Colts And F2’llzes Are His Game 
     
    
   
   
    
     eteran trainer/driver Earl Smith 
     
     \/ realized one of his greatest racing 
     
     thrills on a beautiful August, 
     
     Sunday afternoon when he emerged vic- 
     
     torious with long shot Pownal Bay Matt 
     
     in the 49th running of the prestigious 
     
     Gold Cup and Saucer at the CDPEC. It 
     
     was Earl’s first win in the biggest race in 
     
     Atlantic Canada. In the celebrations, Earl 
     
     had high praise for his two grooms. Ryan 
     
     Perrot and Wayne Blaisdell. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Pownal Bay Matt‘s owners, Lorna and Ian 
     
     Smith of Montague, P. 
     
     when presented the beautiful cooler and 
     
     trophy by Premier Robert Ghiz in the 
     
     Winners’ Circle. This was Ian‘s third Gold 
     
    
   
   
    
     E. l. were ecstatic 
     
    
   
   
    
     Cup and Saucer victory thanks. in great 
     
     part, to Earl‘s skills as a driver. In 1980 
     
     and 1982, he shared ownership with his 
     
     brother, Don when they won with Saul’s 
     
     Pride and talented trainer/driver Joe 
     
     Smallwood. Ian ranked this accomplish— 
     
     ment with Pownal Bay Matt in 2008 on 
     
     par with his numerous high profile victo— 
     
     ries on both sides of the 49th. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Earl Smith‘s harness racing careerwas 
     
     dotted with a number of positive higl — 
     
     lights. He was fortunate to have won 
     
     many stake races, many big-name stake 
     
     races, even 550,000 stake races; however, 
     
    
   
   
    
         
     
    
   
   
    
     Photos: Sharon Carver 
     
    
   
   
    
     his biggest moment and the race that 
     
     meant the most to him was the one that 
     
     he won for young Jeffrey Bowman. It 
     
     was Atlantic Sires Stakes Championship 
     
     time and Earl was driving Tom 
     
     MacPherson's Charlotte’s Britt in the final 
     
     for a substantial purse. Both owner and 
     
     driver had agreed publicly to donate all 
     
     of their share of the purse that day to a 
     
     young Jeffrey Bowman whose family was 
     
     faced with mounting medical bills. The 
     
     story had reached the media and thou— 
     
     sands were cheering for Jeffrey and 
     
     Charlotte’s Britt at post parade. 
     
     According to Earl, “She was a long shot 
     
     to the bettors but in my mind, I figured 
     
     she might be second or third and then I 
     
     ended up winning that race. It meant 
     
     more to me than any other race." It 
     
     seemed that somebody above was in 
     
     control and a very deserving Jeffrey 
     
     Bowman had a very happy day. Justice 
     
     seemed to have won that memorable day 
     
     when long shot Charlotte’s Britt was first 
     
     to hit the wire. 
     
    

    
     Hunter River‘s Earl Smith was always 
     
     around horses because his parents, Alan 
     
     and Wanda always had horses around 
     
     their home. Earl would be cleaning out 
     
     the stalls. As a youngster, he enjoyed 
     
     going to the races with his father. He 
     
    
   
   
    
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