Smith Hopes for Sentimental Win in $75,000 William M. Backer
Smith Hopes for Sentimental Win in $75,000 William M. Backer
Trainer Sends Out Andrasta in Stakes Named for Late Breeder-Owner
LAUREL, MD – James Carter’s homebred Andrasta figures to be a long shot in Saturday’s $75,000 William M. Backer at Laurel Park, but a victory in the turf stakes for Virginia-bred/sired horses would mean more than the 4-year-old filly merely outrunning her odds.
For Hamilton Smith, it would be one of the most satisfying wins in a training career that has touched parts of five decades, earned him multiple stakes victories and meet titles, taken him to the Kentucky Derby and has produced a win total just five wins shy of 1,900.
Some of the best horses Smith has ever trained were for Backer, a long-respected Virginia breeder and owner and member of the Advertising Hall of Fame who passed away in May 2016 at the age of 89. Smith called Backer a client for nearly his entire time as an owner that included 230 wins dating back to 2000.
“He was a very smart man and a very good guy. I enjoyed working for him,” Smith said. “It’d be nice if I could win it. I’d like that.”
The Backer, in its first year on the Maryland stakes calendar, joins the $75,000 Hansel, also at 1 1/16 miles, as well as the $75,000 Meadow Stable and $75,000 Camptown, each at 5 ½ furlongs, on Saturday’s 11-race program at Laurel.
Smith, 72, trained three of Backer’s four top-earning horses, including stakes-winning mares Art Fan, Blind Date and Art Show. Art Fan earned $379,349 between 2003 and 2006 with a pair of stakes wins – the 2004 Virginia Oaks and 2006 April Run – and was third in the 2006 Gallorette (G3) and All Along Breeders’ Cup (G3).
Blind Date, a Maryland-bred, won eight races and $370,760 from 20 starts in 2008-11 topped by the 2009 Virginia Oaks (G3). She won three other stakes in 2009 and two in 2010, including the Maryland Million Distaff.
Art Show had five wins and $243,500 in purse earnings from 24 starts between 2005-08, taking the 2005 Salem County at the Meadowlands off a maiden victory. She placed in four other stakes and was fourth in the 2006 Lake Placid (G2) at Saratoga.
“We had quite a bit of good luck together. We won quite a few stakes,” Smith said. “I had a lot of fillies for him. That’s about all he kept to race; he usually sold all the colts. He did well with the breeding end of it; he bred those fillies that we won stakes with and he got some good money for some of the colts.
“I trained for him I’d say 12 or 15 years, anyway. I’m not sure of the exact number but we won quite a few races together,” he added. “He liked the breeding end of it. He loved doing that, matching the mares with the studs and so forth. He really enjoyed that part of it.”
Blind Date, bred in Maryland, was part of Backer’s most successful equine family. He bred and campaigned her dam, Snit, to four stakes wins, including the 1997 Cotillion (G2), and earned $454,547. He also bred Snit’s dam, Princess Roberta, a four-time stakes winner from 1982-83.
“He had some good horses, that’s for sure,” Smith said. “He rarely got overanxious and tried to run them at Saratoga or anything of that nature but he let them earn their black type around here and I think that paid off.”
Backer was as passionate about land conservation as breeding and racing and was considered a genius in the advertising world, best known for creating the 1971 ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing’ campaign for Coca-Cola. Consumers also became familiar with Miller Lite beer’s ‘Miller Time’ and Campbell’s ‘Soup is Good Food’ slogans thanks to Backer.
“I didn’t realize he was as sick as he was when he passed away. It came kind of sudden. I never even knew he had the cancer,” Smith said. “He was a hell of a nice guy. He was a pretty sharp old cookie, I can tell you that. He came up with all those little rhymes and that’s where he made his money. He was a very sharp guy. Hell, his mind was just as good as it always was the last time I talked to him. He was as sharp as he could be.”
Smith hopes Andrasta will be on her game for Saturday’s race, her second straight stakes assignment against fellow state-breds. The 4-year-old Scat Daddy filly is one of eight horses exiting the one-mile Nellie Mae Cox June 24 at Laurel, where she finished seventh, beaten 4 ½ lengths.
Off the board in two previous state-bred stakes efforts, Andrasta came from off the pace and was second by a nose in back-to-back starts 21 days apart in May prior to the Nellie Mae Cox.
“She came out of the last one good. There were some pretty tough fillies in there and it looks like we’ve got the same group coming back again,” Smith said. “She’s doing well, the best she can do, and whether it’s good enough or not we’re going to try them.
“She always tries. When you get her in the right company she’ll run well for you,” he added. “She lost two head bobs there that could have gone either way but she’s going into this race as good as she went into any of them. She’s been training well so hopefully she’ll run good. They only beat her a few lengths last time, so that wasn’t a disgrace by any means.”
The Nellie Mae Cox was one of four Virginia-bred/sired turf stakes Laurel ran June 24, and the track will once again host Commonwealth Day on Sept. 30 with eight stakes, three graded, worth $850,000 in purses. Five stakes are for Virginia-bred/sired horses.
“I usually have three or four Virginia-breds but I’m down to one,” Smith said. “I’m glad they have this day for the Virginia crowd. They’re good people and the last time we had it they had a decent crowd and all the racing was pretty competitive and they were good betting races. I’m looking forward to it.”
