Tommy J. Smith

Thomas John Smith (3 September 1916 – 2 September 1998) Smith rode as a jockey until he was age 20, but he was never very good. When weight became a problem he took to hurdle racing, but a bad fall and broken hip ended his riding career. Bragger won 13 races including Smith's first Group 1 winner in the 1946 Railway Quality, establishing him as a Sydney trainer and Smith won a significant amount of money backing Bragger to win races. But when Bragger went for a spell, Smith blew all of his winnings on flashy suits, hired cars and drinking. Almost broke, Smith was saved when Bragger returned from his spell and won. After this episode Smith 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 on his way home from a race meeting.

Smith's reputation as an emerging trainer was further enhanced with the success of Playboy, which he also owned, in the 1949 AJC Derby. 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 Australian Jockey Club (AJC) upheld the appeal and instead chose to issue a "severe reprimand".

At the 1956 New Zealand National Sales Smith bought a Khorassan colt for 750 guineas. He had difficulty in placing the horse with an owner, but eventually persuaded E. A. Haley to take him. The horse was Tulloch,

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 Cup, 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 W. S. 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, and Sykes. Bob Thomsen, 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 sixteen 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 W. S. Cox Plates, six Golden Slippers, and thirty-five derby winners across Australia. In all Smith trained 246 Group One winners.

Well-known horses trained by Smith

During his long career Tommy trained many champions, such as Redcraze (1956 Caulfield Cup, 1957 W. S. Cox Plate), Gunsynd (1972 W. S. Cox Plate and Doncaster Handicap), Kingston Town (1980, 1981 and 1982 W. S. Cox Plates) and Tulloch (1957 Caulfield Cup, 1960 W. S. 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 Smith's care and perseverance and the work of his vet, Sykes, they brought Tulloch back from near death. Tulloch went on to win 36 of his 53 race starts and set race records for the W. S. Cox Plate and Caulfield Cup. In winning the 1957 AJC Derby he took two seconds off the race record set by Phar Lap. In honour of his champion, Smith named his main stables Tulloch Lodge.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Smith trained Kingston Town to multiple stakes victories including the W. S. 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 -. Kingston Town was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2001.

Smith also trained six winners of Australia's richest and most prestigious two-year-old race, The Golden Slipper. He was the first person to breed, own and train a Golden Slipper winner, being the filly Bounding Away. Smith's secondary stables were named Bounding Away Stables in her honour.