Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Triple Crown sweep provides Smith a happy homecoming
ELMONT, N.Y. – As the field walked toward the starting gate for the Belmont Stakes, jockey Mike Smith, aboard Triple Crown hopeful Justify, looked up to the heavens. A big smile came across his face, as if he knew what was about to happen.
“I felt very good,” Smith said. “The weather cooled down, the wind kind of came, I felt so good. I couldn’t wait for the doors to open.”
When the doors opened, Justify broke on top. Nearly 2 1/2 minutes later, Smith and Justify crossed the finish line first, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of runner-up Gronkowski, completing the 13th Triple Crown in history, and just the second by an undefeated horse.
“To do it back here in New York, it means more to me because New York is like my home,” said Smith, 52. “It’s the first big-time place I came to. So blessed to do so well for so many years. Left here in 2001 and to come back and to continue to have success here is just incredible.”
Smith came to New York in the late 1980s, and in the mid-1990s he was the leading rider on this circuit, riding for some of the most powerful outfits, including the Phipps Stable. A severe back injury in 1998 caused him to miss some time and when he came back he fell out of favor with some of his usual clients.
He went to Southern California and reinvented himself. Still, New York is where his heart is.
“This is the best stage in the United States, I would say the world,” Smith said.
Harry Rice was Smith’s valet when he arrived in New York nearly three decades ago. The tears were flowing from Rice’s face after the Belmont.
“I never get emotional,” said Rice, who said he’s worked for Smith for 29 years.
“I married my wife a couple of weeks before, otherwise we’ve been together the longest time,” Rice said. “And he hasn’t changed a bit from the minute he walked into the jocks’ room.”
Rice said Smith’s decision to relocate to California “was a great move.”
“He had a chance to ride for some big outfits,” Rice said. “They kind of forgot about him here for a little bit. Maybe he came back a little too quick from his injury. It was a smart move. You see how good it worked out.”
John Velazquez was just getting his career started when Smith came to New York. Velazquez has carved out his own Hall of Fame career and ranks as the alltime leading jockey in purse money won, with Smith second. Velazquez finished fourth on Vino Rosso in the Belmont, but he couldn’t help but feel good for his friend.
“What a great moment for him to come back here and win the Triple Crown,” Velazquez said. “He’s my idol. He’s why I’m still around. We’ve been friends for so long, and for him to get this at his age is incredible. I’m really glad for him.”
Chris McCarron, who once ruined a Triple Crown bid here in 1997 when Touch Gold beat Silver Charm, called Smith winning a Triple Crown at age 52 “unreal.”
“What he’s doing at his age is just phenomenal,” McCarron said. “It’s well deserved. He works his butt off. He’s very dedicated to what he’s doing, and I’m so proud to call him my friend.”
Victor Espinoza, who won the 2015 Triple Crown aboard American Pharoah, said it’s only been recently that he and Smith have developed a friendship.
“I told him, ‘Hey, lately you’ve been watching me too much, you’ve been learning too much from me,’ ” said Espinoza, who did not have a mount in the Belmont. “But it was awesome. Quite an experience to experience two Triple Crowns for me, winning it and living to watch another Triple Crown.”
Bob Baffert, the trainer of Justify and American Pharoah, said, “Mike Smith, he deserves something like this.”
Maybe he did. In 2010, Smith lost the Breeders’ Cup Classic aboard Zenyatta by a head, that mare’s only loss in a 20-race career.
“Now I know what perfection feels like,” Smith said. “He was perfection today, he really was.”