It was sometime during my teenage years at high school that I first met David Conolly-Smith. Far away from the race track in Riem, I entered his “kingdom”, the English Bookshop on Schellingstrasse, because I wanted to read novels in the original language to improve my English. Conolly-Smith was sitting in an armchair, reading himself, glanced briefly in my direction and told me that if I was looking for something, he would be happy to help. This was a very useful tip, because the English Bookshop was a collection of books of all genres, which formed an English book paradise for the people of Munich on shelves, stacks and towers, but one that you had to know your way around. I left the shop a good hour later with two novels by Dick Francis, who would be surprised, because of course the world of books and the world of racing were always very close together for David Conolly-Smith.
Later, during my time as press spokesman for the Munich Racing Club, I got to know David Conolly-Smith as a great racing expert who always used his relationships with the English racing press and the racing stables for German racing. We had quite a few starters from England and Ireland to thank for in local group races. He was able to report engagements by big jockeys like Frankie Dettori, Kieren Fallon and co. days in advance and of course Dave, as everyone affectionately called him, was on site at the German racing highlights and looked after the foreign guests who often contacted him before they came to the German tracks.
His contributions from Germany to the Racing Post were appreciated and when Dave found his way to the race track in Riem, which unfortunately was less and less the case in recent years, people enjoyed interesting conversations with the quiet observer who rarely missed any racing details.
Now David Conolly-Smith has died at the age of 83. Take care, Dave!
The obituary was written by Sascha Multerer – General Secretary of the Munich Racing Club eV
