Tom Smith (trainer)
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Robert Thomas "Tom" Smith (May 20, 1878 - January 23, 1957) was an American thoroughbred race horse trainer. Born in a log cabin in the backwoods of northwest Georgia, as a young man he trained horses for the United States Cavalry and worked on a cattle ranch. In 1934, he got a job with the wealthy businessman Charles S. Howard who owned the racehorse, Seabiscuit.
Known as "Silent Tom," because of his quiet nature, Smith would become famous as the trainer of Seabiscuit. In the 1940s, he was hired to train for Maine Chance Farm, owned by cosmetics tycoon, Elizabeth Arden. On November 8, 1945, Smith was suspended from racing for a year by The Jockey Club after being found responsible for administering the stimulant ephedrine via an atomizer to one of his horses. The drug was given to the horse by the stable foreman without Smith's specific authorization but under New York racing rules he was held responsible as the horse's trainer.
In his absence, Roy Waldren, trained for a time for Maine Chance Farm, winning the Pimlico Futurity with Star Pilot, before Smith's 36 year old son, Jimmy took over for the remainder of the suspension.
When his suspension was over, Smith returned to Maine Chance Farm where he trained the 1947 Kentucky Derby winner, Jet Pilot.
Tom Smith retired from racing in 1955, having trained 29 graded stakes race winners. He died two years later in Glendale, California and was buried there in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
In 2001, following the publication of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit: An American Legend, he was inducted posthumously into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Smith was played by Academy Award winning actor Chris Cooper in the 2003 film Seabiscuit.
