Tjitse Smeding

06-12-1954

02-04-2010 

                Derby 1999. Tjitse Smeding op de sulky van Nigel Stardust

Genieten ging Tjitse, kampioen drafsport en workaholic, steeds beter af. Op 9 maart 2010 zei hij ontspannen te willen leven. Een maand later was hij dood. De liefde van zijn leven publiceerde de biografie.

Artikel over Tjitse Smeding, 2007.

Tjitse Smeding. Hunger for succes and perfection...   

Multiplefold driver-,training and breedingchampion of standardbreds. 

How he started

After HBS-B he went to university, but after four months he got sick and lost this year, so he started out helping with the horses at home for several months but he had such succes that he continued. All of his skills are self-made. Everything he learned, he learned by reading and listening to the great people in the sport. Tjitse Smeding travelled all over the world –Europe, New-Zealand, Australie, Canada ,USA- in an effort to improve. Through the years he has had very good contacts with not only toptrainers from horses but also with those who go for the best in atlethics and speed skating. For many years Tjitse worked closely together with the Dutch Research Institute for animals and training. He visits regularily congresses about any subject that could be interesting for his own job and he also spoke on congresses. Tjitse Smeding is an allround horseman,with licenses to train standardbreds and thoroughbreds, specialised in everything concerning horses and therefor a specialist in winning. 

You Tube: Tina Turner/ Simply the Best

His Carreer 

Tjitse Smeding started his carreer in 1975 as an apprentis-driver. He won 67 races untill he got his trainer-license in 1978. When he started his carreer he started fixing up (old) horses nobody could win with. Tjitse Smeding was able to win with broken down race-horses and he learned to be inventif.

In his first year of trainership he finished fourth in de driver rankings with 73 wins as a driver and 91 as a trainer. The next year, in 1979, he was second in both driver and trainingrankings. In 1980 he became champion and was the youngest trainer ever who achieved something like that. His motto became 'you can never beat a winning team' and Tjitse Smeding and his horses kept their word, because he stayed champion until 1990, when a tragic race-accident stopped the driving carreer of the leading champion, who had won in this short periode of his carreer 2120 races.

During this period, untill 1990, he broke three times the driving win record. Nowadays his records from 255 wins in one year –by a margin of 53- still stands. He broke the trainer money record four times, still standing at 304 by a margin of 85.

It took untill 1995 for the champion, who almost lost his leg, to recover -more or less- from physical problems. In 1995 Tjitse Smeding and his wife Tamara continued together in their quest for gold. This cooperation led to more than 4300 victories for racing-stable Smeding, which is also an all-time Dutch record. After the accident they changed gradually to only two- and three year old horses which they prepared for the important, classic stakes. Since 1996 Tjitse Smeding won about 60 % of the races for two year olds.

In 1998 Tjitse Smeding started with 24 yearlings and qualified 22 of them. He won 70 % of the money with them (1000 born) and won all the classic stakes for the two year olds and in the final of these stakes (after elimination), he also won that race and had 9 out of 11 horses from his stable in that race,which was again a Dutch record. In the same year he also had six German two-year-olds (3000 born), qualified all of them and won three of the most important stakes (there are six) in Germany. The three year olds did also very well because they won all the important races and they won also the biggest race from the year, the Derby (Dutch Hambletonian) and managed to bring 5 contenders to this important race.

The winning strike goes on, because in 1999 Out of the Blue, bred and trained by Tjitse Smeding became European recordholder for the three-year-olds and in 2000 Tjitse Smeding an his wife managed to win more than a million gildens with their horses.

More about Tjitse Smeding

But enough about records. We know by now that Tjitse Smeding qualifies between 85-95 % of his horses, including the two year olds, which is unique. We also know that on the list of all time fastest two year olds are 40-60 % of the horses trained by Tjitse Smeding.

But he didn' t only train standardbreds, he also trained thoroughbreds and with only a few horses he won a couple of stakes.

Tjitse Smeding became Horseman of the Year, which normally never happens with harness people and he became Sportsman of the year, the first horseman ever.

