Behind the Gate w

found that his biggest thrill in the game was starting with colts, getting them to the races and seeing how good they became. Something else about this industry that meant a lot to him was the tremendous help from 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 be at the top of any list according to Clark. A horse must be healthy and that is number one. He explained, “If a horse’s blood is not right. he can‘t per— form up to par. You must make sure that the horse is not bleeding and also does not have a problem with his breathing. Soundness is also a major factor in the health of a horse. If a horse is healthy then he probably will be happy and he will perform well for you. A blood test every month for your horse should be a top priority."

After health comes conditioning and shoeing. He explained. that each horse must be trained differently and that there aren’t too many horses that you can train the same way. What would work for one horse might not work for another. You must shoe a horse so that he is not hitting himself. He must be balanced so that he travels smoothly. healthy and be properly trained but if he is not shod and balanced correctly he

A horse might be

Clarissmith

There was a time when we would shoe all of them the same but that is not the case today. For most horses there is a little trick in shoeing and balancing; hopeful- ly, the blacksmith will find it.

cannot give a maximum effort.

One of Clark Smith‘s best experiences on the oval occurred in 1982 at Exhibition Park in Saint John when he finally reached win number 2000. He remem- bered it well. “I was at 1,995 for quite a while. I finally got the big win with Regal Time N in 2:05. He was owned by Don MacDonald and I remember that the horse was not one of my favorites." It was quite a feat at that time because the only other Island driver with 2,000 wins was the immortal Joe O’Brien.

His worst experience in harness racing took place at the Summerside Raceway when he drove the erratic but fast Naiascba for Bill Companion Senior. He relived and described it this way, “The maddest 1 ever got driving a horse was in Summerside. I got five days for lack of effort with Nalascba. that was hard, hard to drive. She made bad mistakes a long, long time after that. It was kind of childish on my part but I knew that I was right and I wouldn‘t drive under that judge.“ It was certainly the low point in 50 years of involvement for a dedicated horseman.

She was a mare

He had a very sensible piece of advice

“If you haven’t got a lot of patience, you are in the wrong game. ”

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