Colour theory, papal visits and that Arc near-miss are all part of the legend of Brian Smith, who retires from training at age 84 this month. Matt Stewart caught up with the legendary horseman, who said he’s done with “thinking too much”.
In the legend of Brian “BJ” Smith there is no logical place to start, no family backstory to explain a character so unique, a training brain wired unlike any other.
The “sparrow story” is as good a place as any to capture the essence of the almost-84-year-old, soon to be retired, who is probably best known as the trainer of the New Zealand horse who almost won the Arc.
Balmerino’s fast-closing second to Alleged in the 1977 Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe when under the care of English trainer John Dunlop still irks Smith, who’d always believed in fate but is adamant fate had nothing to do with that Arc defeat. Forty-eight years on, he still maintains other things were at play.
More than a decade after Balmerino copped all that bad luck at Longchamp, Smith was training Balmerino’s son Kessem for the Cups. Kessem was an up-and-coming Sydney stayer bought as a yearling by Smith because “he looked like Balmerino and they both had one missing rib”.
Smith and Kessem would blaze a trail in Hong Kong by winning the 1990 HK Cup.
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