Mike Smith: Life After Zenyatta

By Kelly Sanchez April 23, 2011

Eating a piece of apple pie is probably the last thing you’d expect a big-time jockey like Mike Smith to be doing on his day off. But maybe Smith figured he’d earned it. His most famous mount, Zenyatta, had just won the Eclipse Award for 2010’s Horse of the Year, and Smith had already put in a few hours at the track that morning followed by his characteristically hard-driving workout with his personal trainer, Tony Vong. But Smith offers a simpler reason: “I never deprive myself of anything,” he says with a grin. “I just eat a few bites. I’ve been kind of a fitness freak for a long time,” he adds. “As you get older, the weight tends to stay with you a little more. But I’m not too heavy—I’m pretty blessed.”

It’s testament to Smith’s character that he attributes a large part of his success to forces beyond his control. Not that he doesn’t work hard. Vong, who also trains jockeys Joe Talamo and Chantal Sutherland, has worked with Smith for three years. “He comes into the gym with a big smile and says hi to everyone,” Vong notes. “But he’s my most challenging client—I’m constantly having to come up with new things for him.” The pair work out five or six days a week at 24 Hour Fitness in Pasadena or take to the local mountains for grueling runs up and down the canyon trails. “Mike sets the pace on those hikes,” says Vong with a laugh. “His mindset and fitness level are like that of a 20-year-old.”

At 45, Smith shows no signs of slowing down. The Hall of Fame jockey rode the Bob Baffert–trained Euroears in the $2 million Golden Shaheen sprint race in Dubai to a second-place finish, and he’s looking ahead to the Kentucky Derby in May.

Finding another horse like Zenyatta is something else altogether. The charismatic mare owned by Ann and Jerry Moss and trained by John Shirreffs won a remarkable 19 of 20 career starts (running against a field of males, she lost her final race—the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic—by a heartbreaking matter of inches). With her patented pre-race “dance,” she was a crowd-pleaser who made racing fun. “To this day, people who know nothing about racing know about Zenyatta,” says Smith. “She was Entertainer of the Year every year she ran—she played the crowd, she played the people, but she knew what she was doing in the race. She always did what she had to do. She was just lovely.”

Of her racing style—turning on the speed late in a race to win—Smith observes, “She liked to give other horses a chance; she didn’t want to embarrass them too much. That’s how John trained her. He did a tremendous job of keeping a horse of that size and ability sound.”

The 17.1-hand mare could move like the wind. “She was so balanced,” marvels Smith. “I’ve ridden horses that size, but they also felt that way—big and heavy. But Zenyatta could turn it on anytime I asked her to. She moved like a little gazelle.”

Long before Smith ever climbed aboard the legendary mare, he dreamed of a career in racing. Born in Roswell, New Mexico, he was introduced to horses by his father and uncle. “I was raised around horses and started riding before I could walk. I didn’t grow, so I couldn’t play football, which was another passion of mine.”

“I don’t remember ever not wanting to be a jockey,” he says. “I can recall sitting on a corner of the coffee table watching Secretariat on TV. When he won the Derby, I told my grandmother, ‘I’m going to win that race.’ And she said, ‘I know you will.’”

Smith did indeed win the Kentucky Derby (in 2005, aboard the 50–1 longshot Giacomo) as well as the Preakness, the Belmont and more than a dozen Breeders’ Cups. He’s received two Eclipse Awards along with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. But his time with Zenyatta stands apart from his other achievements. “Riding her was everything you ever dreamed of, and more,” he says. “But to go almost perfect except for that last [race], it just didn’t sit well with me. Her winning Horse of the Year kind of made everything all right. I truly believed that she was deserving.”

