Smith one of four inductees

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Red Smith will be making a trip here from Alberta to be on hand Thursday evening for his induction into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Smith, currently based at Edmonton's Northlands Park, will be among four Thoroughbed inductees at the ceremony at the Toronto Congress Centre, which is located not far from the Hall of Fame site at Woodbine.

The guest speaker will be Jack Knowlton, managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, the syndicate that owns Funny Cide. The evening will include a reception, silent auction, dinner, and the induction ceremony. This year's other Thoroughbred inductees, voted in by the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame's elections committee and announced in mid-May, will be Langfuhr, Classy 'n Smart, and the late Don McClelland.

Wonder Where also will be inducted as the choice of the veterans' committee.

Smith, 66, who has sent out more than 2,200 winners through his 46-year career, is in the midst of a banner year and is Canada's leading trainer in races won, with 56.

Smith topped the standings at Calgary's Stampede Park this spring with 29 winners and was the runaway leader at Northlands with 27 winners heading into this week's action.

Smith won a Sovereign Award as Canada's outstanding trainer in 1977.

Langfuhr, a winner of three Grade 1 stakes in New York - the Vosburgh, Forego, and the Metrpolitan Handicap - is enjoying a successful career at stud at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Ky. He ranked 10th on this year's general sire list, in earnings, through last weekend.

His offspring include Wando, Canada's reigning horse of the year. Langfuhr himself was Canada's champion sprinter in 1996.

Classy 'n Smart was highly successful in both the racing and breeding spheres for Sam-Son Farm, earning one Sovereign Award as Canada's champion 3-year-old filly in 1984 and another as outstanding broodmare in 1991.

Dance Smartly, Canada's horse of the year and the Eclipse Award winner as champion 3-year-old filly of 1991, is the most famous offspring of Classy 'n Smart, who died in 1999.

Don McClelland, who died last year at 82, bred several Canadian champions, the most recent being the 3-year-old filly Gandria in 1999.

Wonder Where won eight stakes races in 1959 and was named Canada's Horse of the Year.