Trainer T.V. Smith dead at 84

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Memorial services for T.V. Smith are scheduled for Aug. 19 after the retired trainer died last Friday at age 84.

Smith spent some 50 years on the track, retiring in 2007. He was born Thomas Victor Smith but quickly became known as "T.V." when working at tracks in the upper Midwest, primarily in Nebraska, near where he was born and raised in South Dakota.

Smith ultimately made Kentucky his primary base, wintering first in Arkansas, then Florida. It was at Gulfstream Park in Florida that one of his most accomplished horses, Grits’n Hard Toast, won the 1999 Holy Bull under Robbie Davis. Smith, who bred and owned the horse in partnership with longtime client Robert Anderson, was fond of relating the story behind the peculiar name.

“I had a groom who didn’t show one morning, so I asked another fellow where he was,” said Smith. “He said, ‘Aww, he’s probably back in jail, eating grits and hard toast for breakfast.’ ”

Smith won the Holy Bull a second time in 2003 with Offlee Wild, who would go on to finish 12th as his only Kentucky Derby runner.

Among the other top runners for Smith, who began training in 1959 and was among the top five all-time leading trainers at the old Ak-Sar-Ben, were Comet Kat, G.U. Dreamer, For Once’n My Life, Glory Spell, Top of My Life, Bionic Soul, Scudan, Glory’s Ghost, and Sheets.

Smith was preceded in death by his wife, Ann. He is survived by his daughter, Trish, of Louisville; his son, Tim, of Arizona; and three grandsons and two great-grandsons.

A funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Eastern on Aug. 19 at Arch L. Heady on Westport Road in Louisville. Visitation will follow from 12-2.