Tommy Smith (racing)
Encyclopedia
Thomas John Smith AM
MBE
(3 September 1916 – 2 September 1998) also known as Tommy Smith or T. J. Smith was a leading trainer of thoroughbred
racehorses based in Sydney
, Australia
. He is acknowledged for his record number of Sydney Trainers Premierships and for training many champion racehorses including Tulloch
, Gunsynd
and Kingston Town
. Smith was based at Randwick Racecourse
during his career and trained out of the Tulloch Lodge stables.
(near Braidwood, New South Wales
) and raised at the small town of Goolgowi in the Riverina
district of New South Wales
, young Tommy worked with his father. driving bullock
teams and breaking in horses. When Tommy looked back on his life, he would always recall with regret the lack of formal education that he received.
Tommy yearned to be a famous jockey
and as a child won many races for his father at the picnic races
.
Smith's reputation as an emerging trainer was further enhanced with the success of Playboy, which he also owned, in the 1949 AJC Derby, giving Smith his first Group One winner and the first of 35 derby winners Smith trained in Australia . Playboy started at 100/1 and was heavily backed by Smith earning the trainer a large sum of money .
In December 1950 Smith was disqualified from training for five years for not taking sufficient precautions to prevent one of his two year olds from being drugged and giving false evidence at a subsequent hearing. Smith appealed the sentence and in January 1951 the AJC upheld the appeal and instead chose to issue a "severe reprimand" .
, with Toparoa, defeating the champion Rising Fast
. During the 1950s Smith trained a number of high class horses including Redcraze and the exceptional Tulloch whose feature race wins including the 1957 Caulfield Cup and 1960 Cox Plate.
Smith went on to win a second Melbourne Cup with Just a Dash in 1981.
Smith employed many long-term staff, including his brother Ernie Smith and Percy Sykes. Bob Thompson, who later had his own successful training career, was stable foreman at Tulloch Lodge for nine years
Smith won many feature races during his career including the Chelmsford Stakes on 16 occasions (a world record for a group race). He also trained winners in many of Australia's richest races including two Melbourne Cups (Toparoa and Just a Dash), four Caulfield Cups, seven WS Cox Plates, six Golden Slippers, and thirty-five derby winners across Australia. In all Smith trained 279 Group One winners.
(1956 Caulfield Cup
, 1957 Cox Plate
), Gunsynd
(1972 Cox Plate and Doncaster Handicap
), Kingston Town
(1980, 1981 and 1982 Cox Plates) and Tulloch
(1957 Caulfield Cup, 1960 Cox Plate).
Following a brilliant season as a three year old, Tulloch contracted a virus which kept him from the racecourse for two years. Through Tommy's care and perseverance and the genius of his vet Dr. Percy Sykes, they brought Tulloch back from near death in one of racing's greatest stories. Tulloch went on to win 36 of his 53 race starts and set race records for the Cox Plate and Caulfield Cup. In winning the 1957 AJC Derby he took 2 seconds off Phar Lap’s race record. In honour of his champion, Tommy named his main stables Tulloch Lodge.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s Smith trained Kingston Town
to multiple stakes victories including the Cox Plate (regarded as Australia's premier Weight-For-Age race) three times in a row. Kingston Town had a formidable record in Sydney winning 21 races in a row on Sydney tracks and won group races from 1200-3200m. Kingston Town was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2001 .
Tommy also trained six winners of Australia's richest and most prestigious two year old race The Golden Slipper
including the brilliant filly Bounding Away whom Tommy bred, owned and trained, the first person to do . Smith's secondary stables were named Bounding Away Stables in her honour . As with Tulloch Lodge, these stables are now used by Smith's daughter Gai Waterhouse.
, took out a trainers licence following a long-running dispute with racing authorities caused by her marriage to warned off bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse. While Smith continued to train horses with reduced numbers, Waterhouse took over the running of Tulloch Lodge in 1994. Waterhouse retained many of the methods pioneered by her father including the "bone and muscle" method. Waterhouse has gone on to win five Sydney Training Premierships and trained numerous group winners. Waterhouse's main stable is still called Tulloch Lodge and the term is sometimes used to describe the Smith/Waterhouse dynasty as a whole.
Smith died in 1998. Along with Bart Cummings
and Colin Hayes
, he is considered to be one of the great Australian thoroughbred trainers.
The T J Smith Stakes
at Randwick Racecourse
in Sydney
was named in his honor.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(3 September 1916 – 2 September 1998) also known as Tommy Smith or T. J. Smith was a leading trainer of thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorses based in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. He is acknowledged for his record number of Sydney Trainers Premierships and for training many champion racehorses including Tulloch
Tulloch (horse)
Tulloch was a Thoroughbred racehorse, who is regarded as one of the three finest racehorses in Australian racing history...
, Gunsynd
Gunsynd
Gunsynd was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won 29 races and A$280,455 in prizemoney. In his seven starts over one mile he was only once defeated, by half-a-head in the Epsom Handicap....
and Kingston Town
Kingston Town
Kingston Town was an outstanding Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won a record three Cox Plates and 11 other Group One races in a career spanning from 1979 to 1982...
