Belmont Stakes Notebook: Everything Working Out Just Fine for Jockey Smith

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When the phone rang, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith was on the other end.

“I'm on the treadmill,” Smith said.

Of course he was.

Smith, who will ride 'TDN Rising Star' Rodriguez (Authentic) in Saturday's $2-million GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, has always been obsessed with working out. And, as he closes in on his 59th birthday (Aug. 10), he has no intentions of pulling the plug on his two-hour, five-day-a week workout schedule.

Nor are there any plans to hang up his goggles. A 43-year-career, which has produced 5,780 wins, is not ending any time soon.

“I feel too good,” Smith said. “If I start feeling like I am getting in the way, that's a different story. I don't feel like I am getting in the way. I have a lot of experience, my core is strong, my legs are strong. My weight is good, and I can tack anywhere from 118 to 120 and do it naturally. Why would I stop now? And do what? Whatever I do after this, I can do another four years from now.”

If Smith and Rodriguez get to the finish line first in the Belmont, the rider would become the oldest jockey to ever win a Triple Crown race. Bill Shoemaker was 54 when he won the 1986 GI Kentucky Derby aboard Ferdinand (Nijinsky II).

Smith doesn't ride as many horses a day as he used to, but that is by design.

He wants to ride in the big races; he wants the best opportunities. He flew cross-country from California and was expected to be in town Thursday (naturally, he said he would get a run in once he got here).

Smith has two mounts on Belmont Day. He will also ride Baffert's Citizen Bull (Into Mischief), last year's 2-year-old champion, in the GI Woody Stephens Stakes.

“I don't worry about him,” Baffert said. “He is a pro, Big Money Mike. When I put him on a horse, I know he is going to fit him really well. He was perfect for Rodriguez. Mike is just in unbelievable physical shape.”

Citizen Bull | Sarah Andrew

Smith and Baffert have a history. In 2018, they teamed up to win the Triple Crown with Justify (Scat Daddy). According to Equibase, Smith has ridden for Baffert 607 times and has 163 wins; in stakes races, they have 93 wins in 316 starts together.

Smith rode Rodriguez when he overwhelmed nine others winning the April 5 GII Wood Memorial at Aqueduct by 3 1/2 lengths. He hasn't run since as he missed the Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness Stakes with a foot bruise.

Expect Smith to put Rodriguez where he'll be most comfortable in the 1 1/4-mile Belmont. On the lead.

“I will let him be who he is and get happy and get in a happy rhythm,” Smith said. “I'm not looking to steal the race in a 25 (second quarter mile), 50 (half mile). Hopefully, he is good enough to hold them off. He held that last group off (in the Wood), let's see if he can hold this group off. There are a couple in there who have already proved who they are. We have a ways to go to prove we are as good as they are.”

Heart of Honor Looking for Better Showing in Belmont

Jamie Osborne, the trainer of Belmont Stakes contender Heart of Honor (GB) (Honor A. P.) wasn't going to lie. When the Preakness started on May 17, his, pardon the pun, heart sank.

“I wanted to dig a hole and jump into it,” Osborne said outside the Stakes Barn at Saratoga Race Course Thursday morning. “I wanted to crawl under a bush.”

That's because his horse, fractious at the gate, got off to a slow start and was never a factor in the Preakness. Only a mild late rally got him a fifth-place finish in the field of nine. He finished 8 3/4 lengths behind Journalism (Curlin) in Baltimore.

Heart of Honor's flop in the Preakness came after five starts in Dubai and one in Great Britain (two wins, four seconds). Osborne, who won a steeplechase race here 27 years ago as a jockey, is making his first trip back to the Spa since then.

There is not much faith given to his horse, owned by Jim and Claire Bryce (Jim and Claire Limited). He was given morning-line odds of 30-1 by New York Racing Association oddsmaker David Aragona.

“Look, you can only deal with the facts that are staring you in the face,” Osborne, who is based in England, said when asked if his horse is not getting any respect. “I would just like to see him get a shot at it and not give himself such a big disadvantage early on.”

Then, after a pause and a smile, he said, “he is not as slow as he looks.”

Heart of Honor | Sarah Andrew

Thursday, Heart of Honor visited the track with Osborne's 23-year-old daughter, Saffie, in the saddle. She will ride the colt in the Belmont.

Heart of Honor has been spending plenty of time standing in the starting gate with the hopes he will be relaxed in the Belmont. That was the exercise that was repeated on Thursday.

“He has a fairly decent cruising speed, but he will only use that cruising speed if he is not getting a massive sandstorm in his face,” Jamie Osborne said about the kickback his horse got in the Preakness. “Hopefully, he won't be on the back foot, and he'll be able to sit somewhere in touch of the leaders.”

Osborne, who has been training since 1999, has had success in the U.S. before. He trained Toast of New York (Thewayyouare) to a second-place finish in the 2014 GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

He knows how much of a chore is in front of Heart of Honor in the Belmont.

“At this level, against these sorts of horses, we need everything to go right,” he said. “If any tiny thing goes wrong, we understand we have a mountain to climb on Saturday. But it's a horse race. Strange things can happen. I kind of figure we've got nothing to lose by rolling the Belmont dice as we are here.”

No Pressure on Cox as Good Cheer Eyes Eighth Straight

Trainer Brad Cox sat in a golf cart outside his barn office at the Oklahoma Training Track on a steamy Thursday morning. If he was feeling the heat, he sure wasn't showing it.

Late Friday afternoon, Cox's star 3-year-old filly Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro) will put her seven-race win streak on the line when she goes to the post as the 1-2 morning-line favorite in the GI Acorn Stakes. Cox wasn't sweating bullets over this, either.

“I feel more confidence than I do pressure, if that makes any sense,” Cox said.

Good Cheer | Sarah Andrew

Good Cheer is squarely at the top of the 3-year-old filly rankings, especially after a punctuating 2 1/4-length win in the prestigious GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs May 2. That was her first Grade I win after three straight Grade II scores.

When Cox brings Good Cheer and jockey Luis Saez to the races for Godolphin LLC, he expects good things. So far, so good. When Godolphin first sent her to Cox, he wasn't blown away. There was no way he could have thought after seven starts she would have seven wins.

“I don't know if you can ever expect this from any horse that continues to win race after race,” Cox said. “We thought she was good; did we think she was this good? I have had enough horses at this point of my career that they have to prove it to you.”

Good Cheer is part of a stable of riches that Cox has regarding 3-year-old fillies.

Immersive (Nyquist), last year's champion 2-year-old filly, won all four of her starts in 2024 and is set to make her seasonal debut in the Monomoy Girl Stakes at Churchill on June 14.

He also has Margie's Intention (Honor A.P.), the winner of the GII Black Eyed Susan Stakes. Cox said she could show up next in the GIII Delaware Oaks at Delaware Park, also on June 14.

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