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Mike Smith (jockey)
Michael Earl Smith (born August 10, 1965) is an American jockey who has been one of the leading riders in U.S. Thoroughbred racing since the early 1990s, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2003, and has won the most Breeders' Cup races of any jockey with 27 Breeders' Cup wins. Smith is also the third leading jockey of all time in earnings with over $336 million. In 2018, Smith rode Justify to the Triple Crown, becoming the oldest jockey to win the title at age 52. Background Smith was born to George Smith, a one-time jockey, and Vidoll Vallejos in New Mexico; his mother was 19 years old at the time. Smith's parents divorced when he was 8 years old. Smith spent most of his youth on his maternal grandparents' horse farm where he began breaking horses at eight years old. Smith began riding races in his native New Mexico at age 11, and took out a jockey's license at age 16 in 1982. In the ninth grade, Smith dropped out of Dexter High School. Short ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jockey
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual who rode horses in racing. They must be light, typically around a weight of 100-120 lb., and physically fit. They are typically self-employed and are paid a small fee from the horse trainer and a percentage of the horse's winnings. Jockeys are mainly male, though there are some well-known female jockeys too. The job has a very high risk of debilitating or life-threatening injuries. Etymology The word is by origin a diminutive of ''jock'', the Northern English or Scots colloquial equivalent of the first name ''John'', which is also used generically for "boy" or "fellow" (compare ''Jack'', ''Dick''), at least since 1529. A familiar instance of the use of the word as a name is in "Jockey of Norfolk" in Shakespeare's ''Richard III''. v. 3, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breeders' Cup Juvenile
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually in late October or early November at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The current purse is US$2,000,000 making it the most valuable race for two-year-olds in North America. It is normally run at a distance of miles. The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is typically the first time that the best colts from the various racing circuits across North America (in New York, Kentucky and California in particular) meet up with each other. The winner often earns the Eclipse Award for Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse, and becomes one of the early favorites for the next year's Kentucky Derby. In 2006, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) wrote in Part 2 of their special series titled ''Spiraling To The Breeders' Cup'' that " Arazi turned in what many still consider to be the single-most spect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beldame Stakes
The Beldame Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares three-years-old and up. Inaugurated in 1939, it was run as a handicap prior to 1960. The race is held annually near the beginning of October at Belmont Park and currently offers a purse of $400,000. A Grade I event for most of its history, in 2019 it was downgraded to Grade II. On August 22, 2009, NYRA announced that the purse for the 2009 Beldame Stakes was increased to $1 million to attract a showdown between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta though ultimately neither horse entered the race. The race is named for the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame mare Beldame who raced between 1903 and 1905. During the 1904 season, she won 12 of 14 starts, beating the best colts of her time, and was voted the Horse of the Year honors. The first New York bred to win an Eclipse Award, Saratoga Dew, won this race in 1992. Run at miles since 1991, the Beldame has been set at various distances: * miles : 1939, 1990 * 1 m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beholder Mile Stakes
The Beholder Mile Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares aged three and up. It is run over a distance of one mile on the dirt each year in March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. History The event was inaugurated in 1940 as the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California over the current distance of one mile. In 1968 Gamely won carrying a record weight for a winner of 131 pounds in the race. Her owner William Haggin Perry had the three placegetters in the race which carried a record high stakes amount for the fillies and mares of $79,650. Originally an open handicap for fillies and mares aged three years and up, in 1987 it was changed to an invitational handicap for selected fillies and mares. Over the next three decades, the race switched between open handicap and invitational handicap formats. Following the closure of Hollywood Park, the race moved to Santa Anita Park in 2014. In that same year, the event ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballerina Stakes
The Ballerina Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares that are three years old or older over a distance of seven furlongs on the dirt track scheduled annually in August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The event currently carries a purse of $500,000. History The inaugural running of the Ballerina Stakes was 20 August 1979 and was won by the Ogden Phipps-owned three-year-old filly Blitey, who was ridden by the US Hall of Fame jockey Ángel Cordero Jr. on a muddy track in a time of 1:23. The race is named for Howell E. Jackson's filly, Ballerina, who won the 1954 inaugural running of the Maskette Stakes, run today as the Grade I Go For Wand Handicap. In 1981 the event was classified as Grade III, upgraded to Grade II in 1984 and to Grade I in 1988. The sudden rise in stature of the event was due to the quality of runners who won this event and continued to win important Grade I races. In particular the winner of the seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Awesome Again Stakes
The Awesome Again Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old or older over the distance of one and one-eighth miles on the dirt scheduled annually in September at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. The event currently carries a purse of $300,000. History The event was inaugurated on 9 October 1982 as the Goodwood Handicap at the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting at Santa Anita Park as the eighth race on the racecard over a distance of miles and was won by the and US Hall of Fame, Lázaro "Laz" Barrera trained Cajun Prince who tied the track record for the distance that was set by Ancient Title in 1978. The race was named for Oak Tree Racing Association's sister operation at Goodwood Racecourse near Chichester, England. The event was run at the miles distance in 1983, 1984 and again in 1986. In 1985 the event was classified by the American Graded Stakes Committee as Grade III and was upgraded to Grade II status in 1990. Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashland Stakes
