BRYAN SMART - A HISTORY
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Born in Royston near Barnsley his father and his grandfather were coal miners and his mother worked in a shirt factory. Even from an early age Bryan was certain he was not going to follow the family tradition and go down the mines but he did find an affinity with the pit ponies and many a time he could be found riding them around the field with a bridle made of string and no saddle. Although his friends thought it a little strange, his parents encouraged him to ride and he soon joined up with a dealer near his home who took him on the Northern show jumping circuit where he learned to ride all sorts of horses and ponies.
After seeing an advert in Horse and Hound to work with sick lame and lazy race -horses Bryan found himself leaving school at the age of 15 to start work the very next day for Jenny Pitman near Lambourn in Berkshire, who herself was just starting out in her career as a Point to Point Trainer.
Bryan rode a number of winners for Mrs Pitman as an amateur before turning professional. Corbiere was one of the most notable horses he rode winning six races on him in his early career. Other successes came in The Massey Ferguson Gold Cup on Bueche Giorod and the Midlands Grand National on Whatafella. Bryan became a key member of Mrs Pitman's team at Weathercock house and would often start work at 5am to feed and check the horses before going racing and was responsible for the feeding and medical care of her team of horses as well as being her stable jockey. During the summer months Bryan worked for Ken Cundell and also broke in yearlings for Paul Cole. He would also spend time travelling around with vet Barry Park learning about all the injuries and ailments that they attended.
Later, Bryan moved to Uplands to join the great Fred Winter, whilst remaining first jockey to Mrs Pitman. Bryan considers Fred Winter as his great mentor and racing hero and someone he will always be grateful to for the experience he gained whilst working for him. Bryan rode many horses for Fred Winter both at home on the gallops and at the racecourse. Bryan rode over 200 winners during his career which was sadly brought to a premature end when he suffered a serious fall at Huntingdon in 1982 breaking his leg, foot and skull.
After recouperating, Bryan and his wife moved to Wales where they trained point to pointers for four years. They were so successful and became so feared by the bookmakers that their horses usually started favourite!
In 1986 Bryan was encouraged by some of his owners to return to Lambourn to take out a full license and this he did starting with a few jumpers and building up to over 30 horses from his base at Hill House.