Smith retires from training after 40-year career in WA

WA trainer Angela Smith is bringing down the curtain on a 40-year career.

New Zealand-born Smith rose from riding ranks to become one of WA’s most respected trainers, renowned alongside husband Malcolm for revitalising difficult horses and turning them into winners.

The highlight of her training career came in 1997 when she won the Perth Cup with Time Frame, a talented stayer she painstakingly rebuilt after he transferred from the stable of Hall of Fame trainer Fred Kersley.

“We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved, but at some point you’ve just got to call it,” Smith told Racing WA.

“We’ve always done everything ourselves here and we’re pretty happy to be both walking away in one piece.”

Smith’s journey has featured extraordinary highs and lows. Later in the same year as her Perth Cup triumph, she suffered a broken neck after a fall during a track gallop at Narrogin.

“I had the highest of highs and lowest of lows in the same year,” she said.

“It really made me have a look at life and reassess. But I look back now and think it was the luckiest day of my life because not many people walk away from a broken neck.”

Her final runner came via Flying South earlier this month.