George Elsworth Smith

George Elsworth Smith (July 13, 1862 – February 1, 1905) was an American gambler and Thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast who became a multi-millionaire during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Smith was given the nickname "Pittsburgh Phil" in 1885 by Chicago gambler William "Silver Bill" Riley to differentiate him from the other Smiths that also frequented Riley's pool halls. His racing Maxims, published posthumously in 1908, are considered to be the foundations of many modern handicapping strategies and formulas. was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, in 1862 to Elizabeth ("Eliza") and Christian Smith. The Smith family also included two sisters, Annie and Elizabeth, and another son, William C. Smith, that was a few years younger than George Smith. His mother was originally from Ireland and emigrated to the United States in 1857, and his father was a carpenter from Baden, Germany. who died in the 1880s. She remarried a second time on November 20, 1906, to real estate and coal developer Thomas S. Wood after George Smith's death.

George Smith's sister Anne married and had a son named James Christian McGill (1880–1972). McGill was orphaned at a young age when his parents died in the mid-1880s during an unspecified epidemic and was subsequently raised, along with his infant sister Eleanor, by Mrs. Smith and George Smith. Consequently, much of the published biographical information on Pittsburgh Phil's early life, his rise to fame and the reasoning behind his methods on the track comes from interviews with his nephew, James McGill, who was a close confidant in the ten years preceding George Smith's death.

Cork cutting and early sporting exploits Cork blocking, the initial occupation of Smith, at a Pittsburgh cork factory in the early 1900s.

The Smith family initially lived on a small farm in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, but moved in 1872 to Allegheny City when George Smith was 10 years old. The Smiths eventually settled in the neighborhood of Pleasant Valley, which was located across the Ohio River from Pittsburgh in the present day city neighborhood of California-Kirkbride. George Smith's father died within a year (in late 1872 or 1873), which created financial hardships for his mother and sisters and resulted in George going to work at the age of 12 at the local cork cutting factory (possibly Armstrong Cork Co.) for $5 per week. Smith set aside money from his weekly pay (after giving the majority to his mother) to purchase and train gamecocks, hiding the fowl from his devout Roman Catholic mother and sisters who greatly disapproved of gambling. He also bet on the outcomes of National League baseball games in Pittsburgh pool halls and would attribute his often sizable winnings to pay raises at the cork factory. It was Riley that saddled Smith with the nickname "Pittsburgh Phil" on their first meeting to differentiate George Smith's bets from the rest of the "room full of Smiths."

King Cadmus and Parvenu Smith also purchased and raced Thoroughbred horses under the name Pleasant Valley Stable. His racing colors during the early 1890s were royal-purple and canary yellow. Smith's brother, Bill, became his principal horse trainer during the 1890s and early 1900s. One of his most successful horses was a two-year-old bay colt named King Cadmus. Smith purchased King Cadmus as a yearling in 1890 for $4,000 at the stable dispersal sale of the late August Belmont. The colt was a son of Kingfisher and was a full brother to another popular racehorse named King Crab. Jockeys Skeets Martin (left) and Tod Sloan at Morris Park Racetrack in 1899.

Professional relationship with Tod Sloan Smith employed several jockeys on a race-to-race basis during his career as a Thoroughbred owner, including Henry "Skeets" Martin, Fred Taral, Edward Garrison and Samuel Doggett. However, Smith considered Tod Sloan to be the best jockey in his employ and commissioned the rider to race in only his colors from 1895 to 1897. Smith met Sloan in the fall of 1895 at a San Francisco racetrack after Sloan had been suspended for ten days for trying to "beat the barrier", or disregarding the starting barrier that had recently been adopted at US tracks. Smith was taken with Sloan's unique riding style, later termed the "monkey crouch", that redistributed the rider's weight over the neck and withers and allowed horses to run faster. Sloan returned to New York with Smith in 1896 where he became one of the top jockeys on the east coast, giving Smith the most profitable years of his career. Smith instead put Skeets Martin, who was better at racing on sloppy tracks, on the 4-year old Howard Mann. He advised Martin to, "Use your own judgment with this horse, and don't bother about Belmar. Tod probably won't be anywhere near you after the first hundred yards." When James R. Keene asked Smith in late 1897 for permission to take Sloan to England to race in the Cambridgeshire Handicap, Smith accepted the offer. In May 1903, Shaw was suspended by The Jockey Club for presumed "listless" riding on Illyria at a May 6 race at the Jamaica Racetrack. On June 24, 1903, Smith was also banned from entering his horses in races overseen by The Jockey Club. He admitted to no wrongdoing, and he suspected the ban was a hold-over from Willie Shaw's suspension and resulted from The Jockey Club's increased efforts to remove plungers from their tracks. Smith continued to make bets, notably securing $60,000 when Africander won the 1903 Suburban Handicap, but had sold his stable to E. E. Smathers by the end of the year. Smith also did not smoke and only drank an occasional glass of wine. He socialized with very few women and was considered to be a confirmed bachelor by his family. He was adamant about not bringing women to racetracks, even his own mother, including a reference to their distracting influence on men in his Maxims. "A man who wishes to be successful cannot divide his attentions between horses and women. A man who accepts the responsibility of escorting a woman to the race track, and of seeing that she is comfortably placed and agreeably entertained, cannot keep his mind on his work before him...A sensible woman understands this and cannot feel hurt at my words." However, Smith did court Daisy Dixon, an aspiring actress and chorus girl from Chicago, in 1896. The courtship turned sour after he caught her cavorting with his jockey and notorious ladies man Tod Sloan. According to McGill, Smith never had an interest in another woman after Dixon's betrayal.

Smith rarely wrote down his bets and relied on his memory to serve him when he won and had to collect his money from the numerous commissioners that placed his bets with the bookmakers.

Death and legacy 1916 Kentucky Derby winner George Smith was named after "Pittsburgh Phil."

By the fall of 1903, Smith began curtailing his turf activities for frequent trips to the Adirondacks and Hot Springs to rest. His family assumed that his "nerves" were affected from the stress of his and Shaw's suspension from racing, but Smith had also developed a persistent cough by the early months of 1904. a short distance from his childhood home in Allegheny. His funeral occurred on February 5 during a snowstorm and was attended by many people. He was entombed in a stone mausoleum that reportedly cost $30,000 to build and was built to Smith's specifications seven years before his death. His mother later commissioned a statue in his likeness and placed it on top of the mausoleum. The statue depicts Smith, hatless and wearing a suit, looking toward Pittsburgh while clutching a racing form.

Smith's net worth, including real estate and stocks and bonds, was $3,250,000, and as he had no will his estate was divided equally among his mother, brother, nephew (James McGill) and niece (Eleanor Ewing). William Smith and James McGill later moved to Indianapolis in 1913 after purchasing the Indianapolis Baseball Club for $150,000. George Smith, the 1916 Kentucky Derby winner, was named after Pittsburgh Phil because he had once owned the colt's dam, Consuelo II. His racing Maxims, gleaned from his only interview with Edward Cole a few years before his death, are still considered valid by modern handicappers.