3 minute read

“He was a cranky old bastard that everybody loved, it's as simple as that, that’s the best way to describe Geoff Smith.”

The legacy Geoff Smith leaves in the racing industry, having recently passed away at the age of 90, is impossible to quantify in 1000 words.

"You would go a very long way to find one of his enemies," continued Geoff's son Ian, "He was a much loved man."

Geoff Smith was a leading trainer in Northern New South Wales through the 1970s and into the early 1980s.

"Of the 30-odd horses he'd have in work at one time, probably a dozen were open company horses," reflected Ian.

"He started out at Tamworth but he was only there for 18 months before he moved back to Barraba, where his grandfather and all of his brothers were, and he trained there for years.

"That's where he started out with River Ridge before picking up another couple of horses and before long, everybody wanted him to train for them and he moved to the race course at Gunnedah.

"The list of good horses he had over his career, I could spend 20 minutes just telling you the names."

River Ridge, who has a 2YO feature raced named after him at the annual Quirindi Cup meeting, was a champion bush sprinter who won a Challenge Stakes at Randwick and two QTC Lightning Handicaps in Queensland.

"I remember when River Ridge won the Lightning in Brisbane in 1975, TJ Smith had the horse that ran second. He walked past the old man before tapping him on the shoulder and said 'that's the best legged horse I've ever seen Geoff', I can still remember him saying it," said Ian.

Geoff bought River Ridge, who won a staggering 53 races in total, as a yearling for just $1200, and above all else, this was Geoff's most revered gift. His unmatched eye for a horse.

"If you went to a yearling sale and got Geoff Smith to buy you a horse, the chances of it winning races were better than most people I know," said Ian.

"I went to a sale at Dubbo once and liked a little black horse. He had a look at him in the dark and when it walked into the sale ring he said, 'that's the horse you like isn't it? Buy him.'

"He went on to win seven races and ran 13 seconds. I paid $2000 for him and after the old man said 'buy him', that was good enough for me.

"He certainly has been a big influence in racing around this area, I know that.

"He'd win nearly all of the two-year-old races before Christmas around here, simply because of how well he educated them."

Then there was another prolific winner Jimalong, a galloper iconic jockey Danny Frahm regards as the best he has ever ridden in his 50 year career in the saddle.

"That horse won 38 races and 14 or 15 cups around Northern New South Wales," said Ian.

"He had another horse called Waterford Way that held track records all around the bush tracks and won 30 odd races too."

Geoff Smith was always destined to work with horses. It was in his blood. In his DNA.

"My grandfather trained his whole life. He had four boys and five girls in the family, three of the boys were horse trainers and the other one a used car salesman!" said Ian.

"Two of the boys, Trevor and Keith, went on to become very successful amateur jockeys but my old man quickly realised that he was much better on the ground with the horses than on their back."

Although racing was a huge part of Geoff's life, Clarice, his wife, remained his number one devotion.

"She got Alzheimer's later in life and they found a nursing home at Casino for her. He bought a house there and he'd get up every day and drive up to the home to spend two or three hours with her and then drive home again, that was all he did for his last four years," said Ian.

"I've had so many people ring with well wishes, I've lost track of them all.

"When he was training in the early 80s he had a heart attack at Tamworth race course and a bloke called Peter Snowden caught him and gave him a heart massage in the enclosure.

"Every time I saw Peter after that he'd ask me how the old man was. That's the type of person that respected him. He'd take horses to Sydney and trainers like Clarry Connors would look up to him.

"My cousin Paul, he used to follow the old man around and learn what he could, like we all did. My old man was a good farrier too and he taught Paul a fair bit and Paul's still training horses at Coffs Harbour now."

"He was hard and tough, he had his ways but everybody liked him, he got on with everyone. He wasn't afraid to come forward and voice his opinion," added Paul Smith.

"It was always inspiring to be as good as your uncle Geoff because he was so good at it."

Ian, who lives out near Dubbo at Dunedoo, only recently retired from a lifetime in racing himself, had two brothers.

"I was the middle one of three boys, my older brother (Alan) died when I was young, and my younger brother (Gary) still lives near Casino," said Ian.

"A lady named Beverly O'Neile was also a big part of our family. She was my cousin on my mum's side but she was the daughter that my old man never had, she would strap for him all of the time."

"Her son Troy, he trains at Tamworth now."

Now you're starting to get some appreciation of Geoff Smith's legacy.

"I went through all of his paper clippings the other day and he has one of Keith Swan, his rival trainer up here, from when he died. He kept clippings of blokes he admired as well, that was the sort of person he was," said Ian.

"I'm speaking as his son, and I'm a little bit bias, but he was a top bloke."

Geoff Smith was laid to rest on Thursday, October 14th at Casino.