Breeding

Through the years Tjitse Smeding bred horses and with only 5 breedingmares against big farms he became Breeding Champion and one of his mares got an unique titel for her production. Concerning breeding activities Tjitse and Tamara Smeding go for the best. By selecting mares with good pedigrees, life-time results, good mentalitity and hardness in combination with the best stallions they trie to improve the qualitity of the race-horses and they seem to succeed because all the horses bred by them turn out to be classic winners and Out of the Blue, stallion at the age of 4, raced 1.11 as a three year old and became European record holder.

Future and expectations

After winning everything a man can win, Tjitse and his wife wanted to spend more time in selecting and preparing young standardbreds and thoroughbreds. Their filosophy was en is that, besides good nutrition, the best way for a horse to grow up, is to roam around all day. By nature a horse is used to exercise with other horses all day long. Caused by the filosophy Tjitse and Tamara strive for, they have bought in the year 2000 a farm in France where they can meet that requirements better. Their farm with more than 90 acres is situated in the South of France where the hills will make the horses stronger and the beautiful weather –all year around- can give the horses two summers and a good health. Growing up in that environment and with the eyes of champions watching over them, the grown up horses will make dreams come through for owners and breeders.

After a nightdream another dream 

The plans for their ‘’horse-dream’’ in France was nastly interrupted by a dramatic prognostic from a doctor who found out that Tjitse Smeding was suffering from a bad form of cancer and had only three months to live. But also this race, the champion won after surgery and alternative recovering methods he found at the internet (and with this knowledge he’s still helping a lot of patients).

Although his condition was bad, he trained his horses from his hospital bed and shattered the racing world by winning a won money record in Holland in 2000 and presented his first French horse-bought as a yearling- at Vincennes where the young horse raced in his first race 1.14.

In octobre 2001 bad luck met him again when a drunken car-driver caused a dramatic accident. Tjitse Smeding broke his back and after living six months on his back in bed with the fear he could never walk again, he recovered again.

These dramatic life accidents show also that Tjitse Smeding is a winner that won’t give up. But it also gave him the knowledge that life’ s too short to stand still. He wants to move on. Although he loves Holland and the south of France and racing, he wants to see more from the world and do something else. Now that he won everything, he’s looking for a new challenge....                                           

              Foto: Dagmar Smeding met het paard Quicequi Thieben,

              Tjitse Smeding met het paard Pouf de la Chaule.

Tjitse Smeding

Born, 06-12-1954 / Harlingen (Holland)

Nationality :

Dutch

Laguages :

English, Dutch, German and French.

Diploma’s :

HBS-B (Preparation for every type of university)

(‘’B’’ stands for mathematic side, as opposed of the language site.)

University :

Four months of university, got sick and lost this year, so het started out helping with the standardbreds at home, had succes and never stopped. 

Further education :

·         All of the skills are self-made. Learned a lot by reading and listening to the great people in the sport, and have been travelling all over the world in an effort to improve. (All over Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, USA etc.)

·         Very good contacts with toptrainers in athlethics and speed-skating (Kraayenhof,Gemser,Krook etc.).

 ·         Worked close together with the Dutch Research Institute ; giving and taking idea’s.

·         Regularily visiting congresses (not only for horses) to stay up-to-date. He also spoke on congresses.

·         Most of the veterinary work he does himself ; specialised in lameness (joint injections etc.).

·         Did all of the shoeing himself.

·         Speaks and writes Dutch, English, German and French.

 Carreer in harness racing :

·         Started in 1975 as aprentis-driver.

·         Won 67 races untill he got his trainer license in 1978,when he finished 4th in driving rankings with 73 wins and 91 as a trainer.

·         The next year,in 1979,he was second in both driving and training rankings.

·         In 1980 he became the youngest trainer ever in Holland to become champion.

·         He stayed championtrainer and championdriver until 1989 in which year his horses were whiped out for half a year due tosickness and ended up third.

·         The next year he had a very bad racing incident,leading again,which stopped his driving carreer and it took untill 1995 to fully recover from physical problems.

·         In this short time he had 2120 wins.(Only 2 people before him reached this ammount of ---with finished careers- in Holland.

·         Three times he broke the driving win record : 255 which stood by a margin of 53.

