In Defense Of Tom Smith

Just finished watching for the first time (on You tube) the Seabiscuit races. Wow! I'd be concerned racing against that horse, and thus I'd made some of my judgments primarily on the book and its photos which change a bit when I watch the horse. I've also seen now some photos omitted from the book




that show a little better racing animal than I'd gleaned from the book. This was a powerfully striding, conditioned, beautifully conformed animal but for the knee.

Since I convicted Tom Smith last post, some facts that might point the other way:
1. Lot's of horses get inhalants for breathing problems, guttural pouch drainage, heavers, and so on. Trainers use Vicks Vaporub in the nostrils, and I'd have trouble calling this illegal. Smith might well have instructed the inhalant for a troubled horse without having any idea of ephedra. I have trouble, really, putting 1945 and ephedrine in the same sentence.
2. If per chance Smith's horses raced by intentional act on ephedra, what would be the odds, in those days that every other horse in the field was also running on its trainer's favorite banned substance. I've read in Whittingham, Woody Stephens the manner in which various pharmacologys were science on backstretches in those days. None other than T. J. Smith of Australia had the worst two years of his training career, in '53 and '54 I'm recalling, after they started testing for caffeine down under. I'd be less offended possibly in the culture of the time.
3. Though I was puzzled from the book about certain aspects of Seabiscuit's performance, after seeing the horse run on the old reels, it is (somewhat) possible that the horse raced clean and was just that good.
4. I noted prior post Seabiscuit's foundation of 50 early races althewhile noting I'm unable to think of any other major horse with implausible performances. I'm also unable to think of any other great horse with this sort of racing foundation. Maybe in Seabiscuit we get exactly what we might expect from such an intensive early prep.
5. I identify with Tom Smith. Reminds me a lot of myself. The Tom Smiths, I'm thinking, get enjoyment by watching their horses develop through training, and with this mind set the thought of screwing up the training with the latest from the kitchen sink just never occurs to you because you'd be unable to see the real results of what you enjoy doing.

After looking at it fairly closely and considering it all, what do I believe with regard to Seabiscuit and ephedra? I believe Smith probably used it on the horse. In the final analysis too much points that way. I admire Tom Smith as a trainer, but, he's also the sort of personality I recognize. You run into the type here and there. Unsociable, reclusive, and just a little bit of a schemer as is indicated time and again by Smith playing tricks that personally I would never enjoy. Smith's privacy might be considered a personality quirk, but could just as easily be viewed as this man keeping his activities out of every one's sight.

If he used ephedra on Seabiscuit, does this tarnish the story? It does for me somewhat. I'll go on wanting to believe him that he's "absolutely innocent", but I'll always factor in what I know ephedra does when thinking of the races. Great story. Memorable in so many ways. A conclusion, next post.