On a Saturday morning at a small racetrack that normally struggles to get a few thousand people through the gates for an afternoon of racing, some 8,000 people jammed Philadelphia Park to watch a horse gallop. They backed up the highway exits. They crowded 20 deep around the souvenir stand peddling t-shirts and hats. They brought cameras and camcorders. They were young and old and every age in between. The announcer asked for quiet and the crowd complied, responding with polite, hushed reverence when their hero came by.

 Elvis has gotten less attention.

 They tell you that Smarty Jones is America's horse, and there's some truth to that. It's been a long time since any horse has been this popular. Not even Funny Cide had this kind of appeal. America may be excited about this horse, but Philadelphia is crazy about him. There's something about this horse and this city, a combination that has created a love affair perhaps unprecedented in racing history.

 "I'm here for this wonderful, Cinderella story," said Lois McKeown, who arrived at Philadelphia Park at 7:30 Saturday morning so she could get a key spot along the rail for Smarty Jones' public gallop. "He is the Seabiscuit of our times. You get a horse like this little guy and for him to do what he has done, you can't help but get caught up in it. It's impossible not to." 

 New Yorkers liked Funny Cide. Best Pal was a popular horse in California. Canadian racing fans have had their favorites. Spectacular Bid was Maryland through and through. But there has never been anything like this, how this town has reacted to a horse that's become bigger here than a real life Rocky Balboa.

 Philadelphia isn't much of a racing town. They don't normally do very good business at Philadelphia Park and Garden State, just across the Delaware River in New Jersey, couldn't make it. But this town loves a good story, loves an underdog and is starving for a winner. In Smarty, they've got it all.

 "I think people like this horse so much because he's such an underdog and nobody knew anything about him before he won a couple of those big races," said Joseph DiGirolamo, the mayor of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, where Philadelphia Park is located. "Then every race, they said he couldn't win or that he won just because there was a sloppy track. He's always been up to the task and he'll do the same thing in the Belmont. People aren't skeptical anymore. That's a big part of this. Everybody around here loves a winner."

 It's been a long time since Philly had a winner to root for. The Eagles have been a big tease. The Flyers are good, but they haven't won a Stanley Cup in a long time. The Phillies always seem to be in a rebuilding mode. No team from Philadelphia has won a championship since the 1983 Sixers. No one around here thought they'd get their champion from this little racetrack, but that's exactly what is happening.

 "Philadelphia sports fans are starved for a champion," said Philadelphia Park's director of racing Sal Sinatra. "Look at what the Eagles have done to them. The Flyers are getting close, but I'm not sure people have a lot of confidence in them. Everybody has confidence in this horse and his story is better than any one you could script. We've got housewives and mothers falling for this horse."

 Never was that more obvious than Saturday in what was nothing less than one of the most unusual scenes in horse racing history. People started arriving a little after 5 a.m. Fans were lined up from the top of the stretch to well past the wire and were seven or eight deep near the finish line. Still more filtered up to the second floor of the grandstand. The crowd was so large that track announcer Pat Cummings actually asked fans to maintain their composure.

 "We don't want to spook the horse, which could happen with this tremendous crowd this morning," he said. "Please maintain some order when you cheer."

 The crowd followed his instructions.

 On Preakness Day, Philadelphia Park and its off-track outlets set a record with $6.7 million in handle. Sinatra believes they'll smash that Belmont Day. He expects an on-track crowd of about 18,000. Then there's the Pennsylvania Derby. That could be Smarty Jones' next start after winning the Triple Crown. The crowd? Unimaginable.

 "I'm here to view history, Dan Dougherty said. "I'm here to see possibly one of the greatest horses who ever lived. People here support athletes who come from Philadelphia. It's an extension of our competitive spirit. Philadelphia loves Smarty Jones.