Mike Smith Wins Third Shoemaker Award
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Jockey Mike Smith celebrates on Arrogate after the victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park Nov. 5
Mike Smith, who won three races and finished second in three others, earned the 14th Bill Shoemaker Award, given to the most outstanding jockey of the 2016 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park.
The Shoemaker Award is based on a 10-5-3-1 scoring system on first- through fourth-place finishes in each of the 13 Breeders' Cup races.
The Hall of Fame rider finished with 48 points to out distance Joel Rosario, who had 28 points. Smith was the only rider to win more than one race.
Smith, who previously earned the Shoemaker Award in 2012 and 2013, won the Nov. 4 Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) on Tamarkuz , the Nov. 5 Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I) on Finest City, and capped off the weekend with a victory in the Classic (gr. I) on Arrogate.
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Smith also finished second in Friday's Longines Distaff (gr. I) on Songbird and in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IT) on Coasted, with Saturday's runner-up finish coming on Masochistic in the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I). Smith finished third on American Gal in Saturday's 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I).
The Shoemaker Award is named in honor of one of the greatest jockeys in the history of Thoroughbred racing. Shoemaker, who captured the Kentucky Derby four times, won more than 8,800 races in a career that spanned more than 40 years. In 1987, at age 56, Shoemaker won the Classic aboard Ferdinand at Hollywood Park.