Breeders' Cup: Smith edges Stevens for Shoemaker Award

ARCADIA, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith won the Shoemaker Award for the second consecutive year as outstanding jockey of the two days of Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday.

Based on a point system of 10-5-3-1 for top four finishes, Smith’s mounts gained 37 points, four more than Gary Stevens, who finished with 33 points.

Between them, the two veterans won five Breeders’ Cup races.

Friday, Smith won the BC Marathon on London Bridge and the BC Juvenile Turf with Outstrip. Saturday, he won the BC Turf Sprint for the second consecutive year with Mizdirection. He was also second with Laugh Track in the BC Sprint, third on Emollient in the BC Filly and Mare Turf and fourth on Royal Delta in the BC Distaff.

Smith, 48, is the all-time leading rider in earnings and wins in the Breeders' Cup.

His mounts have earned $25,614,260. Retired jockey Pat Day is second with $23,033,360. Smith has 20 career wins in the Breeders' Cup, five more than retired jockey Jerry Bailey.

Stevens, who came out of retirement in January, won the featured race each day – Friday’s BC Distaff with Beholder and Saturday’s BC Classic with Mucho Macho Man. Stevens finished first in Saturday’s BC Juvenile Fillies with She’s a Tiger, who was disqualified and placed second for interfering with Ria Antonia in deep stretch.

Stevens was second on Havana in the BC Juvenile and third in the BC Turf with Indy Point.

Sunday, Stevens was suspended three days for causing interference on She’s a Tiger. The suspension begins Saturday and continues through Monday at Betfair Hollywood Park.

The Shoemaker Award was inaugurated in 2003, the year that Hall of Famer Bill Shoemaker died. Shoemaker won the 1987 BC Classic on Ferdinand at the age of 56.