Behind the Gate 3"; 
     
    
   
   
    
     lound that his higgest thrill in the game 
     
     was starting with colts. getting them to 
     
     the races and seeing how good they 
     
     hecame. Something else ahout this 
     
     industry that meant a lot to him was the 
     
     tremendous help lrom the people that 
     
     worked for him like Leonard (Barney) 
     
     McGuigan. Henry Smallwood and others. 
     
    
   
   
    
     I asked Clark what he thought were the 
     
     most important things you must do for a 
     
     race horse. Health and nutrition would 
     
     he at the top ol~ any list according to 
     
     (ilark. A horse must he healthy and that 
     
     is numher one. He explained. "It. a 
     
     horses hlood is not right. he can‘t per— 
     
     l‘orm tip to par. You mttst make sure that 
     
     the horse is not hleeding and also does 
     
     not haye a prohlem with his hreathing. 
     
     Soundness is also a major factor in the 
     
     health of a horse. It a horse is healthy 
     
     then he prohahly will he happy and he 
     
     will perform well for you. A hlood test 
     
     eyery month for your horse should he a 
     
     top priorily." 
     
    
   
   
    
     Alter health comes conditioning and 
     
     shoeing. He explained that each horse 
     
     must he trained differently and that there 
     
     aren‘t too many horses that you can train 
     
     the same way. \V'hat would work lor one 
     
     horse might not work for another, You 
     
     must shoe a horse so that he is not hitting 
     
     himself. He must he halanced so that he 
     
     trayels smoothly. :\ horse might he 
     
     healthy and he properly trained httt it. he 
     
    
   
   
    
     is not shod and halanced correctly he 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Clark Smith 
     
    
   
   
    
     cannot giye a maximum effort. There 
     
     was a time when we would shoe all ol 
     
     them the same hut that is not the case 
     
     today For most horses there is a little 
     
     trick in shoeing and halancing; hopelul— 
     
    
   
   
    
     ly. the hlacksmith will lind it. 
     
    
   
   
    
     ()ne of (Tlark Smith‘s hest experiences on 
     
     the ma] occurred in 1982 at lixhihition 
     
     Park in Saint John when he finally 
     
     reached win numher 2.000. He remem— 
     
     hered it well. "I was at 1.993 for quite a 
     
     while. I finally got the hig win with 
     
     Regal Time .\’ in 2:03. He was owned hy 
     
     Don .\lacl)onald and l rememher that the 
     
     horse was not one ol‘ my tayorites." It 
     
     was quite a l‘eat at that time hecause the 
     
     only other Island driyer with 2.000 wins 
     
     was the immortal yloe O'Brien. 
     
    
   
   
    
     His worst experience in harness racing 
     
     took place at the Summerside Raceway 
     
     when he droye the erratic hut last 
     
     .\(l/(I.\'L‘/.)(l lor hill (Iompanion Senior. Ile 
     
     reliyed and descrihed it this way. “The 
     
     maddest l eyer got driying a horse was in 
     
     Summerside. I got l‘iye days for lack ol 
     
     ellort with .\’(Il(is‘cba. She was a mare 
     
     that was hard. hard to driye. She made 
     
     had mistakes a long. long time after that. 
     
     It was kind of childish on my part httt I 
     
     knew that I was right and I wouldnt 
     
     driye under that judge." It was certainly 
     
     the low point in S0 years of inyolyement 
     
    
   
   
    
     for a dedicated horsetttan. 
     
    
   
   
    
     He had a Very sensihle piece ol‘ adyice 
     
    
   
   
    
     “(ft/’01! batten ‘/ go/ a [0/ (g/pal’ience. you are in [be wrong game. ‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
     101