Our questions are answered by Bahrain’s multiple champion trainer, who recently handed over his operation to his son Paul after a long and colourful career
British-born trainer Allan Smith recently retired from a hugely successful training career which saw him crowned champion in Bahrain on multiple occasions – “so many that I’ve lost count!” That includes last season (2024-25) when he sent out 54 winners in what turned out to be Smith’s final one with his name on the licence.
Nicholas Godfrey: The extraordinary story of master trainer Allan Smith
Having started out as a teenage apprentice in Newmarket in 1966, this Essex boy’s colourful career trajectory over the subsequent six decades is nothing short of extraordinary, with highly successful training stints in Belgium and the UAE before his long-term sojourn in Bahrain’s Royal Stables. Not forgetting a stint as a touring musician with a country-and-western outfit!
Smith, who soon turns 75, has been no stranger to headlines at times – witness a lucrative 66-1 success with the sprinter Dark Power under his old pal Frankie Dettori in a $1m contest on the inaugural Saudi Cup undercard in 2020.
Then, of course, about 27 years earlier, Smith engineered a well-orchestrated off-course betting coup with th etwo-year-old Old Hook, whom he prepared at his Belgium base before a 20-1 victory in a five-furlong seller at now-defunct Folkestone in June 1993.
The gamble netted friends and family well into six figures; with nothing untoward involved beyond a shrewd trainer, the bookies had to pay up, despite crying foul. There was no case to answer, as Smith fondly recalls: “The head steward turned round at the end and said: ‘Bloody well done!’”
Now Smith’s son Paul, his longtime assistant – his other son Martin is a Newmarkeet-based trainer – has taken over the role of trainer at the Royal Stables in Bahrain.
Smith Snr, though, isn’t going anywhere. He remains an active advisor and recently purchased two horses for his son to train at the Horses In Training Sale in Newmarket.
Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?
Bruce Raymond. He was the first jockey that I ever met on my first day in racing, on the way back from the gallops in Newmarket. He said, “How much did your mum give you to come away with?” and I said, “10 bob”. He said: “Go and have it on Hiding Place in the Nell Gwyn!”
She won at 10-1 with Scobie Breasley on. That was in 1966, and she went on to win the Yorkshire Oaks.
Which is your favourite venue, and race, anywhere in the world?
Folkestone. It was a lovely little racetrack and I rode my first winner there on my first ride, on a horse called Systematic for the late Lord Porchester. We also pulled off our big coup with Old Hook there in 1993. It has memories, and I’m so disappointed they closed it down.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
Byline has got to be up there, although there are a few in contention. We achieved so much with him, including winning four local Group 1s and he took us to Saudi three times, finishing third in the sprint there in 2024. He was also a good gentleman to have in the stable.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
That’s a big one … one of them is probably winning with a horse called Paul Martin, who was bred by my late father-in-law from a mare that was given to him. He was the only racehorse to be fathered by SevenTheQuandrant, who was a teaser at Meddler Stud and this was the only mare he got in-foal. Paul Martin went onto win a Listed race in Belgium – and, of course, he was named after my two sons.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
People interfering with the history of racing. It has a legacy that I think we should respect. I think when King Charles II started all this – it was done correctly so if things aren’t broken, don’t try to mend them.
A good example is the Grand National. Everyone moaned about the size of the fences, so they lowered them but now the horses go faster, so you get just as bad injuries, if not worse. Also, the jockeys’ injuries are worse, because they fall off at such a speed.
Allan Smith was speaking to Laura King
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