Smith Responds to Saudi Riding Suspension

Citing reciprocity, the California Horse Racing Board issued a March 3 statement that Mike Smith would not ride March 6 at Santa Anita Park after a lengthy suspension was issued to the Hall of Fame rider by Saudi Arabian authorities for riding infractions in the Saudi Cup and another race Feb. 29 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack.

According to the Racing Post, Smith was suspended nine days and fined more than $200,000 for what officials there deemed was excessive use of the whip aboard Midnight Bisou as she rallied to finish second behind Maximum Security in the $20 million Saudi Cup. The Racing Post also reported he received an additional two-day suspension after failing to weigh-in properly following the fifth race that evening at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh.

The penalties issued were far beyond those jockeys get for similar infractions in North America. Riders in California, where Smith regularly competes, can be fined for as little as $100 the first time they fail to give a horse time to respond after striking it three times with the crop. The fines increase with recurring offenses.

The CHRB said their ruling applies to Friday's races with decisions on other dates still pending.

"We are seeking clarification on the precise dates of (the) suspension(s)," the CHRB wrote.

Smith, reached shortly before the CHRB announcement, said he was still trying to decide whether he would serve the suspension or appeal. He said one of the factors he would consider would be whether the CHRB would allow him to participate in "designated races," specific stakes races chosen by stewards at a meet in which a suspended jockey can still participate.

The rider, who won the International Jockeys Challenge in Saudi Arabia Feb. 28, said he was shocked at the severity of the suspensions, which he estimated could put him out of action for approximately a month based on Santa Anita's current three-day race week.

Phil Tuck, stipendiary steward for the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, told the Racing Post that all riders had been briefed of rules and penalties prior to racing there last week.

"They'll come in and explain stuff to you. You understand it but you don't," Smith said. "Like excessive? What's excessive? I got added a day because I hit off stride—I don't even know what that means—and excessive.

"By no means do I feel that the way I rode her was excessive. I might have passed a number a little bit, but that was it. I never put her or anyone else in harm. To receive that many days of a suspension is brutal enough and then to take 60% from what I flew across the world to earn, close to a quarter-of-a-million dollars, the punishment doesn't fit the crime."

Smith was not alone in receiving a stiff penalty. Irad Ortiz Jr. was handed an eight-day suspension for excessive use of the whip in the eighth race Feb. 29 and handed another two days for the same offense in the Saudi Cup, according to the Racing Post. The jockey, who rides in Florida most often during March, was also docked 10% of his prize-money share.

His agent, Steve Rushing, told BloodHorse March 2 he was still gathering information regarding the suspension. Rushing did not return a telephone call Tuesday.

European rider Oisin Murphy was also handed a two-day suspension for a whipping infraction.

Race replays show Smith urging Midnight Bisou right-handed in the late stages of the race, sometimes in a waving manner called "flagging." According to Saudi officials, his strikes totaled 14, higher than the permitted 10.

Jeff Bloom, the managing partner of the Bloom Racing Stable partnership that co-owns Midnight Bisou and a former jockey, felt the suspension was out of proportion.

"It's one thing to expect jockeys in the heat of the moment on a 1,200-pound animal going 40 miles per hour during the course of a race to remember did they reach back twice or three times," he said. "But also you can reach back and hit a horse twice and it can be more severe than sort of flag or tap the horse lightly seven times.

"Personally I didn't see Mike do anything wrong at all. He was just flagging the horse and tapping her for encouragement. The extreme penalty was completely out of line. Mike is definitely not someone who gets himself in a situation where he will do anything excessive or cause any harm to a horse. Mike is not going to be that guy."

Another Hall of Fame rider, John Velazquez, last summer in New York served a nine-day British suspension for the manner in which he struck Kimari to a runner-up finish in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot in June. Britain, like Saudi Arabia, levies more severe penalties for use of the whip, which can only be applied to certain areas of a horse.

As for his two-day suspension for failing to weigh in following an undercard race, Smith said it was related to confusion over where his mount finished. Jockeys aboard the top-five finishers there must go to the weigh-in, while others go to a different area, but he was uncertain if he had been fifth in a tight finish.

"How was I supposed to know? (They) don't show a photo sign and they don't show down to fifth. The 1-2-3-4 finishers, that's all (they) show," he said. "It was a misunderstanding. I didn't duck around the scales or anything. Here in the states, it would have been absolutely nothing."

Additional reporting by Bob Ehalt