George Smith (foaled April 30, 1913) was an American
Thoroughbred
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 ...
racehorse and was the winner of the 1916
Kentucky Derby.
Background
George Smith was a black colt by the imported British
stallion Out of Reach and out of the imported British
mare
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...
Consuelo II. His grandsire,
Persimmon
The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-per ...
, was a son of the great
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
racer and sire
St. Simon.
George Smith was named after noted turfman
George E. Smith
George Elwood Smith (born May 10, 1930) is an American scientist, applied physicist, and co-inventor of the charge-coupled device (CCD). He was awarded a one-quarter share in the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for "the invention of an imaging semico ...
, also known as "Pittsburg Phill", who was once an owner of the colt's dam. The horse was bred by Fred Forsythe and Jack Chinn and was foaled at their Fountain Bleu Farm in
Harrodsburg, Kentucky. George Smith was purchased as a yearling for $1,600 by Ed Mcbride, who trained him as a yearling and raced him as a two-year-old.
Racing career
George Smith was a promising two-year-old, winning many major stakes races, including the
Victoria Stakes
The Victoria Stakes is a thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Held in mid June, it has been raced on Polytrack since 2006 over a distance of five furlongs. In 2015 it was changed to six furlongs. O ...
at
Old Woodbine Race Course in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. He was then bought by noted Eastern horseman
John Sanford for $22,500 as a two-year-old.
The
1916 Kentucky Derby was run on a clear day with a field of 9 horses. George Smith was ridden by
American Racing Hall of Fame jockey
Johnny Loftus and was the clear contender of the race from the start. The only competition for the win came from Star Hawk, who lost the race by a neck after a rally in the home stretch.
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Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīsābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131), commonly known as Omar Khayyam ( fa, عمر خیّام), was a polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, an ...
, finished second, and the 1918 winner, Exterminator (horse)">Exterminator, ran third. In addition, the 1918 Preakness Stakes winner War Cloud finished twelfth.
George Smith was retired from racing at age five and stood at stud at Sanford's Hurricana Stock Farm near Amsterdam, New York. He was a disappointing sire, producing few notable offspring. On August 5, 1926, Sanford donated George Smith and another stallion called Nassovian to the Breeding Bureau of
. By the following year, George Smith was in the possession of the
, where he sired military horses for his remaining years. For the majority of his remount service, he was stationed at the Lookover Stallion Station in
.