·         The trainer money won record he broke 4 times.later beaten once.The averige money record won was never beaten.

·         Wins as a trainer by now over 4200,also an all-time Dutch record.

·         He started fixing up old horses nobody could win with.After his accident in 1990 he changed gradually to only 2- and 3-years old.

·         In 1998 he won the trainer championship again.

·         For instance,in the Derby (Dutch Hambletonian) and may other Stakes he often had a record ammount contenders.

·         Many years he won 60% of all races with his two-year-olds.

·         Another example : he races with 9 horses out of his stable in an 11 horses final one (after elimination) which was also again a Dutch record.

·         In 1998 he started with 24 yearlings,qualified 22,and won 70 % of the total money for the two-years-old (1000 born).

·         With a few German horses ; 6 –3000 born- and all of them qualified,he won in one year three of the six most important German Stakes.

·         For the last fourteen years he qualifies between 85 and 90 % of all horses brought to him (He qualifies also 85/90% of the two-year-olds !)

·         1998 he had the Europeen Record Holder.

·         The list of all time fastest two- and three-year-olds consist of 40-60 % of his horses.

·         He also got his thoroughbred license and with only a few horses,he won a couple of Stakes.

·         He has been ‘’Horseman of the Year’’ (which never happens with harness people).

·         He has been ‘’Sportsman of the Year’’ (for the first time a horse-man).

·         He has been ‘’Breeding Champion’’ (with only 5 mares against big farms).

                                               ************

Het was niet al goud wat er blonk. Achter de successen ging veel fysieke ellende schuil. Van het ongeval in 1990 moest Tjitse jaren revalideren. Hij heeft nooit meer in de races kunnen rijden. Tjitse kon niet accepteren dat hij zijn werk niet meer kon uitvoeren zoals hij wilde. Ondanks hevige pijnen, zette hij zijn bedrijf voort. Na een aantal slechte jaren, bloeide het entrainement, mede dankzij Tamara Smeding, op tot ouderwetse hoogte.

Begin 1999 werd er een ernstige vorm van kanker geconstateerd. Prognose: drie maanden te leven... Operaties, chemotherapie en alternatieve behandelingswijzen redden hem uiteindelijk van de dood.

Eind 2001 kreeg Smeding een andere bittere pil te verduren. Een dronken automobilist reed hem en zijn vriend van de snelweg. Toen de auto van een hoog talud af reed en meer dan 10 omwentelingen maakte, brak Smeding zijn rug. In afwachting of hij weer zou kunnen lopen, lag hij zes maanden in een gipscorset in bed. Revalidatie bleek gelukkig mogelijk. Maar ook dit was een lange weg. Tjitse zijn beperkingen waren groot en hij had altijd pijn.

Gefrustreerd en vanaf de zijlijn leidde Tjitse zijn entrainement. 1999, 2000 en 2001 waren succesvolle jaren.

Vervolgens recidiveerde de kanker maar weer herstelde Tjitse, al duurde het tot 2007 tot de rust terugkeerde in zijn blaas.

Nu Tjitse de dood een aantal malen in de ogen had gezien, gooide hij het roer om. Hij was in staat afstand van zijn werk te nemen. Te genieten van zijn gezin en hij ging reizen, iets waar hij altijd van had gedroomd.

Hij werd een ander mens. Of eigenlijk zichzelf...Zelfs zijn passie voor de paarden vlamde weer op omdat zijn dochter Dagmar die passie deelde. Tjitse trainde de paarden en Dagmar reed ze in de koersen. Met veel succes want net als Tjitse bleek ze in staat 1 op de 3 koersen te winnen.

Het leven was prachtig. Genieten ging Tjitse steeds beter af. Op 9 maart 2010 vroeg Tjitse mij of hem nog iets zou kunnen overkomen. Ik zei van niet. De volgende dag bleek het tegendeel...Een maand later hielden we een herdenkingsdienst voor 'the love of our lives'...

Meer informatie, recensies of bestellen? Ook op boek.net:

http://www.boek.net/nederlandse-boeken/literatuur/waargebeurde-verhalen/niemand-weet-hoe-laat-het-is/9789089542908/index.html