Mike Smith has made a career of believing in his horses. “It’s not about them believing in you. You believe in them. I try to give them a lot of confidence in the post parade. I’ll hug on them and love on them and let them know I’m ready for the ride. I’ll tell them, ‘Take me where we need to go.’”
Following an amazing run, the Hall of Fame jockey stays on track

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Eating a piece of apple pie is probably the last thing you’d expect a big-time jockey like Mike Smith to be doing on his day off. But maybe Smith figured he’d earned it. His most famous mount, Zenyatta, had just won the Eclipse Award for 2010’s Horse of the Year, and Smith had already put in a few hours at the track that morning followed by his characteristically hard-driving workout with his personal trainer, Tony Vong. But Smith offers a simpler reason: “I never deprive myself of anything,” he says with a grin. “I just eat a few bites. I’ve been kind of a fitness freak for a long time,” he adds. “As you get older, the weight tends to stay with you a little more. But I’m not too heavy—I’m pretty blessed.”

It’s testament to Smith’s character that he attributes a large part of his success to forces beyond his control. Not that he doesn’t work hard. Vong, who also trains jockeys Joe Talamo and Chantal Sutherland, has worked with Smith for three years. “He comes into the gym with a big smile and says hi to everyone,” Vong notes. “But he’s my most challenging client—I’m constantly having to come up with new things for him.” The pair work out five or six days a week at 24 Hour Fitness in Pasadena or take to the local mountains for grueling runs up and down the canyon trails. “Mike sets the pace on those hikes,” says Vong with a laugh. “His mindset and fitness level are like that of a 20-year-old.”

At 45, Smith shows no signs of slowing down. The Hall of Fame jockey rode the Bob Baffert–trained Euroears in the $2 million Golden Shaheen sprint race in Dubai to a second-place finish, and he’s looking ahead to the Kentucky Derby in May.

Finding another horse like Zenyatta is something else altogether. The charismatic mare owned by Ann and Jerry Moss and trained by John Shirreffs won a remarkable 19 of 20 career starts (running against a field of males, she lost her final race—the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic—by a heartbreaking matter of inches). With her patented pre-race “dance,” she was a crowd-pleaser who made racing fun. “To this day, people who know nothing about racing know about Zenyatta,” says Smith. “She was Entertainer of the Year every year she ran—she played the crowd, she played the people, but she knew what she was doing in the race. She always did what she had to do. She was just lovely.”

Of her racing style—turning on the speed late in a race to win—Smith observes, “She liked to give other horses a chance; she didn’t want to embarrass them too much. That’s how John trained her. He did a tremendous job of keeping a horse of that size and ability sound.”

The 17.1-hand mare could move like the wind. “She was so balanced,” marvels Smith. “I’ve ridden horses that size, but they also felt that way—big and heavy. But Zenyatta could turn it on anytime I asked her to. She moved like a little gazelle.”

Long before Smith ever climbed aboard the legendary mare, he dreamed of a career in racing. Born in Roswell, New Mexico, he was introduced to horses by his father and uncle. “I was raised around horses and started riding before I could walk. I didn’t grow, so I couldn’t play football, which was another passion of mine.”

“I don’t remember ever not wanting to be a jockey,” he says. “I can recall sitting on a corner of the coffee table watching Secretariat on TV. When he won the Derby, I told my grandmother, ‘I’m going to win that race.’ And she said, ‘I know you will.’”

Smith did indeed win the Kentucky Derby (in 2005, aboard the 50–1 longshot Giacomo) as well as the Preakness, the Belmont and more than a dozen Breeders’ Cups. He’s received two Eclipse Awards along with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. But his time with Zenyatta stands apart from his other achievements. “Riding her was everything you ever dreamed of, and more,” he says. “But to go almost perfect except for that last [race], it just didn’t sit well with me. Her winning Horse of the Year kind of made everything all right. I truly believed that she was deserving.”

Mike Smith has made a career of believing in his horses. “It’s not about them believing in you. You believe in them. I try to give them a lot of confidence in the post parade. I’ll hug on them and love on them and let them know I’m ready for the ride. I’ll tell them, ‘Take me where we need to go.’”

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