Smith will ride Collected 'a lot different' in Pegasus World Cup

Before the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic, jockey Mike Smith had a big decision to make as the regular rider of two of the Bob Baffert-trained stars, West Coast and Arrogate.

West Coast was on a roll, entering the Classic on a five-race winning streak that included Grade 1 victories in his last two starts in the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby. Smith was aboard for those two big wins. West Coast had become a likely Champion, who would be back to race as a 4-year-old.

Arrogate, on the other hand, was mired in his mysterious slump. He was not the same horse since the victory over Gun Runner in the Dubai World Cup. Arrogate had been upset in the San Diego Handicap and Pacific Classic, both at Del Mar. Arrogate’s career was coming to an end.

Smith made his decision to ride Arrogate over West Coast in the big race in the World Championships at Del Mar. Thus, West Coast needed a rider and Baffert went to the four-time Eclipse Award winner, Javier Castellano. After a long campaign, West Coast still ran well to get third. Arrogate continued to run poorly and finished a distant and uncompetitive.

That leads us to the 2018 Pegasus World Cup, where Castellano has retained the mount on the likely second choice West Coast and Mike Smith will be the rider on Collected.

When asked Monday about the Pegasus riding assignments, Smith said, “That’s a question for Bob. It wasn’t presented to me that I had a choice or not. I’m just happy to be on either one of them. They’re both extremely talented.”

Martin Garcia was the regular rider for Collected for most of his career, including all four of his 2017 wins. Garcia was also aboard in the Pacific Classic as he upset Smith and Arrogate. When Garcia decided to move his tack to New York, Collected needed a rider for the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes back on Dec. 26.

It was then that Bob Baffert tapped his current go-to jockey, "Big Money" Mike, to take over the reins. It was the first time that Smith had ever ridden Collected.

In the five horse San Antonio, Collected had an uncharacteristic performance in that Smith had him at the back of pack early in the race. Keep in mind that Collected had tremendous success while racing on the lead or just behind the lead.

“In the San Antonio,” Smith said, “we wanted to get a good race in him, thinking that we’d probably sit off the pace, thinking that there would be a lot more pace in there than what actually developed. I was at the mercy of the pace at that point and that was a mistake on my part.”

Heading to the Pegasus, Collected has been training well, but he is part of a field that is loaded with talented horses that like to run on or near the lead.

"I’m part of that speed and I’m certainly going to ride a lot different than I did the other day [in the San Antonio]," Smith said.

The Hall of Fame jockey feels that Collected has a good chance to win, saying, “I’m on a horse in this race that could turn the tables on Gun Runner. I have to get a lot of things done and done right to even give myself a chance to beat him. I need to get out of the gate and get in a place that I feel is happy and comfortable for my horse and then see where everyone’s at.

"I have to fire my A+ race and a few things have to go our way, which can happen in horse racing.”