Smith Has Calming Influence on Tom's Tribute

If you watch Mike Smith in the post parade of the upcoming Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) at Santa Anita Park, don't be surprised to see him slouched a bit in the saddle, his shoulders curved and his feet dropped down out of the irons.

 

The Hall of Fame jockey has been a key factor in the recent success of his Mile contender Tom's Tribute, getting the 4-year-old Lion Heart colt to settle leading up to and during the actual running of each race with his calming influence.

 

"I just try not to get in his way; it's pretty simple," Smith said on a sunny morning at Santa Anita, where back in the spring he rode Tom's Tribute to a victory in the Thunder Road Stakes while equalling Wise Dan's 1:31.78 course record for a mile. "Just  getting along with him is the key, because he can get very agressive."

 

Tom's Tribute, who races for Marilyn Braly and is named in honor of her late husband, is a bright-eyed chestnut whose afternoon antics used to jeapordize his performances. But under Smith's quiet approach and the daily conditioning of trainer James Cassidy, the talented runner continues to improve. He comes into the Mile off back-to-back victories at Del Mar—his first grade I in the July 20 Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles and his most recent win in the Aug. 24 Del Mar Mile (gr. IIT).

 

"He's doing real well. I just try to get along with him, whatever it takes; stopping, walking, petting him," Smith said. "He can be so laid-back around the barn, but when he turns on, he turns on to the extreme. He goes from one to the other. There's no in-between with him so it's just about never reaching that part with him until I want to."

Tom's Tribute was bred in Kentucky by sisters Laura and Ouisha McKinney out of the El Prado mare Halloween Fun and consigned by their Stony Point Farm to the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale, where he sold for $60,000 to Purpoodock bloodstock. He was next pinhooked to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s selected sale of 2-year-olds in training in 2012, where bloodstock agent Gary Young chose him for Braly from the Wavertree Stables consignment for a $310,000 bid. 

"He was a very nice-looking horse, very well proportioned, but truthfully I didn't have any early expectations other than getting him to break his maiden," Cassidy said. "We worked our way up through the listed races rather than graded races because he was one who needed the experience."

Tom's Tribute isn't a tightly wound competitor all the time. "He's actually easy to train in the mornings, but in the afternoon he's aggressive and gets himself all worked up," Cassidy said. So Smith and the trainer came up with a strategy, to take the colt back early and close with a late run. Tom's Tribute has learned to relax early on in his races, and can be placed a little closer to the pace as needed.

"Now it doesn't really matter where he's at, as long as he's just happy," Smith said. "Early on if you gave him an inch, he'd take a mile—he'd just do too much. But now he's gotten much better. So I can lay second, I can lay third, whereas before if you tried to lay up there he'd try to make the lead, he'd want to be in front, having to wrestle with him. Now it's good."

According to Smith, ratability is vital in a race like the Mile.

"It's important to have a good position; they're going to be fast and you've got to be somewhat close," he remarked. "You hardly see someone come from way back in the Mile and win it; they're almost always on the lead or close to it."

Tom's Tribute worked five furlongs in 1:00 4/5 Oct. 26 under Smith in preparation for the Mile.

"Honestly, he's not a very good work horse on his own, he's kind of lazy, which is fine," the jockey said. "For him to go in a minute was good; if there was company, he gets real aggressive. So it was a good work, just a happy minute."