Breeders’ Cup Legends: Mike Smith

Mike Smith, pictured aboard Zenyatta, is the most successful jockey in Breeders' Cup history. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire unless noted)
There are Breeders’ Cup-winning jockeys, and then there’s Mike Smith. While Hall of Famer Smith counts four Triple Crown races among more than 5,200 victories in his 33-year career, his true legend lies in his Breeders’ Cup performances. With 21 wins and more than $26 million in earnings, Smith is far and away the all-time leading Breeders’ Cup jockey.
Smith was born in Roswell, N.M., where he grew up aspiring to his father’s career of race riding. He began riding professionally at age 16 in 1982 and has ridden in the Midwest and on both coasts. He now makes his home on the Southern California circuit but is a go-to jockey for high-pressure, high-dollar races across the country and seems to be especially potent when partnering with fillies.
“Mike shows up on the big days,” Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “When you’re at one of those really big-money races, and you see Mike Smith coming over to the paddock with his silks on, you know you don’t have to tell him anything. He knows what to do.”
His expertise has been honed over decades of experience. Smith rode in his first Breeders’ Cup races in 1990 and got his first win in 1992 aboard future Hall of Famer Lure, who would become one of Smith’s most famous mounts. Under Smith’s guidance, Lure won the Gotham Stakes on the Triple Crown trail that year before morphing into a turf terror, winning three in a row culminating in a course-record Breeders’ Cup Mile at Gulfstream Park.
1992 BREEDERS’ CUP MILE

Video courtesy Breeders’ Cup World Championships
In 1993 Lure and Smith’s dominance only increased. The pair won four graded stakes and finished second in two more to head into the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Mile a heavy favorite. They did not disappoint, as Lure again set a hot pace before galloping to a 2 ¼-length tally, becoming the third horse to win two consecutive Breeders’ Cup races. Lure and Smith had another great year in 1994 but could not complete the three-peat.
Smith did win two other Breeders’ Cup races that year, and in 1995 he had another double with future leading sire Unbridled’s Song winning the Juvenile and champion mare Inside Information capturing the Distaff by 13 ½ lengths, a record margin that still stands today.
SMITH AND SKIP AWAY

Photo by HorsePhotos.com
Skip Away marked Smith’s first Classic win in 1997, but he wouldn’t have another Breeders’ Cup win until 2002. It was worth the wait, as not only did he partner with eventual champion Vindication to win the Juvenile, he won the Distaff aboard future Hall of Famer Azeri, one of the greatest racemares of the decade, who would be named Horse of the Year that year. Azeri and Smith had reeled off six consecutive wins heading into the Breeders’ Cup and entered the race a 1.80-to-1 favorite.
Azeri and Smith headed straight to the lead, and even after setting quick fractions Azeri was able to gallop away from her competition to win by a widening five lengths. Smith had high praise for the filly after the race.
“She’s an amazing filly,” Smith said to ESPN after the race. “The first two or three jumps, she opened up a length. Once I got to the backside, she really leveled out nice, and I was smiling from then on. I think she’s the best filly I’ve ever ridden.”
2002 BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF

Video courtesy Breeders’ Cup World Championships
After another six-year drought, Smith returned to the Breeders’ Cup winner’s circle in 2008 aboard another remarkable filly, and one of the most famous racehorses of modern times, Zenyatta.
Zenyatta won impressively beginning with her first career start, and when Mike Smith got the mount the pair reeled off five graded stakes wins to head into the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (formerly and currently the Distaff) undefeated. Zenyatta and Smith broke last at Santa Anita but unleashed a breathtaking run to inhale the leaders, drawing off to win by 1 ½ lengths.
“It’s just amazing,” Smith said of the mare. “I just keep reaching and she keeps giving … I never seem to hit the bottom. She won at the wire with ease.”
In 2009 Zenyatta and Smith put together another perfect season, but this time her connections entered her against the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, aiming to become the first mare ever to win the race. Zenyatta and Smith again broke last, trailing by more than 15 lengths. As the field straightened for the wire Zenyatta lengthened her stride and ate up the ground, flying past the leaders to win by a length as announcer Trevor Denman uttered his now famous narration of the closing strides: “This … is … un … be … lievable!”
2009 BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC

Video courtesy Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Smith and Zenyatta would come up a head short in the 2010 Classic after giving the field more than 16 lengths early in the race. The mare got a standing ovation when she returned to be unsaddled, and Smith regards her as the best he’s ever ridden.
“For one to come along like her, it wouldn’t matter if it was at the beginning of your career or the end,” Smith said when reflecting on the mare’s career in an interview with the Daily Racing Form. “Horses like that come along once in a rider’s life … When it comes to her, I get emotional.”
In 2011 he garnered two more Breeders’ Cup wins, and in 2012 it was another pair of fantastic fillies that made his Breeders’ Cup special.
Royal Delta was named champion 3-year-old filly in 2011 after capping off her season with a win in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic under a different jockey. After Smith got the mount in 2012 the pair tallied three wins and a second heading into the 2012 Breeders’ Cup. That year’s Ladies’ Classic field featured seven Grade 1 winners and two fillies who were undefeated at that point. But Smith and Royal Delta made it look easy, breaking well and cruising along at the front of the pack before turning back all challengers at the top of the stretch to win by 1 ½ lengths.
SMITH AND ROYAL DELTA

“She's just brilliant, she really is," Smith said to the Associated Press. "I was always taught when you're on a talented horse stay out of their way. I felt confident all the way around there.”
His victory aboard Royal Delta broke the record for Breeders’ Cup wins by a jockey (15 until that time), and he extended his lead the next day when winning the Turf Sprint with Mizdirection. The gray filly hadn’t raced since May and was squaring off against the boys, but she was running on her favorite course heading down the hill on the Santa Anita turf. She swept from 11th of 14 in a dramatic stretch run to win by a half-length.
In 2013 Mizdirection again used her devastating turn of foot on the downhill course to snatch a half-length victory in the Turf Sprint and cap off a 5-for-6 season.
“Mizdirection was unbeatable down the hill,” Smith said later in an interview with Blood-Horse. “It was her course. It was like sliding down an Olympic hill going 80 miles an hour. She just knew it so well.”
In 2014 Judy the Beauty won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint to secure the champion female sprinter title and give Smith his 21st Breeders’ Cup win. Retired Jerry Bailey is next with 15, with active jockey John Velazquez and the retired Garrett Gomez tied at 13 wins a piece.
Smith heads into the 2015 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland with potential mounts on several contenders, including two-time Grade 1 winning 2-year-old filly Songbird, last year's champion female sprinter Judy the Beauty, and last year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Bobby's Kitten. He’s a go-to rider on the sport’s biggest stages, and no stage is bigger than the Breeders’ Cup.
SMITH'S BREEDERS' CUP WINS

Year

Race

Horse

1992,1993

Mile

Lure

1994

Sprint

Cherokee Run

1994

Turf

Tikkanen

1995

Juvenile

Unbridled’s Song

1995

Distaff

Inside Information

1997

Classic

Skip Away

1997

Distaff

Ajina

2002

Distaff

Azeri

2002

Juvenile

Vindication

2008

Distaff

Zenyatta

2008

Juvenile Fillies

Stardom Bound

2009

Classic

Zenyatta

2011

Classic

Drosselmeyer

2011

Sprint

Amazombie

2012,2013

Turf Sprint

Mizdirection

2012

Distaff

Royal Delta

2013

Juvenile Turf

Outstrip

2013

Marathon

London Bridge

2014

Filly and Mare Sprint

Judy the Beauty