Smith pledges 1 percent of Travers Day mounts to Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation

Mike Smith, the Hall of Fame jockey, has pledged 1 percent of his earnings from his mounts on Saturday at Saratoga to the Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation, which funds research into equine health issues, according to the foundation.

Smith, who is based in Southern California, has several high-profile mounts Saturday, including champion Songbird in the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign and West Coast in the $1.25 million Travers. He is named on two other horses in stakes races scheduled for that day.

“The horses give us so much,” Smith said in a prepared statement distributed by the Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation. “This is my way to give back to them.”

Since 1983, the foundation has distributed more than $24.8 million in private funding for 346 research projects at 43 universities in North America and overseas, according to the organization.