| BIOGRAPHY |
Violet Smith was born in Seatle, Washington so it was logical she start her riding career in the Northwest. She would make her first start at Portland Meadows in 1969, on April 19, becoming the first female to ride in Oregon. The next day she set a couple more firsts, becoming the first lady to ride and win a race in Washington State. She would score aboard Sandy Way at now defunct Playfair Race Course in Spokane. She would split time between the Northwest and Arizona, before a move east in 1972.
In 1972 Smith, became a regular at the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, till the early eighties she would split her time between New York and Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Arizona. At some point she shifted back out west replacing Finger Lakes with the California Fair Circuit. In 1987 she made a final move back east to ride the meet at Erie Downs, in Erie Pennsylvania. While at Erie she made a start at Belmont Park, her only mount at a major track. In 1988, she returned to Turf Paradise and ended her career on November 20 riding Polar Trip in her last race. That would end a career that would give her another superlative.
She has got to have the record for having ridden at the most tracks, in a lifetime. I have documented her as riding at thirty different tracks throughout the country, ten of which do not exist today. I can't totally verify this but there's a good chance she was the first female to ride in Nebraska. I also cannot verify that she ever rode in New England.
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| Arizona Downs November 30, 1980 |