William Ernest "Smiley" Adams (October 4, 1935 – June 19, 2003) was an American trainer of

Thoroughbred racehorses The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are con ...

who trained

Master Derby Master Derby (April 24, 1972 – January 22, 1999) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1975 Preakness Stakes. Background He was bred by Robert E. Lehmann at his Golden Chance Farm in Paris, Kentucky. Master Derby was ...

to win the 1975 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series. In what was the 100th running of the Preakness,

Darrel McHargue Darrel G. McHargue (born September 26, 1954 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is a retired American Champion jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. One of five children from a family not connected to horse racing, he was first introduced to riding as a te ...

aboard Master Derby defeated Kentucky Derby winner

Foolish Pleasure Foolish Pleasure (March 23, 1972 – November 17, 1994) was an American bay Thoroughbred race horse who won the 1975 Kentucky Derby. Background Foolish Pleasure was a bay horse bred at Williston, Florida by Waldemar Farms, Inc. He was owned by J ...

by a full-length. Always known as "Smiley", William Adams left school at age 14 to work as a stableboy at a racetrack. Three years later, the then 17-year-old lied about his age to join the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

and would serve overseas in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. After being discharged from the military, Adams returned to horse racing. In addition to his success with Master Derby, Adams also notably trained Run Dusty Run who finished second in the 1977 Kentucky Derby, third in the 1977 Preakness Stakes and second in the

1977 Belmont Stakes The 1977 Belmont Stakes was the 109th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York held on June 11, 1977. With a field of eight horses, Seattle Slew won by four lengths in front of a crowd of 70,229 spectators. In conjunction ...

, all to Triple Crown winner

Seattle Slew Seattle Slew (February 15, 1974 – May 7, 2002) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who became the tenth winner of the American Triple Crown (1977). He is one of only two horses to have won the Triple Crown while being undefeated in ...

. Among his many stakes wins, Smiley Adams won seven consecutive runnings of the Spiral Stakes at Latonia Race Course in Kentucky. Smiley Adams was retired from training and living in Nicholasville, Kentucky at the time of his death in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Smiley 1935 births 2003 deaths United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War American horse trainers People from Versailles, Kentucky People from Nicholasville, Kentucky