By Kevin Hendricks and Julian Paras
Mike Smith has ridden in 29 Kentucky Derbys, won a Triple Crown aboard Justify and collected more Breeders’ Cup victories than any jockey in history. But ask him what he carries with him after more than four decades in the saddle, and the answer has nothing to do with trophies.
“My family, my friends, my loved ones,” Smith told The Paper. “I take everybody. And don’t forget anybody, man.”
That’s the New Mexico still visible under the Hall of Fame résumé — and it’s what New Mexico United leaned into Wednesday, honoring Smith with a pregame ceremony before a 2-1 win over Lexington SC at Rio Grande Credit Union Field.
A Dexter kid with a knack for speed
Smith was born in Roswell and raised in Dexter, a small farming community just south of it in Chaves County, where horses were simply part of life. His grandfather kept quarter horses, and an uncle trained them, prepping horses on the family’s land before sending them off to major tracks.
“So I would help him with all the horses when I was very, very young,” Smith said. “But back in the day, there was a lot of match racing going on back in the New Mexico and Texas area. So I started riding match races at a very young age, and by the time I was 13 years old, man, I’d already won quite a few races and kind of built up a name for myself.”
Smith never grew into the frame of a football or basketball player, he said, but that didn’t slow him down.
“I never grew, I say, the right size,” Smith said. “And I was always competitive, I wanted to compete. Why not be a jockey and try?”
He got his start in earnest in 1982 in Santa Fe, then followed the circuit to the state fairgrounds in Albuquerque and on to El Paso. From there, he said, his career “just took off,” eventually landing him among the top riders in the world by his early 20s.
Smith has said his hometown never left him, even as his career carried him far beyond it. Ahead of the 2018 Belmont Stakes, he told the Roswell Daily Record his roots still ground him: “I take a lot of pride in being from Dexter, New Mexico.”
The résumé of a legend
By any measure, what followed is one of the greatest careers in the sport’s history. Smith holds the all-time record for Breeders’ Cup wins with 27 victories and has won the Kentucky Derby twice — aboard 50-1 long shot Giacomo in 2005 and again in 2018 aboard Justify, when he also swept the Preakness and Belmont to become the 13th jockey ever to win the Triple Crown, at age 52. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2003.
Asked to put the Triple Crown in terms an outsider might understand, Smith didn’t hesitate.
“That’s the holy grail, man,” he said. “That’s like winning the Super Bowl and the World Series all in one. When you win the Derby, that’s like winning a championship in itself. But to win all three in the same year is just — it’s only been done 13 times in the history of horse racing.”
Ahead of that same Belmont run in 2018, Smith asked people back home to keep him close in thought as he chased the milestone, telling the Roswell Daily Record he wanted New Mexico’s prayers with him.
Smith has also earned enough of a reputation that comparisons to other legends of sport follow him. Asked if he’s fair game for a Michael Jordan comparison, Smith kept it humble.
“I’ve been blessed, man,” he said. “If you want to say it, I don’t — but if you want to say it, that’s a good answer. I appreciate it.”
Family in the stands, home on the field
Despite a career built mostly around solo trips to the winner’s circle, Smith said the people around him have always been the point. His family travels to his biggest races, he said, turning high-pressure days into reunions.
“It’s really a cool, cool thing to bring us all together all the time,” Smith said. “Every big event brings a group of family together.”
That was true again Wednesday, as Smith brought a career built in Dexter and Roswell back to Albuquerque for a ceremony that put him alongside the state’s own proclamation of “Mike Smith Day” — an honor he said ranks up there with Cooperstown-style enshrinement.
“To have your own day in the state of New Mexico is pretty cool, man,” Smith said. “I can’t tell you what an honor it is.”
Facing a club from Kentucky only sharpened the moment, given how much of Smith’s career has run through the Bluegrass State’s tracks.
“It’s like my second home,” Smith said. “It’s already been a special day, but it’s going to be a special night as well.”
By the final whistle, it was a winning one, too — for United, and for the Hall of Fame jockey from Dexter they came out to honor.
Mike Smith Night — New Mexico United 2, Lexington SC 1
- Hometown: Born in Roswell, raised in Dexter, NM
- Career highlights: 27 Breeders’ Cup wins (all-time record), Kentucky Derby wins in 2005 (Giacomo) and 2018 (Justify), 2018 Triple Crown aboard Justify, National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame inductee (2003)
- Learn more: nationalmuseumofracing.org