Fairview trainer dies of cancer at 59.
Wealthy thoroughbred owners used to regularly ask Gavin Smith to move to one of South Africa’s big cities to train their horses. He was one of the best in his business and his talents were being wasted in the relative backwater of Gqeberha, reasoned these patrons.
Eventually they gave up asking, though. Smith might have thought about the riches of Joburg, Cape Town or Durban, but a visit to his favourite fishing spot at Sardinia Bay, or a glance around his homely stables at Fairview, would be enough to convince him to stay in “good old PE”.
PE repaid the love by making him a legend in the city.
Born and bred in Eastern Cape, Smith died there on Sunday aged 59 after a long fight with cancer. Racing people throughout the country have paid fulsome tribute to one of the great talents and nicest people in the game.
Horses in his blood
Smith saddled more than 3,000 winners in his career – getting a special award in recognition of this rare achievement at the recent Eastern Cape racing awards.
He was the region’s champion trainer 13 times and his friendly rivalry with another east coast stalwart, Alan Greeff, has been a constant of South African racing for decades. Indeed, the family competition goes back to these two men’s fathers, Andy Smith and Stanley Greeff, who also dominated the PE scene for yonks.
Gavin, born in 1966, rode work for his father from the age of 11. He took over the yard from his father in 1996 and immediately started winning prolifically. He frequently registered four or five winners on a card – and once even six.
The best horse he trained was Bold Silvano, who went on to Durban July and international glory after moving to Mike de Kock. Other star runners included Muscatt, Shoes Of Silver and Stormy Appeal.
A rare trip to the Highveld saw his charge In A Rush land the Emerald Cup on an untried sand track at the Vaal. Another big raiding scalp was the KZN Breeders’ Mile.
Mild mannered but with a ferocious work ethic, Smith maintained between 130 and 150 horses at a time, with a long-serving, loyal core of staff. Most of the country’s prominent owners entrusted their valuable horseflesh to him. Anyone who visited the Smith stables could not fail to be impressed by the calm authority yet scrupulous attention to detail that pervaded the place.
The hard work told in results, with the stable’s hallmark being a knack of turning around the form of individuals struggling with other trainers – thus giving horses and their owners a new lease on racing life.
Gavin’s son Dean has been his assistant in recent years and has now been listed as the stable principal by the National Horseracing Authority – though no formal announcement has been made about the future.
For as long as there’s racing on the east coast of southern Africa, the name Gavin Smith will be venerated.
