MIKE SMITH
ERIC WING: All right. We are live in the press box, and we have jockey Mike Smith, rider of Zenyatta, came up just barely short, in second.
Mike, take us through the trip, if you would.
MIKE SMITH: It wasn't very good at all in the beginning. Got away just a little slow and got squeezed out of there. I was just having a rough time of it going underneath the white wire the first time. She just wasn't leveling out like I wanted to, the combination of the dirt, of course, hitting in her face was a lot of it. She just wasn't used to that part. Just left her with too much to do. I truly believe I was on the best horse today. If I had to blame anybody, it would be me.
ERIC WING: Mike, your face is a window into your emotions. You're obviously very disappointed. But is part of you proud of how gamely she raced and how she nearly caught Blame and, in fact, passed her just past the wire?
MIKE SMITH: Yeah, I mean ‑‑ without a doubt. She's my everything. She's just amazing. I just wish I would have been in the race a little earlier, because I think the outcome would have certainly been different.
ERIC WING: We just have Mike for a short time. Let's take questions here, either here or in the press box, and we'll start right over here.
Q. Mike, talk about the last half of the race, give or take. She obviously got into the thick of it and showed an amazing amount of fight. Your thoughts on the way she responded despite the bad start?
MIKE SMITH: She responded really, really well. My hat's off to Blame. He ran an incredible race. He didn't fold, and I needed him to fold just a little bit but he didn't. He hung in tough.
When I got her out, like I said, it was a gallant effort on her part. She made up a whole lot of ground. To only come up a nose short, it's pretty tough to swallow.
Q. Mike, at what point did you think you could get back in that race and you started to feel good about it?
MIKE SMITH: Down the backside, she picked it up. It was just a wall of horses. So I couldn't let her pick it up quite like I wanted to. I guess I could have swung out and maybe done it, but then I would have to be way out wide and commit myself to staying wide.
After the sluggish start and the way she handled the first part of the race, I truly felt I needed to cut some corners somewhere. So that's what I tried to do.
Q. Mike, do you attribute tonight's loss to partly the dirt track and the fact the dirt was hitting in her face and she was very uncomfortable for maybe the first half mile?
MIKE SMITH: You know, it was just hitting in her face. She wasn't used to it. Although she's run on dirt twice, they were really short fields and really never got nothing in her face before. I was coming back ‑‑ you can tell by my goggles, I went through all six. I mean, it was certainly coming back.
It just took her a while to get used to it. Like I said, maybe I should have done a few things differently. I wish I ‑‑ if I had to do it all over again, I would have, you know.
Q. Mike, will this sting for a while, or is this something you think you can get over and reflect on her entire body of work?
MIKE SMITH: It hurts more than you ‑‑ than I can explain, just because it was my fault. She should have won, and it hurts.
Q. She's still amazing, Mike. Don't worry.
Q. Mike, would you talk about the legacy she leaves, in spite of the loss: 19 straight wins and a near miss for 20.
MIKE SMITH: You know, again, I believe she ranks up there with the greatest of all time. If I'd have won this, you could arguably say she was. To come up a nose short is just ‑‑ it's too hard. It's hard.
ERIC WING: Well, I think the amazing thing with her come from behind style wasn't that she lost today but that she won 19 consecutive times.
MIKE SMITH: Thank you.
ERIC WING: You deserve a lot of credit for that. Thank you for coming by. (Applause)
MIKE SMITH: Thank you.
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