June, 2018 - Robyn Smith - The Belmont Jewel

Robyn Smith was born Melody Dawn Miller. Her biological father deserted her and her 17 year old mother at her birth. Melody's mother was declared mentally unstable and Melody was placed in a foster home. She was adopted and renamed Caroline Smith. Later, after a grueling court battle, she was returned to her birth mother. When her mother's mental illness reappeared, she was placed back in the care of her adoptive family. She became a jockey in 1969, winning the Paumonok Handicap at Aqueduct in 1973 riding North Sea. She became the first woman to win a major race in the USA. Despite the difficulty she had getting respect, an agent and mounts, by '72 she was the top American-born jockey--of either gender—at Aqueduct Racetrack, where her winning percentage that year was second only to Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero's. On Jan. 1, 1973, at Santa Anita, Smith was preparing for her first mount of the year when a friend introduced her to Fred Astaire, 46 years her senior. Astaire asked whether he should put money on her horse, Exciting Devorcee, and Smith assured him it was a bad idea. He paid no heed, and when the horse beat Willie Shoemaker's mount by a nose, Smith had won her first race at Santa Anita, Astaire had won his wager on a long shot, and the seeds of a great romance had been planted. "I used to kid him and say, 'Oh, you fell in love with me when I won that race,'" says Robyn. In '80 she became Robyn Smith Astaire, and within four months she had left the horse racing circuit to spend more time with her new husband and because Fred was concerned for her safety. She remained married to Astaire until his death in 1987. Although she has tenaciously, and at times controversially, tried to control the use of her husband's image--her efforts helped lead to the passage of a California law limiting the use of deceased celebrities' likenesses--she still needed to satisfy her own competitive urges. "I didn't know what I was going to do with the rest of my life because I'd always been active," says Robyn. "I'm not one to sit home and eat potato chips and watch soap operas." After getting career counseling, she decided to become a helicopter pilot, and flying became her new passion. She started in choppers, worked her way up to jets and now works as a corporate pilot. 

The Drink

The Belmont Jewel - official cocktail of the Belmont Stakes since 2011
1.5 oz bourbon
2 oz lemonade
1 oz pomegranate juice

Drinkability: 5
Drunkability: 2
Accessbility: 4
Taxic Diversity: 2
Priority for Conservation: 4

Comments: We understand why they changed it. This is much easier to batch for a large crowd. The crowds at Belmont are supposed to be terrible.

From "Women Jockeys" hosted by Fluffy Ruffle