. Smith was based at Randwick Racecourse
Randwick Racecourse
Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horseracing in the Eastern Suburbs in Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse, is operated by the Australian Jockey Club and known to many Sydney racegoers as headquarters...
during his career and trained out of the Tulloch Lodge stables.
Early days
Born in JembaicumbeneJembaicumbene, New South Wales
Jembaicumbene is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, located 5 miles out along the Braidwood - Majors Creek Road...
(near Braidwood, New South Wales
Braidwood, New South Wales
Braidwood is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Palerang Shire. It is located on the busy Kings Highway linking Canberra to Batemans Bay on the coast. It is about 200 kilometres south west of Sydney and about 60 kilometres inland from the coast...
) and raised at the small town of Goolgowi in the Riverina
Riverina
The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop...
district of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, young Tommy worked with his father. driving bullock
Ox
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
teams and breaking in horses. When Tommy looked back on his life, he would always recall with regret the lack of formal education that he received.
Tommy yearned to be a famous jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
and as a child won many races for his father at the picnic races
Picnic horse racing
Picnic horse racing, or more usually picnic races or more colloquially "the picnics" refer to amateur Thoroughbred horse racing meetings, predominantly in Australia. The meetings are organized by amateur clubs, the jockeys are amateur riders, or sometimes former professional jockeys...
.
Early training career
Smith gave away and became a trainer, acquiring his license in 1941. His first success came in 1942 with Bragger a rogue horse he also owned, he broke in, and named (after his own nickname). Smith also registered racing silks of green and blue vertical stripes, which were to become famous in later years as the colours of Tulloch Lodge horses. He rented horse boxes in Kensington, housing Bragger in one box, whilst he lived in the other. According to Bill Whittaker, Smith won the nomination fee for Bragger by winning at two-up . Bragger won 13 races including the Tramway stakes at Group level, establishing Smith as a Sydney trainer and Smith won a significant amount of money backing Bragger to win races. But, when Bragger went for a spell, Tommy blew all of his winnings on flashy suits, hired cars and drinking. Almost broke, Tommy was saved when Bragger returned from his spell and won, and again set up Tommy. After this episode Tommy never went broke again. Bragger continued to win races until he was a ten year old, when he had to be destroyed after becoming caught in a float fire .Smith's reputation as an emerging trainer was further enhanced with the success of Playboy, which he also owned, in the 1949 AJC Derby, giving Smith his first Group One winner and the first of 35 derby winners Smith trained in Australia . Playboy started at 100/1 and was heavily backed by Smith earning the trainer a large sum of money .
In December 1950 Smith was disqualified from training for five years for not taking sufficient precautions to prevent one of his two year olds from being drugged and giving false evidence at a subsequent hearing. Smith appealed the sentence and in January 1951 the AJC upheld the appeal and instead chose to issue a "severe reprimand" .
Years of success
Smith won the first of 33 successive Sydney training premierships in 1953 and began to win races outside of Sydney. In 1955, he won Australia richest race, the Melbourne CupMelbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
, with Toparoa, defeating the champion Rising Fast
Rising Fast
Rising Fast was an outstanding New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. In 1954 he became the only horse in history to win the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate races in the same season - the Spring Grand Slam - and since that time no Melbourne Cup winner has performed such a feat...
. During the 1950s Smith trained a number of high class horses including Redcraze and the exceptional Tulloch whose feature race wins including the 1957 Caulfield Cup and 1960 Cox Plate.
Smith went on to win a second Melbourne Cup with Just a Dash in 1981.
Training methods
Smith was known for keeping his horses very fit using what was called the "bone and muscle" method . According to his longtime veterinarian Percy Sykes, Smith rarely changed his training methods and kept his horses work consistent. Sykes also claims Smith was a leader in equine nutritional development, in particular the use of protein in feed. .Smith employed many long-term staff, including his brother Ernie Smith and Percy Sykes. Bob Thompson, who later had his own successful training career, was stable foreman at Tulloch Lodge for nine years
Trainers premierships and feature race wins
In 1952-1953, Smith won the Sydney Trainers Premiership for the first time, beating rival trainer Maurice McCarten. Smith went on to win the Sydney Trainers Premiership for thirty-three consecutive years before coming second to Brian Mayfield-Smith in the 1985-86 racing season. Smith won the training premiership again in 1987-88 .Smith won many feature races during his career including the Chelmsford Stakes on 16 occasions (a world record for a group race). He also trained winners in many of Australia's richest races including two Melbourne Cups (Toparoa and Just a Dash), four Caulfield Cups, seven WS Cox Plates, six Golden Slippers, and thirty-five derby winners across Australia. In all Smith trained 279 Group One winners.
Well-known horses trained by Smith
During his long career Tommy trained many champions, such as RedcrazeRedcraze
Redcraze was a champion New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse who raced both in Australia and New Zealand, winning major races in both countries....
