Jeremy Smith won his 30th race of the Dayton Raceway meet Thursday, just months after an accident at Scioto Downs broke three ribs, a vertebrae in his back, and his leg. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Just months after breaking three ribs, a fractured vertebrae, a brain bleed, and a broken leg, Washington Court House native Jeremy Smith is back in the race, and back in the winner’s circle, competing for the Miami Valley’s driver’s championship.
Dayton, OH — If one calls up the name ‘Smith’ on Google, it will take three days to scroll through the most common surname in the United States.
There are 2,442.977 Smiths in this country.
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There is, though, nothing common about Jeremy Smith, only one Jeremy Smith that spends most days in a harness racing bike.
Hall of fame writer Hal McCoy covers the UD Flyers and OHHA harness racing for Press Pros.
The 45-year-old Washington Court House driver is hanging around the Dayton Raceway paddock these days, but he isn’t in there long.
He is there taking respite between races, then takes the track in pursuit of the Miami Valley driver’s championship.
On a Thursday night on the Dayton 5/8ths-mile track, Smith was on it for 12 of the 14 races and said, “If you’re not in it, you can’t win it. You can’t win anything sitting in the paddock.”
Smith won his 30th race of the Dayton meet in the seventh race, guiding Skyway Kon Man to an easy win. It was Skyway Kon Man’s second straight win after a place three starts ago.
Before that, the horse finished eighth in three straight Open starts and was over its head in class, but seems to have found its level.
“He got way up in class, I believe,” said Smith. “He’s a nice horse, but them Opens get pretty tough. But when he gets to drop down a little bit, he’s on his game. He likes to do his work.”
“Winning the driver’s title would mean a lot,” says Jeremy Smith. “The last year, man, has been pretty rough.”
Smith said he knew he had the race won, “At about the half.” He was sitting in the pocket at the half then streaked past two horses in front and was long gone.
“I knew the horse on the front was all done at that time,” he said. “And that horse of mine, if he follows them and gets to them pretty quick, he swells right up. And we were gone from there.”
It was an aggressive move from an aggressive guy and he said, “My style is that I’m an aggressive guy. That style seems to fit me. But I like to get in front because any more it’s tough to come from the back. They don’t really get tired any more. They just keep digging so it’s tough to make up a lot of lost ground.”
Even though he’s 45, Smith has a special incentive to win a driver’s championship, even though he had his best year a season ago at 44 with career winnings and career wins.
“Winning the driver’s title would mean a lot,” he said. “This time would mean the world to me just for the simple fact that in the last year, man, I’ve had it pretty rough.”
“We had a couple of bad wrecks at Scioto Downs last summer and I sat out five months,” he said.
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Bad? Not bad. Awful. Three fractured ribs. A broken vertebrae in his back. A brain bleed.
“I also ended up having a broken leg that I didn’t even know I had it,” he said. “I ended up finding out about the broken leg like three weeks later.
“The last several years it seems like if there was a wreck I have a magnet in my pocket and I find it,” he said. “That ain’t no joke. You can ask anyone. Knock on wood it hasn’t been something I’ve done, but I always seem to be right in the middle of it.”
Smith and Skyway Kon Man were run-away winner’s in the seventh race Thursday at Dayton Raceway.
And there was a hernia injury not sustained in a race, but in the post parade.
“I had a 2-year-old filly trotter in a leg of the Buckeye Series,” he said. “She was going crazy in the post parade and I was damn near out of the bike a couple of times. She just went berserk.
“What’s crazy is after she did that in the post parade I made it to the gate thinking she’ll race like a goat but she ended up circling the field and running off.
“Over the next couple of days I was wondering what was bothering me. I went to the doctor four or five days after that and found out it required a surgery. I missed the first five weeks of Dayton (in 2023) and Chris Page was in the lead with 40-something wins and Dan Noble was second a few shy of Chris.
“ I ended up catching them to win the driver’s title after that. That is when it seemed to really start rolling. I went into Miami Valley and won the title there last year.”
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Smith recalled leading the driver’s standings at Scioto until he had two wrecks.
“One I missed about two weeks, maybe six race programs, and then the second one happened which put me out for most of the rest of the year.”
And this spring his father got sick “and I lost him a couple of months after that,” said Smith.
Jeremy Smith enjoys a laugh with Skyway Kon Man on the way to the winner’s circle Wednesday at Dayton Raceway.
“He was not just my dad, he was my guy. I got one addiction other than this stuff and it’s cars.”
Smith and his father constantly tinkered with old cars, restoring many of them for resale, but mostly they did it as a father-and-son mutual hobby.
Any other obstacles? “Nothng so far this year. I think I’ve paid my dues,” he said.
He is fast approaching 4,000 career wins and lists The Battle Of Lake Erie at Northfield Park two years ago as his biggest win.
“The horse was Little Rocket Man,” he said. “He’s a good horse and still races. He’s over in Indiana right now, but the guy who trains him told me the other night that he’ll be over here soon.”
And Smith can’t wait to sit behind him, “Because he’s a really nice animal, a really nice horse. I think he is closing in on $2 million in winnings right now.”
For Smith, it isn’t just get in it to win it. There is something special about flying down the backstretch in a sulky.
“Just the excitement, the thrill, the speed….I’m one of those guys who likes the speed,” he said.
And he likes winning.
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