He’s at Home in Kentucky

“Great expectations can bring great disappointments.” That was trainer Nick Zito’s philosophical approach to his Kentucky Derby washout, but those catchwords also had applied to Mike Smith in the Triple Crown -- before he rode Giacomo to a shocking win Saturday.

Smith, 39, hadn’t won a Derby before Giacomo, and his only Triple Crown win, in the 1993 Preakness with Prairie Bayou, turned to ashes three weeks later when the hard-luck gelding broke down in the Belmont Stakes and had to be euthanized.

Riding horses such as Holy Bull, Lure, Sky Beauty, Paradise Creek and Cherokee Run, Smith won Eclipse Awards in 1993 and ‘94, but in 1998, two days after winning the Travers at Saratoga with Coronado’s Quest, his career was halted by a scary spill at the upstate New York track. He broke two vertebrae and wound up in a body cast.

Less than six months later, Smith was back riding again.

“I came back too soon,” he said. “The doctors told me to wait, but I was bull-headed. I wanted to start riding in Florida that winter, so I could pick up another Derby mount.”

Smith, who was elected into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2003, did ride in the 1999 Derby, finishing third with Cat Thief, but overall his life went into freefall.

“That year almost ruined my career,” Smith said.

His marriage having disintegrated and his business at low ebb, Smith moved to California in 2001. There have been some peaks -- riding Azeri, the 2002 horse of the year, and winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with Vindication and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar with Came Home -- but Smith has never made a foothold on the West Coast.

So now his career is taking another turn. He rode the recently completed Keeneland meet in Lexington, Ky., and the current Churchill Downs season will take him into Del Mar in July. He plans to buy a home in Kentucky and then play the future by ear for a while.

“I told Gary,” he said Sunday, standing in front of Giacomo’s barn here and referring to fellow rider and good friend Gary Stevens, “this will be like a tour. First there was the stop at Lexington, now there’s Louisville, and we’ll see where all this takes us.”

Stevens, who is planning to sell his home in California, is also house-hunting in Kentucky. He plans to ride at Saratoga instead of Del Mar, and will be back at Keeneland and Churchill Downs this fall.

“I wasn’t getting a lot of everyday business in California,” Smith said. “I’d get to ride horses here and there, but that was about it. I had only been renting in California, and I need a home base. The future of Hollywood Park is up in the air, and none of us know what’s going to happen. This seems like the right thing to do.”

He is the only jockey Giacomo has had, and Smith and the gray colt’s trainer, John Shirreffs, persevered through seven pre-Derby starts, only one of them a win. There were some solid efforts, but by the time he reached Churchill Downs, arriving from California only three days before the Derby, Giacomo was a forgotten horse, one who seemed not to know how to win. He came by his 50-1 odds naturally.

Still, his owner, Jerry Moss, stood at Giacomo’s barn last Thursday and, trying to be objective, reasoned that they were not in Louisville just to snare a loser’s part of the purse. All the speed Saturday played into the hands of the late-running Giacomo. Spanish Chestnut, with four horses in close pursuit, including the favored Bellamy Road, covered the first six furlongs in 1:09 2/5 , second-fastest in Derby history. None of those five finished better than seventh.

Smith had watched the Derby TV replay twice before reaching the barn Sunday.

“There were no surprises, the replays closely resembled the way I remembered the actual race,” Smith said. “I was lucky I was able to save some ground. Then I had to weave through some horses. If I had gotten a smooth and clear trip, I think we could have won by two or three lengths instead of just a half. At the quarter pole, I thought we could win. At the eighth pole, the others dug in hard and I wasn’t so sure. But by the sixteenth pole, I knew we had it.”

Giacomo is a son of Holy Bull and resembles his sire, who gave Smith his biggest Derby disappointment when he ran 12th as favorite in 1994 (he still won horse-of-the-year honors in ‘94).

Jimmy Croll, Holy Bull’s trainer, speculated after the race that his horse might have been surreptitiously tranquilized, and the Churchill Downs stewards, in an omission they later regretted, didn’t test Holy Bull after the race.

Smith said Sunday that he didn’t know anything about an alleged drugging. “He got away flat-footed,” Smith said. “Then he got bumped by another horse. I think it knocked the air out of him. That was a sad day -- I hurt real bad after that.”

Eleven years later, Smith finally found himself in the Derby winner’s circle.

“I’m glad I got to win one,” he said. “Before his colt ever ran, I felt that he was going to redeem his father’s name in the Derby.”

With trainer Nick Zito expected to run at least one horse, these are the other possibilities for the Preakness on May 21: Giacomo, Closing Argument, Afleet Alex, Don’t Get Mad, Wilko, Flower Alley, High Limit, Malibu Moonshine, Scrappy T and Hal’s Image. Trainer Wayne Lukas said he would run either Going Wild or A.P. Arrow. High Limit, last in the Derby, was injured early in the race.

*

NBC’s Derby coverage produced an 8.2 overnight Nielsen rating with a 19 share of the audience. Last year’s race, won by Smarty Jones, earned an overnight rating of 8.3. NBC’s Derby telecasts in 2003 and 2001 also drew an 8.3 rating.

*

Times staff writer Larry Stewart contributed to this report.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Triple Crown Ratings

Tribune Co. ratings for 3-year-olds leading to the Preakness and Belmont Stakes:

*--* Horse Jockey Trainer St W P S Last race Next Race 1. Giacomo Mike E. John 8 2 2 2 Kentucky Preakness, Smith Shirre Derby May 21 ffs (1st) 2. Afleet Jeremy Tim 10 6 2 1 Kentucky Preakness, Alex Rose Ritche Derby May 21 y (3rd) 3. Corneli Kiaran 8 3 3 2 Kentucky Preakness, Closing o McLaug Derby May 21 Argument Velasqu hlin (2nd) ez 4. Javier Nick 6 4 0 0 Kentucky Undecided Bellamy Castell Zito Derby Road ano (7th) 5. Mark Jeff 9 3 1 2 Kentucky Undecided Buzzards Guidry Mullin Derby Bay s (5th) 6. Don’t Tyler Ron 7 3 1 1 Kentucky Preakness, Get Mad Baze Ellis Derby May 21 (4th) 7. High Jerry Nick 7 5 0 1 Kentucky Undecided Fly Bailey Zito Derby (10th) 8. Wilko Corey Craig 15 3 2 6 Kentucky Preakness, Nakatan Dollas Derby May 21 i e (6th) 9. Flower Jorge Todd 5 2 1 1 Kentucky Undecided Alley Chavez Pletch Derby er (9th) 10. Rafael Nick 7 2 0 3 Kentucky Belmont Andromeda Bejaran Zito Derby Stakes, June ‘s Hero o (8th) 10

*--*

Triple Crown panel: Bill Christine, Los Angeles Times; Tom Keyser, Baltimore Sun; Dave Joseph, South Florida Sun-Sentinel; Neil Milbert, Chicago Tribune; Paul Moran, Newsday.