Paradise’s Boss’ connections are doing something right.

Three graded stakes wins in three starts in the last three months. His win on Aug. 8, in the $75,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial grade II hurdle stakes, was even more impressive because the fleet-footed son of Thats Our Buck soundly defeated last year’s Eclipse Award winner, Eldon Farm Racing Stable’s Hirapour, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

He came into the Smithwick off victories in the $75,000 Grade II Meadow Book at Belmont Park (N.Y.) in June and the Grade III “Zeke” Ferguson at Colonial Downs (Va.) in July.

“He’s no mug, my horse,” said Xavier Aizpuru, who piloted Paradise’s Boss in his last three winning starts. “He’s improved with each run, and he gives me the feeling he just might belong in serious stakes company.”

The Smithwick was hardly an early morning jog. Not only did Henry Stern’s Paradise’s Boss defeat Hirapour, who was ridden by Chip Miller for the first time as regular jockey Matt McCarron is injured, he also defeated two-time Smithwick winner Praise The Prince (Jody Petty), who finished a dull fifth. Then there was the highly touted Serazzo (Cyril Murphy), making his 2005 hurdle debut after an impressive 2004 novice year and Understood (Tony Dobbin), who, when he’s spot-on, is as dangerous as they come.

But Paradise’s Boss dismissed them all when he turned on the afterburners, picked up the lead as they jumped the last fence on the backstretch and sprinted away to a 21³2-length win in the 21³16-mile race.

The key to the bay gelding’s recent win streak, said Aizpuru, is his versatility. Paradise’s Boss earned last year’s novice title by running like a deer on the front end, winging his fences and dragging his foes behind him.

That front-running strategy did not pay off early in the spring when the gelding lost three races. In the Meadowbrook, Aizpuru rated the horse behind the pace. In the Zeke, with no clear-cut speed, Aizpuru took the lead, but controlled the pace and wired the field.

“He’s versatile, and he can adapt to any situation. He’s very rideable, very tractable, and he has an amazing turn of foot he can sustain for a long time,” he said. “And I won’t say that his jumping was perfection today [in the Smithwick], but only because I don’t want to jinx him, not because it wasn’t.

“When I saw who was in the race, I was glad because I knew there would be some speed and that meant I wouldn’t have to be in the front,” said Aizpuru.

Party Airs, running off a 30-length wire-to-wire jump win in the Flatterer Stakes (Pa.) July 23, was expected to make the running, and he didn’t disappoint. “But I was surprised at the pace that was set,” said Aizpuru. “It was generous, but we certainly didn’t go as quick as I thought we would considering the quality of the race.”

Aizpuru took advantage of the circumstances and settled his horse in behind Party Airs. Hirapour, Mulahen (Robert Massey), Understood and Praise The Prince all ran together.

“When we got to the last fence on the backside, my horse simply jumped to the front, and there was no reason to try to wrestle him back,” said Aizpuru.

Aizpuru never saw another horse for the last 1³2 mile of the race. “As good as I know Hirapour is, I knew the way my horse was running at the end that Hirapour was going to need a serious effort to get by me,” he said.

While Hirapour finished gamely, Serazzo went wide and came on like gangbusters down the stretch to finish second. Hirapour settled for third, and Understood ran fourth.

“Earlier this year, we were disappointed with the way he ran,” said trainer Jack Fisher. “He has always been a brilliant jumper, and that really showed today. Last year, I thought he was a good horse, but I didn’t think he was one of my better horses because I didn’t think he had the speed. Obviously, I was wrong. He showed us all today that he has plenty of acceleration and speed. He has gotten better about settling early in a race instead of fighting the jockey, and that helped him today as well.”

Lonesome Glory One Of Three Steeplechase Hall Of Fame Inductees

Lonesome Glory, the five-time champion steeplechaser in the 1990s, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Aug. 8. Trainer Sidney Watters Jr. and steeplechase jockey Thomas Walsh were inducted in the same ceremony, as was flat trainer Nick Zito.

A son of Transworld raced by the late Kay Jeffords, Lonesome Glory won 24 of 44 career starts between 1991 and 1999 and is the leading money-earning horse in steeplechase history, with $1.4 million. He won 19 jump races, 17 in the United States and two in England, from 35 starts over fences, and he was the first steeplechase horse to earn over $1 million.

Kay Jeffords’ daughter, Sally Jeffords Radcliffe, accepted the honor for her deceased mother.

Three years into his retirement, Lonesome Glory injured himself in a stall accident at trainer Bruce Miller’s farm. When efforts failed to repair the broken bone in his left hind leg he was humanely destroyed on Feb. 25, 2002, at age 14.

Watters led or shared the lead in training steeplechase winners six times between 1948 and 1971 and claimed the money-won title three times. He was also a successful trainer of flat horses, training for the Mellon family and for Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Clark Jr.

He developed the outstanding flat runners Hoist The Flag, the 1970 2-year-old champion, and the multiple stakes winner Love Sign, as well as two steeplechase champions: Amber Diver, named the champion by both the Daily Racing Form and the TRA in 1963, and Shadow Brook, the first Steeplechase Eclipse Award winner in 1971.

During his 12-year riding career, Walsh recorded 253 victories, fifth on the career list. He was the leading jockey in races-won twice and was the regular rider of champion steeplechasers Barnaby’s Bluff, Bon Nouvel and Mako. Walsh won the prestigious Grand National Steeplechase a record five consecutive years.

Walsh, 65, lives in Muttontown, N.Y., and operates a stable based at Belmont Park.

It was no accident that Walsh found his way to steeplechase racing. Walsh’s father operated a riding academy in Great Neck and his uncle, Mickey Walsh, was in the midst of a Hall of Fame training career. During winter vacations, Walsh visited his uncle’s training center in Southern Pines, N.C., and learned how to school horses. He made his debut at the Stoneybrook Hunt Meet (N.C.) in 1956. Walsh decided to quit riding when he was 27, in 1967, and turned to training the next year.

Walsh said he’s most proud of his five-year streak in the Grand National. “Nobody had ever done it or ever will,” Walsh said. “It’s like winning five Kentucky Derbies in a row.”

Watters, Walsh and Lonesome Glory are the first Steeplechase Hall of Fame inductees since 1997.