WITH MIKE SMITH
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SFR: So you just won the Kentucky Derby. Are you totally freaking out?
MS:
You know, I'm not freaking out, I'm just enjoying it to its fullest. Because I've been doing this for such a long time and I've been waiting for this race-like we all are, all of our lives. I've been fortunate enough to have had some great opportunities in this race and it always seems to elude me for some reason. I've come in second or third, but I just never could get it. I was fortunate enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame a couple of years back and now I feel like I really belong.
I know you've been in the Derby before-but this time the odds were 50-1, and you had to come back from 18th place. How unusual is that?
It was a pretty amazing feat what Giacomo did. My God, he was 18th in a 20-horse field, to come through all that traffic the way that he did, it was unreal. The trip was amazing. Everywhere we went it just kept opening up for us, but we were doing some maneuvering. It was pretty wild. If you watch the aerial shot of it, it's like a video game, where [Giacomo] was weaving in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, all the way 'til he got out and then, bam!-He nailed 'em. I didn't think he deserved to be 50-1-I had a lot of confidence in him. I'm not going around saying I thought I was gonna win, I'm going around saying I knew he belonged, and he was gonna run extremely well.
That kind of maneuvering through traffic, how much of that is you and how much is the horse?
Well it's me doing the maneuvering, but it's him accelerating every time I needed him to. Which is very important because the window of opportunity is a lot of time only a fifth of a second. If you're not in there and out of there in that fifth of a second, it's over. You need that animal to cooperate with you to the extreme; he needs to jump through those holes, which is hard to do for a three-year-old running a mile and a quarter for the first time. I mean, they get tired. But he relaxed so well, I would point his head and drop it and he would just blow through those holes. I was amazed. I'm freaking out more at that than anything else. I was like 'Wow, go on with your bad self!' It was cool.
So, now, what happens to someone who just won the Kentucky Derby? What does your life look like for the next week, month, year?
You know, it's amazing, I have a good friend, Brian Cox, he's a linebacker and he's been fortunate enough to win the Super Bowl with New England the first year that they won it, and after the Derby-he was there with me-he said, 'Get ready for it, 'cause your life is changed forever.' And I said, 'Naw, I still am who I am.' But right after the race he told me, 'You embrace it and you enjoy and you make the best out of it, it's changed your life.' And it did, from the time that I got off that horse, I was on a plane to David Letterman, CNN in the Morning, The Today Show, NBC, ABC, ESPN, you name it, different countries too. It's been amazing. And I'm based in Kentucky now, and this is horse country, so I walk into a Starbucks and everybody leaves the line and I'm signing Starbucks cups.
Is that overwhelming for a kid from Roswell?
Like I said, you know, just like Brian told me, 'enjoy it, embrace it, treat it good,' and I've been having so much fun with it. I mean I wanna hug every little baby, whoever walks by, and you want a picture, come on, I got all day for you. It's really been great, and people have been treating me well, and seeing it make my family and my friends proud has been amazing.
Is your family still in Roswell?
They're spread out all over New Mexico. Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and my aunts Nedra [Matteucci] and Elizabeth are in Santa Fe. My mother still lives in Roswell.
How does a guy born in Roswell end up a top-tier jockey?
You know, New Mexico, that's horse country…[weird computer voice in the background]…hold on one second. I got a new truck and I keep pressing this button and this computer lady voice comes on.
Did you get the truck after the Derby?
Actually, yeah, it's for a commercial. This guy who owns a Ford dealership out here, he said, 'If you do a commercial I'll give you a truck.' Sure enough, he got me one that's loaded. It's gorgeous! Anyway, yeah, New Mexico is such a great place for anyone who's involved in any kind of horses or livestock, it's just what it's about around there. So it was wonderful for me because my uncle trains horses-he's still out there in New Mexico-and we had a farm there so I knew how to walk, break, take care of horses before I even knew how to ride one. It was a good place to start out. And then you have to have the ability. If you have that and you really want to learn you just have to pay attention and the sport starts taking you places, like any other-baseball, football, whatever it is-it just takes you to bigger and better places, and before you know it I wind up in New York for years, then California, and now winning the Derby.
You've taken some spills here and there and you had a serious one a few years ago where you broke your back. What does it take to literally get back in the saddle after something like that?
Well it didn't take as long as it should have. I almost ruined my career coming back way too soon. I should have been out a year and I was only out about five months and just insisted on coming back. And it really hurt my career. It's always gonna be there. I have days where it's just great and I have days where it just hurts. It hurts and there's nothing you can do about it. And right now I'm just so fit and strong, even if it is bothering me a little, it doesn't really affect me.
Do you get scared-is there a moment when you're riding and you remember it and get a little gun shy?
You're a human being. If someone told you they don't, they're not telling the truth. But it's all in your head. It's all a confidence thing.
