BRIAN SMITH - 'AN ABSOLUTE GENIUS WITH HORSES'

By Graham Potter | Thursday, October 8, 2020

Trainer Brian (BJ) Smith might be seventy-nine years of age, but he is training as well as ever and he is still savouring every success.

Smith has saddled eighteen runners this season, seven of which have come back as winners, giving him an amazing thirty-nine percent winning strike rate. Of the rest, another four runners finished second or third … all within a length and a half of the winner … and four runners finished fourth.

“I had twenty in work and I realised a lot of them weren’t any good … so I cut down to twelve or thirteen horses … no more than thirteen horses because I’ve only got thirteen boxes so I can’t have any more,” said Smith.

“I am fortunate that I’ve got a hard core of owners who have stuck with me for years … through thick and thin.

“Since cutting back our strike rate has been incredible. We take our time with them. We place our horses carefully and I’m at the stage now where I don’t want to take them to the races if I think they are not ready to win.

“An example of that philosophy working out well is that horse who won on Sunday … Top Me Up Again. That is four wins this time in, in seven starts. He started off that run by winning first-up after a six-month spell. He’s no champion but It’s all about the art of getting them back right.

“I believe I can train any horse … including two-year-olds. We haven’t been able to get too many young horses to train but I think I can train them as well as anybody else … but you have got to be able to get them. I’m very open to having them in my stable.

“I’m training as well now as I’ve ever done. My mind is bright and well. I’m seventy-nine but I’m just loving it still.

“I enjoy the challenge of bringing them to their best … but, beyond that, they are just such lovely animals and I love working with them.”
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Jockey Larry Cassidy, who piloted Top Me Up Again to victory, has nothing but praise for Smith’s on-going success and he is certainly not surprised by it.

“BJ is just an out and out horseman,” said Cassidy. “The simplest way I can put it is … I think BJ is an absolute genius with horses.

“He really can get a horse ready to run … even to run a longer journey first-up and have them absolutely spot on.

‘I’ve seen him do things with horses in the way he gets them ready that I don’t think other people can do, to be honest.

"He can pull them back in distance. He can stretch them out without affecting their performance … and he can also keep a horse up for a long time.

“That is very hard to do, because you obviously have to keep the horse happy and wanting to do their best. He is one trainer I have found who can always do that.

“He has a different way of training them and I really love the way he does that and the way he likes his horses being ridden.

“He doesn’t want you to ever panic. He doesn’t want you taking off at the 600m. That just doesn’t suit the way he trains his horses. He’d prefer you to cut the corner if you can, come out and get home late … and, if you are slightly unlucky, so be it.

“That’s the way BJ likes things to unfold and that’s the way I like to ride them so it suits me.

“Riding for BJ … he is just the easiest person I’ve ever ridden for.

“I’ve ridden for BJ for some time and I do value the great association we have together.

“I just turned fifty and BJ is seventy-nine so, between us, we’ve got a bit of experience and understanding going on.”

*For the record, Cassidy himself has been no slouch in recent times. The 42-time Group 1 winning rider (34 in Australia, 6 in New Zealand and 2 in Singapore) rode ten winners in September. Clearly, he too, is still on top of his game.

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