Legendary jockey Mike Smith returns to Del Mar at 61

On August 10, Mike Smith will turn 61 years old, an age almost unheard of among active jockeys — a profession that demands the body of a gymnast and the nerves of a fighter pilot. Yet as the Del Mar summer meet quickly approaches, Smith is not planning a retirement party. He is planning to win.

“As long as I’m riding good horses, I still really enjoy it,” Smith says with characteristic understatement. “I love horses. I love being around them. I love the competition. Nothing has changed from the time I was 20 until now.”

Smith’s journey to racing’s summit began in the high desert of New Mexico, where he was born in Roswell and raised in the small town of Dexter. His father rode horses, his uncle trained them, and by the time he was 11, Smith was competing at bush tracks — a circuit where you learn to survive before you learn to shine.

“I happen to get along with horses really well,” Smith says. “I communicate well with them. I feel like I know what they’re asking for — what they like, what they don’t.”

By 16, Smith had a jockey’s license and was riding professionally, first in the Midwest, then conquering the brutally competitive New York circuit through the early 1990s. Those years established his reputation: back-to-back Eclipse Awards as outstanding jockey in 1993 and 1994, and a record 68 stakes victories in 1995. 

But in 1998, Smith suffered two separate serious injuries — first a broken shoulder that sidelined him for two months, followed by two fractured vertebrae in his back.

“I wasn’t doing quite as well afterwards and wanted to make a change… to see what would happen,” he says. That brought Smith to California in 2001, where he has been based ever since. His second act proved even more remarkable than his first, which saw him inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2003.

Two years later, in 2005, Smith rode Giacomo, a 50-1 longshot, to victory in the Kentucky Derby, earning him the nickname “Big Money Mike.” He also holds the record with 27 Breeders’ Cup victories, a distinction especially resonant at Del Mar, which has been among the rotating hosts of racing’s richest event since 2017.

As for the Triple Crown, by the age of 51, Smith had already won each of the three races — he won the Preakness Stakes (1993), the Kentucky Derby (2005), and the Belmont Stakes twice, (2010, 2013).

Then, at 52, he rode Justify to victories in all three, becoming the oldest jockey ever to do so. The images from that historic run remain indelible: Smith rain-soaked at Churchill Downs, mud-splattered at Pimlico, and arms raised in triumph at Belmont.

“There is nothing like riding a horse, competing in a race, having all that power underneath you. And then to win — it’s a feeling like no other and the only way to feel it is to do it. That’s what keeps me going,” says Smith.

This summer, Smith will again be a fixture at Del Mar, where his 77 stakes victories have helped define the meet’s character for
more than two decades. “Del Mar is very important this time of year. It’s like the playoffs at Madison Square Garden or the Staples Center,” he says. “You want to do well. All the owners are watching and the grandstand is full. It’s also a fun place to be. What other racetrack has the ocean next to it? You can hang out at the beach and then walk over to the track.”

Smith’s longevity defies easy explanation. At 5 feet, 4 inches tall and ranging between 114-118 pounds, he maintains the physical conditioning his profession demands. But his true advantage lies in decades of accumulated wisdom about pace, positioning, and the thousands of small decisions that separate winning from losing.

“I don’t do the running,” he says with a grin. “The horses are very well trained. You’re not trying to break a wild horse. You’re taking a horse that’s finely tuned. It’s like a racecar. It’s ready to do what it was trained to do. It’s just up to you to drive it and make the right decisions.”

With 5,794 career victories and more than $356 million in purse earnings, Smith has nothing left to prove. But for eight weeks beginning this month, you can watch him as he keeps proving it anyway, one race at a time.