John Tapp Racing

Great to catch up with an ever enthusiastic Todd Smart who’s based at Canberra’s Thoroughbred Park with his fifteen horse team. A welder by trade, Todd graduated from bull riding to thoroughbreds when he sustained a serious shoulder injury. He’s sure it was meant to happen. He talks of early mornings in the bleak Canberra winters. Todd says he began his training career at Wagga but was talked into a move to Canberra by a fellow trainer. He talks of his early life in Gundagai and early education on his favourite pony. Todd pays tribute to the local trainer who taught him the basics of horse management.  He remembers his reluctance to join the family butchering business, and the completion of his welding apprenticeship. Todd looks back on an unlikely connection with bull riding and his relocation to Canada in quest of big prize money. He doesn’t remember a lot about his major accident. The trainer talks of his return home for surgery, and a subsequent trip to London with a group of mates. This is where he deplo