NEARING his 44th birthday, Mike Smith is the oldest top-rung jockey working in the country, conceding years to the up-and-coming crop of young turks.
Even so, Smith, who turns 44 on Aug. 10, is among the best-situated jockeys in the country. With the 2009 racing season about to begin in earnest, few have better mounts lined up than the old pro.
For starters, he has Zenyatta, the unbeaten champion wonder mare who probably will make a run at becoming Horse of the Year this year, after losing the title last year to Curlin.
He also has Stardom Bound, last year’s champion 2-year-old filly, who is taking aim at the Santa Anita Oaks or Derby as a prelude to a possible run at the Kentucky Derby. Winner of four straight Grade 1 stakes, she is on everyone’s Kentucky Derby short list.
Next on Smith’s date card is Tiago, a live prospect for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 7. He also has Matto Mondo, the former Chilean champion, who jumped up to win the Grade 3 Thunder Road Handicap two weeks ago.
The only jockey of Smith’s age group still holding his own against all comers is Edgar Prado, who is 41. Russel Baze, 50, and Alex Solis, 44, are older
but did not finish in the top 25 money earners last year.
After success in New Mexico, Smith came to New York in the late ’80s. He took the town by storm. In a three-year span, he became New York’s leading jockey in all three years and won a record 68 stakes in one of those years. He also won two Eclipse Awards as the nation’s outstanding jockey, won the Preakness, rode Horse of the Year Holy Bull, swept the filly Triple Crown on Sky Beauty and won four Breeders’ Cup races.
Then, in March 1998, he fractured his shoulder blade in three places and broke his collarbone in a fall at Gulfstream Park. He recovered in time to go to Saratoga and promptly became its leading rider – until the last week of the meet, when he went down in one of the most gruesome falls ever seen at the old spa. It left Smith with a broken back – and a broken career.
Doctors told him to take nine months to recover. Instead, he returned after five months because he was desperate to ride Cat Thief in the 1999 Kentucky Derby.
“I wanted to ride him so bad,” Smith said of the colt, which faded in the stretch to finish third. “It almost ruined my career.”
His business dried up alarmingly. He left town to try to jump-start his career. He rode Azeri, the 2002 Horse of the Year, and was elected to the Hall of Fame a year later.
Still looking to get back on top, he teamed up with trainer John Shirreffs in 2005. They took a crack at the Kentucky Derby with no-name colt Giacomo. He won at 50-1.
Smith’s name was back in headlines. When no other jockey wanted to ride another Shirreffs horse, Tiago, Smith got on him, and promptly won the Santa Anita Derby. Then, from the wings, Shirreffs produced another world-beater named Zenyatta. Smith was on her, too, for all her nine wins.
Along the way, Smith picked up the ride on Stardom Bound. Talk about a dream ride.
All three of Smith’s big horses today – Zenyatta, Tiago and Stardom Bound – are noted come-from-behind horses.
Is that his specialty?
“Not at all,” Shirreffs said. “In fact, I think Mike is the best speed rider in the country. When he’s on the lead, he always seems to save something for the finish. But he can ride them from behind, too.”
Smith’s age does not worry Shirreffs.
“In most businesses, you like people with experience,” he said. “Sometimes, with jockeys, injuries slow them down. But not Mike. He’s still very competitive.”
Smith this season is also a featured player in the TV reality series “Jockeys” along with his girlfriend, Chantal Sutherland, the perky Canadian rider.
So at the start of 2009, things are looking good everywhere for the jock they call Mikey. He may be getting on in years, but if he and his horses stay sound, he could be back on top of that hill again at an age when many jockeys think of calling it a day.
