Robyn Smith

Robyn Smith (born August 14, 1944) is an American retired jockey. Active from 1969 to 1980, Smith accumulated 247 wins in California and New York race tracks, and became the first female jockey to win a stakes race in 1973. Early life Smith is largely evasive about the details of her early life. She told Sports Illustrated in her 1972 cover profile that she was born in San Francisco, California on August 14, 1944, but the journal could find no birth record of a Robyn Caroline Smith for several years around that time. Claims that she had attended Stanford University as an English major, and that she was under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were similarly debunked. In 1997, she told the Los Angeles Times that she was "sold" as an infant, and went through a series of foster homes. Jockey career In April 1969, Kjell Qvale agreed to let Smith ride one of his horses, and on April 3, Smith became the first female jockey in Northern California, finishing second at a race at Golden Gate Fields upon Swift Yorky. When Money Road finished last at the same track a week later, however, the decision to grant her an apprentice jockey license came into question. The decision of whether or not to award her the license was dependent upon Al Shelhamer, who had not seen Smith ride in person and would have to consult film of her first two Golden Gate races. Her license was granted, and in her first race as a licensed jockey, Smith and Swift Yorky finished in ninth place at Golden Gate Fields on April 16, 1969. The next year, Smith secured her first New York victory atop Hill Cloud at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.