(1956 Caulfield Cup
Caulfield Cup
The Caulfield Cup, one of Australia's richest Thoroughbred horse races and the richest of its type in the world is held annually by the Melbourne Racing Club. The race is a handicap like the Melbourne Cup, which means that horses that compete in the Caulfield Cup are capable of running on the...
, 1957 Cox Plate
Cox Plate
The W.S. Cox Plate is an Australian Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne every October by the Moonee Valley Racing Club to honour W.S. Cox, the club's founder. For three-year-olds and over, the race is considered to be the Weight for Age championship of Australasia...
), Gunsynd
Gunsynd
Gunsynd was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won 29 races and A$280,455 in prizemoney. In his seven starts over one mile he was only once defeated, by half-a-head in the Epsom Handicap....
(1972 Cox Plate and Doncaster Handicap
Doncaster Handicap
The Doncaster Mile is a Group One Thoroughbred horse race held at Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney. Although the race has traditionally been held on Easter Monday, the race is now run on the third Saturday in April. The race is contested over 1,600 metres . The prizemoney in 2010 was A$1,510,000...
), Kingston Town
Kingston Town
Kingston Town was an outstanding Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won a record three Cox Plates and 11 other Group One races in a career spanning from 1979 to 1982...
(1980, 1981 and 1982 Cox Plates) and Tulloch
Tulloch (horse)
Tulloch was a Thoroughbred racehorse, who is regarded as one of the three finest racehorses in Australian racing history...
(1957 Caulfield Cup, 1960 Cox Plate).
Following a brilliant season as a three year old, Tulloch contracted a virus which kept him from the racecourse for two years. Through Tommy's care and perseverance and the genius of his vet Dr. Percy Sykes, they brought Tulloch back from near death in one of racing's greatest stories. Tulloch went on to win 36 of his 53 race starts and set race records for the Cox Plate and Caulfield Cup. In winning the 1957 AJC Derby he took 2 seconds off Phar Lap’s race record. In honour of his champion, Tommy named his main stables Tulloch Lodge.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s Smith trained Kingston Town
Kingston Town
Kingston Town was an outstanding Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won a record three Cox Plates and 11 other Group One races in a career spanning from 1979 to 1982...
to multiple stakes victories including the Cox Plate (regarded as Australia's premier Weight-For-Age race) three times in a row. Kingston Town had a formidable record in Sydney winning 21 races in a row on Sydney tracks and won group races from 1200-3200m. Kingston Town was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2001 .
Tommy also trained six winners of Australia's richest and most prestigious two year old race The Golden Slipper
Golden Slipper
The Golden Slipper Stakes is an Australian Thoroughbred horse race for two year old horses held at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney run over 1,200 metres on turf at set weights. It is the premier two year old race in Australia and is the world's richest race for two-year-old Thoroughbreds....
including the brilliant filly Bounding Away whom Tommy bred, owned and trained, the first person to do . Smith's secondary stables were named Bounding Away Stables in her honour . As with Tulloch Lodge, these stables are now used by Smith's daughter Gai Waterhouse.
Retirement
Smith's daughter Gai WaterhouseGai Waterhouse
Gai Waterhouse is a Scottish-born, Australian resident horse trainer, businesswoman and a former actress-Career:...
, took out a trainers licence following a long-running dispute with racing authorities caused by her marriage to warned off bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse. While Smith continued to train horses with reduced numbers, Waterhouse took over the running of Tulloch Lodge in 1994. Waterhouse retained many of the methods pioneered by her father including the "bone and muscle" method. Waterhouse has gone on to win five Sydney Training Premierships and trained numerous group winners. Waterhouse's main stable is still called Tulloch Lodge and the term is sometimes used to describe the Smith/Waterhouse dynasty as a whole.
Smith died in 1998. Along with Bart Cummings
Bart Cummings
James Bartholomew 'Bart' Cummings, AM is one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He is known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as the he has won the 'race that stops a nation' a record 12 times....
and Colin Hayes
Colin Hayes
Colin Sidney Hayes was a champion trainer of thoroughbred racehorses based in Adelaide, Australia.During his career he trained 5,333 winners including 524 individual Group or Listed winners. He won 28 Adelaide and 13 Melbourne Trainers' Premierships.-Early days:Colin was born in Semaphore, South...
, he is considered to be one of the great Australian thoroughbred trainers.
The T J Smith Stakes
T J Smith Stakes
The T J Smith Stakes is a Group 1 Australian Thoroughbred horse race at Weight for Age run over a distance of 1200 metres at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney in March or April. The TJ Smith is named after trainer Tommy Smith...
at Randwick Racecourse
Randwick Racecourse
Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horseracing in the Eastern Suburbs in Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse, is operated by the Australian Jockey Club and known to many Sydney racegoers as headquarters...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
was named in his honor.
Additional Reference
- Turf Monthly - August 1977, Vol. 24, No. 44, pages 4–8. Tommy Smith - 25 years Australia's leading trainer by Arn Rogers.