The Ashland Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early April at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It and the Ashland Oaks, the Kentucky Association racetrack's predecessor race, were named for Ashland, the homestead and breeding farm of statesman Henry Clay in Lexington, Kentucky. Restricted to three-year-olds fillies the race is currently run at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles. The race is a Grade I event with a current purse of $500,000 and has been a prep race to the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing, including the Kentucky Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Mother Goose Stakes. Part of the 1936 inaugural events for the new Keeneland Race Course, the first two editions of the Ashland Stakes were open to fillies and mares, 3-years of age and older. Not run again until 1940, it was then made a race exclusively for 3-year-old fillies. During World War II, from 1943 through 1945 the race was hosted by Churchill D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arkansas Derby
The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs) on dirt. In 2004, to celebrate its 100th anniversary, Oaklawn Park offered a $5 million bonus to any horse that could sweep its three-year-old graded stakes, the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby, and then take the Kentucky Derby. Smarty Jones's collected the bonus. The exposure from Smarty Jones subsequent run at the Triple Crown helped increase participation from the top three-year-olds in the country to the point where the American Graded Stakes Committee made the Arkansas Derby a Grade I race in 2010. Past winners of the race have gone on to win legs of horse racing's Grand Slam. Sunny's Halo won the 1983 Kentucky Derby, as did Smarty Jones in 2004 and American Pharoah in 2015. Elocutionist (1976), Tank's Prospect (1985), Pine Bluff (1992), Smarty J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple Blossom Handicap
The Apple Blossom Handicap is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares that are four years old or older, run under handicap conditions over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt track held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The 2022 running carried a purse of $1,000,000. History The race over the years has become the premier event for distaffers in the Spring, however its beginnings were inconsistent and were far from what we see today. Nonetheless, the inaugural running was on 21 March 1958, as the Apple Blossom Purse, for horses three-years-old or older over the current distance and was won by the three year old colt Count De Blanc in a time of 1:43. The event at that time was a preparatory event for the Arkansas Derby because in his next start Count De Blanc duly proceeded to win that event. The current preparatory event for the Arkansas Derby is the Rebel Stakes but that event was not first run until 1962. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Oaks
The American Oaks is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old fillies over a distance of one and one-quarter miles on the turf held annually in late December Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, USA. The event currently offers a purse of US$300,000. History The inaugural running of the event was on 6 July 2002 as the American Oaks Invitational at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California with a purse of $500,000. The event was won by the British-bred filly Megahertz who was ridden by US Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis and trained by US Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel on a disqualification of Dublino who had crossed the finishing line first. Dublino had bumped Megahertz in the stretch drive, and then the whip of jockey Kent Desormeaux hit Megahertz twice in the face, making Megahertz end the race a half-length behind. The following year, 2003, with a purse increase to $750,000 the winner was the Irish-trained filly Dimitrova who had previousl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alabama Stakes
The Alabama Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race open to three-year-old fillies. Inaugurated in 1872, the Grade I race is run over a distance of one and one-quarter miles on the dirt track at Saratoga Race Course. Held in mid August, it currently offers a purse of $600,000. In 2010 it became the third leg of the American Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing, after the Acorn Stakes and Coaching Club American Oaks. The Alabama Stakes is named in honor of William Cottrell of Mobile, Alabama. "Alabama" was the name settled on because Cottrell was too modest to have a race named for him personally. The inaugural running took place on July 19, 1872 and was won by a chestnut filly named Woodbine owned by prominent New York financier August Belmont Sr. The race was not run from 1893 to 1896 and 1898 to 1900. The 1908 passage of the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation by the New York Legislature under Republican Governor Charles Evans Hughes led to a state-wide shutdown of racin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acorn Stakes
The Acorn Stakes is an American Grade I race at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies. It is raced on dirt over a distance of one mile with a current purse of $500,000. It is the first leg of the US Triple Tiara and is followed by the Coaching Club American Oaks then the Alabama Stakes. The filly must win all three races to win the Triple Tiara, as well as the third leg of the "National" Triple Tiara (Kentucky Oaks and George E. Mitchell Stakes are the others). The Acorn Stakes was run at Aqueduct Racetrack from 1960 to 1967 and 1969 to 1975. There were two divisions in 1951, 1970 and 1974. There was a dead heat for first place in 1954 and again in 1956. Historic notes The inaugural running of the Acorn Stakes took place on May 16, 1931 and was won by Baba Kenney. The filly was owned by Edward R. Bradley and trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Herbert J. Thompson. Gallorette won the 1945 running of the Acorn and went on to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
