Today Roger Smith and I visited Clayton Smith at his home on Sligo Road in Yarmouth, Maine. We had a wonderful visit. I spent my time listening to Roger and Clayton talk about Maine's harness racing history, their mutual friends, and even a bit of current business. Clayton purchased the property that once was the trotting park at Yarmouth. Clayton referred to it as the Royal River Speedway. In the late 1940's Clayton purchased the old trotting park property and with a neighbor cleared the track and established a training track for Yarmouth horsemen. Clayton hired Donnie Richards when Donnie was thirteen. One of the Clayton's best stories was trotting on the ice on the Royal River.
The pictures below show what was once part of the infield of the Yarmouth trotting park. The outer edge of the track was just the other side of the wire fence.
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