Mike Smith and Zenyatta seen winning the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic © Photo Healy Racing
Just like his sire Justify always did, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith expects City Of Troy to “mean business” when he takes his place in the starting gate for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
A four-time winner of the Classic, the 59-year-old Smith has had the privilege of being associated with some of the greatest horses in American racing during his long and highly-decorated career.
One of the very best Smith has ridden is Justify – the all-conquering Triple Crown hero of 2018 and since revered as a stallion thanks to the exploits of, among others, City Of Troy.
Like most, Smith has been a key observer of City Of Troy’s rise to the top of the middle-distance tree and is now excited to see Justify’s most famous son tackle dirt in the final stanza of his career.
“I’ve followed his career really closely because he is by Justify, who I was blessed to have ridden to a Triple Crown,” said Smith.
“I’ve been keeping a close eye and he’s going to be coming in fresh and coming in strong – and I know he will be fit.
“He should handle the dirt and I think the only thing that might be a nuisance to him is the kickback. But he’s going to be handy, it’s not like he is going to be way back and I think he will be somewhere close.
“Hopefully, he can keep the kickback out of his face and if he can do that, I see no problem with him getting a mile and a quarter on the dirt, it should be right up his alley.”
Of course, City Of Troy has made his name on the turf, while Justify was the exceptional dirt horse of his generation.
But Smith feels the apple does not fall far from the tree and when the gates open, City Of Troy exudes the same professionalism as his illustrious sire.
Smith continued: “Early on, he was just like his father in that he was so straightforward. There was no messing around and he was a horse that although he was only two and just starting out, he ran like a four-year-old.
“Ryan (Moore) has always been able to turn him off and on, put him up close if needs be, stay a little further back if he has to – and he has always run his ‘A’ race, maybe with the exception of that one time where he ran a mediocre race (in the 2000 Guineas).
“After that, they gave him a bit of time and boom, back to the winner’s circle he went. He’s about as honest as they come, like his father was, and that is one similarity, there is no messing around, they both mean business out there on track.”
Smith first got his hands on the Classic aboard Sonny Hine’s Skip Away in 1997 and then after a 12-year wait, he won it three times in the next seven years, starting with the towering mare Zenyatta in 2009.
It remains one of the races Smith cherishes more than any other on the American calendar.
“Without a doubt, the Breeders’ Cup Classic is one of those races you want to win. It’s a very important race for us out here in the States and it’s our biggest purse,” explained Smith.
“The Kentucky Derby would be the most prestigious, but the Classic is the toughest race and requires the most talent, as they come from all over the world to try to win it.”
Justify apart, ask anyone to name a horse associated with Mike Smith and the answer is likely to be Zenyatta.
The darling of American racetracks was a sight to behold, and her racing style – cutting through runners from the back of the field – only served to endear her further.
Few racing moments can compare to her win in the 2009 Classic. As commentator Trevor Denman put it: “This is UN-BE-LIEVABLE!”
“She speaks for herself and I just wish everyone had got the opportunity to see her in person – she was worth seeing,” said Smith.
“She was brilliant and fun to watch up close with all her paddock antics and dancing. She just towered over her competition and even when she ran against the boys, she was bigger than they were.
“My vocabulary is not good enough to do her justice, but she was a once-in-a-lifetime horse.”
There is also a certain Arrogate, winner of the Travers, the Classic, the Pegasus World Cup and Dubai World Cup in a sensational four-race spell from August 2016 to March 2017.
“When he was fit and healthy and ran his ‘A’ race, I don’t think there was a horse in the world who could have beaten him that year,” said Smith.
“He was just a beast and the numbers he ran and the speed figures he produced were just incredible. He’s probably the fastest horse at a mile and a quarter I’ve ever been on.
“He wasn’t right at four and he ended up passing away very young as a sire.
“He wasn’t even a smidgen of the same horse I had got on in the Dubai World Cup, he just wasn’t the same. He still ran well in his races, but he just wasn’t the same.”
But for all the Justifys, Zenyattas, Arrogates and many, many others, there is a victory at the Curragh that Smith is rightly bursting with pride over – that of Fourstars Allstar in the 1991 Irish 2,000 Guineas.
“Still to this day, he is the only American horse to do it – that’s just incredible,” continued Smith.
“I love to go back and look at the racecard and see who was in there, the great riders – every jockey in the race was a Hall of Famer and a half!
“I was just a kid and it was such a thrill. I can go back and look at that race and to this day I still get goosebumps. I just can’t believe I won it.”
