Tamara after her debut victory Aug. 19 at Del Mar under the master Mike Smith. (Benoit Photo)
Leading Man Shares Starring Role With Another Stellar Filly
Breeders’ Cup Notes
If the Breeders’ Cup is Thoroughbred racing’s coronation ball, then jockey Mike Smith has earned a reputation as a leading ladies’ man, having escorted some of the sport’s leading females to the Fall dance.
Smith, the Breeders’ Cup’s all-time leader in both races and money earned at racing’s version of the Fall Classic, will be a astride his latest distaff star-in-the-making, the unbeaten Tamara, in the Nov. 3 NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
The bay filly made such a strong impression on the Hall-of-Fame rider that he’s said, “she could turn out to be the best 2-year-old I’ve ridden.” Indeed, that’s high praise from someone who’s been aboard a dozen filly or mare Breeders’ Cup winners, including Horses of the Year Zenyatta and Azeri.
“She’s only two and she’s had only had two career starts, so she has a long way to go,” said Smith, “but she’s about as good as you’d like to see. I was surprised, pleasantly, by how easily she won the Del Mar Debutante in her last race. She’s just a push button horse.”
Indeed, her nearly seven-length victory over the best of her division in California has earned her favoritism for the 1-1/16 mile juvenile fillies championship event.
Of course, Smith, a two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey with more than 5,000 career victories, will be forever linked with the brilliant Zenyatta, who earned two Breeders’ Cup wins including the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) versus male competition when her patented lethal stretch charge swallowed up her opposition. But Smith has also won the Breeders’ Cup races with such other special distaff stalwarts as Inside Information, whose winning margin was a record 13-1/2 lengths; two-time winner Royal Delta, and Songbird, who Smith compares very favorably with Tamara.
He has also utilized every ounce of his renowned skills to coax the mare Mizdirection to consecutive victories over male rivals in memorable Breeders’ Cup’s turf sprints. And, for good measure, the 56-year-old rider has notched a dozen of his Breeders’ Cup wins aboard the fairer sex, including three in the Juvenile Filly division—from where the future stars of racing emerge.
Thus, it would seem that Mike has laid a solid foundation for his prowess with the ladies in seasonal championships and would be considered an excellent evaluator of talent. “I have been blessed to have ridden so many special fillies and mares,” recalled Smith, “and I never take that for granted, because you never know if it’s going to be the last one. And then, another one like Tamara comes around,” he added.
Tamara is a daughter of the brilliant champion Beholder, herself a four-time Eclipse Award winner and a record-tying three-time winner of Breeders’ Cup championships. Her trainer, another Hall of Fame connection, Richard Mandella, also conditions Tamara. Mandella always revered Beholder as the best horse he’s trained and now he has her daughter primed to pick up where her mother left off.
“Obviously, she an extremely talented filly. She always does things so easily,” Mandella said, “and keeps asking for more. She’s got a great mind and a very sweet temperament. She does everything so professionally.
Mandella has been repeatedly asked to compare mother and daughter. He stated, “Tamara is very different from Beholder and it’s difficult to really compare. However, I’d probably say at this stage in their careers, Tamara is probably a little ahead in her development. But the one thing they have in common is that they both liked to run.”
Ironically, it was Beholder, in the final race of her career, that denied Songbird, ridden by Smith, of an unbeaten championship season in the 2016 Championships. Smith recalls that epic race by saying, “It’s hard to really say there was a loser in that race, because those two were such brilliant mares. Even though we got the short end of the photo finish, I felt like there was really no loser.”
When asked about the same recollection, Mandella wryly noted, “I just watched the videotape of that race the other day.” It was the most recent time Mandella, a nine-time winner, hoisted a Breeders’ Cup trophy. Taking no chances, he’s enlisted the Breeders’ Cup’s leading ladies’ man in Smith to reverse those fortunes. This year, they’ll be on the same team.
