Maine’s harness racing community has lost a near-institution with the recent death of longtime state steward and Corinna native Robert Smith Sr.

Smith, who died at the age of 94 on March 22 at his home in Brewer, was appointed state steward in 1972 and held that position until retiring in 2005.

Longtime Maine State Harness Racing Commission executive director Henry Jackson first started working with Smith in 1989 and said Smith was invaluable to him when he served as acting executive director from late 1989 through August 1990.

“It was godsend he was there. He was a wealth of knowledge and extremely helpful to me when I took over for Tom Webster,” Jackson said. “And he continued to be helpftul even afterward when I went back to overseeing the sire stakes and agricultural fair programs.

“He was a real stickler for adhering to the rules, and he most certainly made my job a lot easier because of that. There wasn’t much gray area with him.”

Smith first became involved with harness racing after starting up Rockwood Farm Stable in the late 1940s. He owned, trained or raced many successful horses such as Trotting Champion, Eric’s Joy, Invitational Pacing Mare and Thunderation.

The longtime Boston Red Sox fan partnered with Alan Mollison to operate the Bangor State Fair from 1961 through 1972 before he was appointed state steward.

“He was the GM of the Bangor State Fair when I first met him,” said current MSHRC chairman George Hale, who knew Smith for about 35 years. “He hired me to do the announcing at the racetrack even though I had no prior experience. I was a thoroughbred racing fan.”

Smith told Hale to go to some local tracks to listen to some track public address announcers, so he went to Lewiston and listened to Dick Michaelson.

“I basically got a crash course in it and that was what started all of this,” Hale explained. “Before that, the most experience I had was going to one or two races.”

Like Jackson, Hale remembers Smith most as a man who paid attention to detail.

“Oh, absolutely. He knew things inside and out,” Hale said. “I learned about how harness racing operates from the track and operators’ side of it in terms of what the issues and rules were and all the people responsible for running races. He was a great source of information.

“He was always very friendly and cooperative. In all my dealings with him, he was very straightforward and a good guy. He obviously knew his business and was very well respected.”

Smith is survived by his wife of 28 years Irma (Gould) Smith; 12 children, daughters-in-law and sons-in-law; and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Bangor at starting gate

Scarborough Downs already has hosted eight racing dates but will open up the season in earnest along with Bangor Raceway next Friday.

The first of Bangor’s 54 race dates gets under way Friday at 7 p.m. Scarborough resumes after a two-month break with the rest of its 129-day racing schedule with 4:15 post times on Fridays and Saturdays and 1:30 posts on Sundays (barring 2 p.m. triple crown days May 3 and 17 and June 7) through September. Post times shift to 12:30 p.m. in October, November and December.

Bangor will primarily utilize a Friday and Sunday race day schedule through April with Sunday’s post times being 1:30 p.m. Wednesday night racing will begin April 30 (7 p.m. post) and continue through July 16.

The other track schedules are as follows:

. Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle (16 days) – Thursdays May 22-July 17 and July 31; Saturday, July 19 and 26; Friday, July 25 and Aug. 1; Monday, July 28, and Wednesday, July 30.

. Topsham Fair (six) – Aug. 3-9.

. Skowhegan State Fair (seven) – Aug. 10-16.

. Union Fair (seven) – Aug. 17-23.

. Windsor Fair (nine) – Aug. 24-31 and Sept. 1.

. Oxford County Fair (five) – Sept. 7 and 10-13.

. Cumberland Fair (eight) – Sept. 14-20.

. Farmington Fair (seven) – Sept. 21-28.

. Fryeburg Fair (six) – Sept. 30 and Oct. 1-5.

aneff@bangordailynews.net

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