Mike Smith

The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia has rejected the appeals brought by jockey Mike Smith against the severity and length of suspensions handed down by stewards for a pair of infractions on the Saudi Cup program Feb. 29. The Technical Committee of the JCSA did agree to allow the local authority of the appellant to determine the dates of the suspension. Smith received two suspensions totaling 11 race days on the Saudi Cup program Feb. 29. He was handed a two-day ban for failing to weigh in following a fifth-place...

Back home in California after finishing second aboard Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) in the inaugural running of the $20-million Saudi Cup, jockey Mike Smith said the penalties handed down to him for excessive use of the whip were "absurd." Under rules enacted just before the running of the Saudi Cup card, riders were limited to striking a horse no more than 10 times during a race. The Saudi stewards ruled that Smith struck Midnight Bisou 14 times and also was guilty of hitting his mount with no regard for the...

According to a report in the Racing Post, jockey Mike Smith has been given a nine-day suspension and fined more than $200,000 for excessive use of the whip aboard Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), the runner-up in Saturday's Saudi Cup. The fine is the largest ever handed down to a jockey for a riding infraction. Under Saudi racing rules covering the Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 cards, a jockey is permitted to strike a horse no more than 10 times. The stewards ruled that Smith struck Midnight Bisou 14 times. He...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Mike Smith, with two wins on the day, may have won the International Jockey Challenge at King Abdulaziz Racetrack Friday, but it was the women-allowed to ride in Saudi Arabia for the first time-who stole the show. New Zealand jockey Lisa Allpress became the first woman to ever ride the winner of a race in the country when she captured the first leg of the challenge aboard Matmon (KSA) (Kreem {GB}) and the event was bookended by winning women when Sibylle Vogt captured the last leg...

Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun), one blemish from being undefeated in her five-race career, will look to validate a scintillating upset of the GI La Brea S. and continue her rapid ascent as a likely short price this time around in Saturday's GII Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita. Debuting with a local front-running score one day short of a year ago, the $400,000 Keeneland September buy repeated in an allowance Apr. 13 before suffering her only career defeat as a well-beaten third in the Angels Flight S. May...

Four of the seven runners slated to contest Saturday's GII Best Pal S. graduated at first asking, including morning-line choice Schrodinger (Justin Phllip), trained by Simon Callaghan and owned by Kaleem Shah. Heavy favorite in his Los Alamitos debut June 30, he came from just off the pace to score by 1 1/4 lengths under Flavian Prat. The French-born rider gets back aboard this time. Also likely to garner plenty of support at the windows, Fore Left (Twirling Candy) just got up for a narrow score subsequent GIII Bashford Manor...