TJ Smith and Harry White - Derby Day, Flemington.
Steve Hart caught these two champions together one Derby day at Flemington in the mid 1980’s.
Tommy Smith and Harry White look to be watching the pre race parade, but it’s highly unlikely Harry was riding one for the Sydney maestro.
He’s wearing the Lloyd Williams colours, in an era when John Meagher was training the Williams horses at Epsom. It was almost certainly a case of two racing heavyweights running into one another in the parade yard.
Tommy Smith trained Just A Dash, the first of six Melbourne Cup winners in which Lloyd Williams had an interest.
It’s well documented that T.J. had heard the gelding was showing great promise in the Riverina. He made an offer of $50,000 to the owners Garry and Marianne Towzell on behalf of Williams and two partners.
It’s now history that Just A Dash won the Adelaide Cup as a three year old, before taking out the 1981 Melbourne Cup with Peter Cook up. The gelding died at a property near Wollongong in 2012, at the remarkable age of 35.
Harry White (74) hasn’t enjoyed the best of health in recent years. He can look back on a career which yielded 2112 winners and 69 Group 1 features.
To this day Harry shares the Melbourne Cup riding record with Bobbie Lewis at four wins each.