Mike Smith Wins Bill Shoemaker Award as
Most Outstanding Breeders’ Cup Jockey

Arcadia, Calif. (Nov. 4, 2012) – Powered by victories on Royal Delta in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic and Mizdirection in the Breeders’ Cup Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith has won the Bill Shoemaker Award as the most outstanding jockey of the 29th Breeders’ Cup World Championships, held November 2-3 at Santa Anita Park.

This is the first Shoemaker Award for Smith, who became the all-time winner in Breeders’ Cup victories by a jockey on Friday, when he notched his 16th win, breaking the tie for most victories he held with the retired Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey. Smith increased his win total to 17 all time when he guided home 7-1 Mizdirection on Saturday. The 47-year-old Smith from Roswell, N.M., also picked up a second-place finish on Mucho Macho Man in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and a third-place finish on Atigun in Friday’s Marathon. Smith’s 28 total points bested Garrett Gomez, a four-time Shoemaker Award winner, by two points in a 10-5-3-1 scoring system based on first through fourth-place finishes.

Gomez made the competition extremely close with his win on Beholder in the Grey Goose Juvenile Fillies, two second-place finishes (Grassy – Marathon; Marketing Mix – Filly & Mare Turf) and two third-place finishes (Switch – Filly and Mare Sprint; Reneesgotzip – Turf Sprint).

Previous Bill Shoemaker Award winners:
2003: Alex Solis
2004: John Velazquez
2005: Garrett Gomez
2006: Frankie Dettori
2007: Garrett Gomez
2008: Garrett Gomez
2009: Julien Leparoux
2010: Garrett Gomez
2011: John Velazquez