Smith taking advantage of good opportunities at Del Mar
DEL MAR, Calif. – With his victories Sunday in the Pacific Classic and Del Mar Mile, as well as two other races on the card, jockey Mike Smith continued his spectacular season here, where he leads all riders in stakes wins and is just two wins back of the top spot in the overall standings despite riding far fewer horses.
“He’s a sensational big-money rider,” said Jerry Hollendorfer, the trainer and co-owner of Shared Belief, who won the Pacific Classic. “Mike is really in the groove.”
Through Sunday, Smith has won with 24 of 93 mounts, a strike rate of 26 percent. He is tied for second in the standings with Kent Desormeaux and Elvis Trujillo, all three of them two back of leading rider Rafael Bejarano, who has 26 wins.
But Desormeaux (126 mounts), Trujillo (156), and Bejarano (147) have ridden far more horses this summer. For Smith, it has been about quality more so than quantity. Eight of his 24 wins have been in stakes races, seven of them graded.
Smith turned 49 at this meet, but his dedicated workout regimen keeps him in better shape than guys half his age. During the week of the Pacific Classic, he would regularly run three miles a day and hit the gym, “and I wasn’t out drinking wine,” he said.
“I wanted this race so bad,” Smith said after the Pacific Classic. “I trained so hard for this race.”
Smith’s agent, Brad Pegram, believes one of the reasons Smith has done so well this summer is that he has not traveled one time, not to Saratoga, not to Arlington. There were opportunities to do so. But the best opportunities were right here.
With the meet ending Sept. 3, Smith has a chance to finish strong. He is scheduled to ride likely favorite Enterprising in the Grade 2, $300,000 Del Mar Derby on Sunday, Winning Rhythm in the Grade 2, $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap on Monday – both those races are on turf – and will have mounts in both the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday and the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on closing day.