Chapman said to her husband, whose emphysema had forced them to sell Someday Farm in 1999.

"Oh," Roy Chapman said, his voice much quieter than usual, as he sat just inside the rail. "This is what I miss."

That was it, the last training session before Smarty Jones tries for history. He will be the first Triple Crown winner in more than a quarter-century, if he can win his ninth straight race, Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

For Roy Chapman, 78, it's been a much more grueling road. His body has kept deteriorating since the emphysema forced him into his souped-up motorized wheelchair. You'll see him on television again Saturday, sounding irascible, tethered to a constant oxygen supply. His natural breathing capacity, affected by asthma and chronic bronchitis as well as the emphysema, now is below 20 percent. "We don't want to know yet how much less,"…