Mike Smith was three months shy of his 18th birthday when he rode the escalator as much as the jockeys’ room at Churchill Downs to arrange for his first mount within the Kentucky Derby (G1).
The date was Could 5, 1984. Celebrities within the Derby crowd included Gene Hackman, Gerald Ford, Walter Cronkite, Sally Journey, Johnny Bench, Robert Strauss, and Olivia Newton-John.
Younger Smith confronted an much more daunting array of glitterati within the jocks’ room that day. Amongst these driving within the a hundred and tenth Derby have been Laffit Pincay Jr., Invoice Shoemaker, Pat Day, Chris McCarron, Eddie Maple, Eddie Delahoussaye, Sandy Hawley, Don Brumfield, and Craig Perret. All of them have been both within the Corridor of Fame or properly on their method.
Smith had simply concluded a profitable season at Oaklawn Park, the place he gained 46 races throughout a meet that lasted simply 10 weeks. His subsequent cease was Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha, Neb., which was solely 5 days into its season earlier than Smith needed to beg off to journey Pine Circle for Shug McGaughey and Loblolly Steady within the Derby.
“It was the primary time I ever flew anyplace to journey a race,” Smith stated earlier this week from house in Sierra Madre, Calif., not removed from Santa Anita Park. “I would gained the Hawthorne Juvenile with Pine Circle on the finish of ’83. He got here flying from midpack that day and simply parked.”
Pat Day rode Pine Circle to a second-place end within the 1984 Arkansas Derby (G1) to earn the colt a visit to Louisville, Ky. However Day selected to journey Vanlandingham, one other Loblolly colt, within the massive dance.
“Shug known as my agent Paul Younger to see if I wished to return down and journey Pine Circle within the Derby,” Smith stated. “My response was, ‘You have to be kidding me, man!'”
Ah, candy harmless youth. Smith was not lengthy from the New Mexico circuit, the place he started his profession at Santa Fe Downs in Could 1982 at age 15—sure, 15—because of a barely doctored start certificates by his racetracker uncle that modified the yr of his start from 1966 to 1965.
“All you have to do is erase a little bit bit off the again finish of the six to make it appear like a 5,” Smith stated with a smile. “Heck, it was solely three months until I turned 16, so it was no massive deal.”
Photograph: Anne M. EberhardtMike Smith in 1989
Smith rode six winners earlier than turning 16 on Aug. 10, 1982. Since then, he has added 5,796 extra, plus two Eclipse Awards, 27 Breeders’ Cup victories, and a spot of his personal within the Corridor of Fame. He copped to the minor doc alteration final summer time when all of the media guides have been poised to rejoice what virtually everybody thought could be his milestone sixtieth birthday. Maintain the candles.
On the ’84 Derby program, when Pine Circle completed a decent sixth behind victorious Swale, he was Smith’s solely mount. If that sounds acquainted, that’s precisely what his afternoon appears like Could 2, when his solely task is within the Derby aboard So Completely satisfied , winner of the Santa Anita Derby (G1). The son of 2015 champion male sprinter Runhappy is educated by Mark Glatt and races for house owners Rob Norman of Norman Stables and Hans and Ana Maron, who race as Saints or Sinners.
Smith has been working So Completely satisfied since final autumn and has ridden the colt in all 4 of his races.
“He retains shocking me,” Smith stated. “He is a better horse than even I give him credit score for. He will be very odd within the morning, a lot so you actually surprise if he might be that good. He simply does what’s wanted, and in the event you work him in firm and provides the opposite horse an excessive amount of of a head begin, he’ll simply go, ‘Nah, catching him is an excessive amount of to do.’
“However then within the afternoon he is a distinct horse,” Smith went on. “He involves life. He is the form of horse, in the event that they run quick, he’ll run a little bit quicker. You will not see him ever successful off by many, however he will not be stopping on the finish of his race.”
So Completely satisfied sustained a minor foot harm earlier this yr and missed very important coaching classes earlier than his first two-turn attempt within the San Felipe Stakes (G2) March 7. He completed third that day, crushed 2 1/4 lengths in his solely loss, after urgent the tempo of Brant , the odds-on favourite.
“After that, I do know folks have been considering he could not get the space, being by Runhappy,” Smith stated. “However he simply acquired drained. After I pulled him up he was blowing, however then he recovered immediately. My first thought was, ‘Man, he might actually transfer up off this race.’ And he did, within the Santa Anita Derby. I believe he’ll even transfer ahead off that race, and he’ll have to. If he does, I believe he is acquired a very good shot.”
For many who preserve monitor of such issues, So Completely satisfied would mark Smith’s twenty ninth Kentucky Derby mount, a document that would have been much more spectacular had it not been for the late scratches of Hoppertunity in 2014, Omaha Seashore in 2019, and Rodriguez final yr.
That nagging development could have already been neutralized this time round. Smith was booked to journey Bottle of Rouge , winner of the Virginia Oaks, within the Kentucky Oaks (G1) Could 1. However the filly was scratched, leaving him solely an allowance race to journey on the cardboard.
At 59, Smith could be the oldest jockey ever to win the Derby. Invoice Shoemaker was 54 and 9 months when he gained the 1986 Derby aboard Ferdinand. John Velazquez, who rides morning-line second alternative Additional Ado Saturday, is 54 1/2, so he would fall simply wanting the mark. Nevertheless, Velazquez does have a shot to win his fourth Derby, which might tie Shoemaker behind the 5 wins of Eddie Arcaro and Invoice Hartack.
Photograph: Chad B. HarmonMike Smith (left) and John Velazquez in 2021 at Churchill Downs
Seven of the 20 jockeys on this yr’s subject are Derby rookies, together with veterans Juan Hernandez, Edwin Maldonado, and Hector Berrios, together with 20-year-old Chris Elliott, the son of Derby-winning Stewart Elliott. Does Smith recall any first Derby jitters?
“While you’re within the Derby, everyone’s acquired some form of nerves, in any other case one thing’s fallacious with you,” Smith stated. “It comes right down to dealing with the strain.
“I am certain the first-timers and the youthful jocks might be a little bit extra nervous that they must be,” he stated. “You have simply acquired to do it to be taught it, like when your dad and mom inform you do not contact one thing as a result of it is scorching. Generally you have to contact it to search out out for your self.
“However even the younger ones are professionals,” Smith stated. “They may spend a little bit extra time within the toilet, considering they have to pee and nothing comes out. However they will be OK.”
Smith stated he could be arriving within the room someday within the early afternoon Saturday. Put up time for the Derby is 6:57 p.m. ET, which is able to depart him with a minimum of 5 hours to kill.
“I would prefer to have ridden one other race on the cardboard, however I haven’t got to,” he stated. “I will have already accomplished all of the homework. I will watch the races, go to a little bit bit, and signal all of the stuff I am imagined to signal. About an hour and a half earlier than the race I will do a light-weight exercise, simply one thing to get the lactic acid out of my physique.
“After that, man, I will be able to roll,” Smith added. “I will be able to run by way of a wall.”
And take So Pleased with him.
