Mike Smith, the all-time winningest jockey in Breeders' Cup history with 26 wins and $35.8 million in purse money won, will ride Well Defined in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs, trainer Kathleen O'Connell said Tuesday.
Well Defined, a son of With Distinction owned and bred by Gilbert Campbell's Stonehedge Farm, is coming off a 7 1-2-length victory in the In Reality division of the Florida Sire Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Sept. 29. For that, he earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure, the second-highest two-turn Beyer for a 2-year-old behind only Game Winner's 97 in the American Pharoah.
"I definitely reached out to [Smith] as soon as Mr. Campbell expressed his desire to run," O'Connell said Tuesday. "Carlos Montalvo rode the horse very well, but Mr. Campbell felt more comforatable at this time to go with the guy that had the big race experience."
Smith won the Juvenile twice, with Unbridled's Song in 1995 and Vindication in 2002.