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Mehrtens Piloted Asfsaultin1946 Asfsaultin1946Better Better Selfs Rider Also Was on King Ranch Star InJfis Triple Crown Races RacesPIMLICO PIMLICO Baltimore Md May 14 I guess he is as bad a rider as I am a trainer said Max Hirsch one of the great horsemen of all time during a discussion here this morning of Warren Mehrtens the Brooklyn jockey whowill be astride King Ranchs Better Self in tomorrows Freak ness Hirschs odd and of course untrue comment was the veteran turfmans jok ¬ ing explanation of why Warren is not more popular with horsemen horsemenBecoming Becoming serious Hirsch added Its just one of those things you cannot explain Warren has done some fine riding and he is far from through As a matter of fact he is right in his prime Why he does not get more work is nothing short of a mys ¬ tery teryIn In support pf Hirschs claims for the affable hardworking Mehrtens the rec ¬ ords reveal that he is one of only seven jockeys credited wifch a sweep of the three legs of the Triple Crown And last year his mounts accounted for 435857 in purse money Of the 386 horses he handled in 1947 he brought 53 home in front while 42 others finished second and 46 were third For the seasons work he turned in a rid ing percentage of 14 Only one other rider among 30 whose mounts accounted for more than 300000 in purse money had fewer mounts He was Roberto Don oso whose 55 winners 51 seconds and 45 thirds out of 345 mounts earned 510735 510735Outside Outside Mounts Elude Him HimGoing Going back to 1946 in which season Mehrtens scored a sweep of the Kentucky Derby Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes with King Ranchs Assault it was just as difficult for Warren to find work outside the Hirsch stable By that time however the Plucky New Yorker had by reason of previous experience grown ac ¬ customed to nothing more than occasional rides astride outside mounts such en ¬ gagements having consistently eluded him from the very beginning of his career back in 1939 But 1939But despite his seeming unpopularity of failure to catch the eye of other horsemen Mehrtens retains the zest and spirit of a aContinued Continued on Page Four Mehrtens One of Seven Riders With Triple Crown Successes SuccessesContinued Continued from Page Two Twobudding budding beginner No rider is Imbued with greater self confidence and hopeful of better fortune in the seasons ahead thev 27yearold saddle mite continues to strive for improvement My day is coming he says with a deep confidence and I will not be satisfied until I top the national list listMehrtens Mehrtens had his intrpduction to racing as a hot walker for the Jules Wessler stable This employment began at the Jamaica track near his Brooklyn home when Warren was 17 Leaving the Wess ¬ ler stable Mehrtens had hopes of joining forces with Roy Waldron but this fell through and it was some time before he went to work for Max Hirsch his second and only other employer employerHirsch Hirsch had Mehrtens ready for race riding in 1939 and he had his first mount on Kiosk at Saratoga in August of that year Sent to Florida with a small division of the King Ranch stable trained by Wil ¬ liam Crump Warren captured his first victory on that stables Pajas at Hialeah early in the 1940 meeting
