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♦ X * I , 1 McCrearyAvowsEarnestDesire To Continue Fine Saddle Work ] | I , I J , J i * J . | n I . . v - J £ , * C t 1 Happy Over Public Acclaim ♦ In Derby Triumph; Will Not Be Just Another Little Man By EVAN SHIPMAN Staff Correspondent JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 11. — Conn met us in the coffee shoppe at the Whitman Hotel in Jamaica after Wednesdays races. There was no doubt about it, he was happy, and there was a twinkle in his blue, Scotch eyes as he waved a greeting to the crowd at the counter. Slumped over the marble-topped table with a coke in front of him, Conn McCreary, but recently back from Louisville and his big day aboard Count Turf, stretched out his arms and tried to relax, but he had had a couple of mounts that afternoon, and he said in reply to our invitation, "Oh, no. I wont think about eating for a couple of hours at least. I get all wound up, riding. Takes me a while to cool out, just like a horse." Jack Amiel, the day before, had told us all about the Derby, all about Conns faith in Amiels Count Turf, and all about the great ride that this veteran, who was staging a remarkable comeback from what, just a week ago, looked like obscurity, had given the Count Fleet colt. So in our talk at the Whitman, we just gave the Derby a quick "once over" and most of the conversation dealt with Conn, himself, and his sudden return to his old position as one of this countrys leading jockeys. Makes Quick Count at Break There are a couple of things people may not have noticed about Count Turfs Derby," [ I Conn said before the subject shifted to his gratifying return to public acclaim. "For one thing, I think he broke out of the starting gate about seventh, although the charts show him breaking farther back. You may not think we have time, at a start, to notice things like that, but we often do, and I threw a quick glance around me as we got away. And I counted the horses in front of me when we passed the finish line the first time, after we had run a quarter of a mile. I made it nine horses in front of me. I mention that about the start because one of the criticisms they made of me — and they were criticizing about everything I did a little while ago — was that I couldnt get a horse away from there winging, that Id always lose a step or two at the gate. "What they forgot," Conn said, "was that I used to ride speed horses like Lucky Draw, who was always flying out of that gate and on top in the early part of it. And usually on top at the finish, too. And they forgot that, back in 1942, I rode the winners of ALL the Saratoga two-year-old stakes with just one exception — the Special that Georgie Woolf took with Halberd. I won the Hopeful, Grand Union, United States Hotel and the Spinaway. Now youve got to get away to take those two-year-old dashes. Could Easily Have Been in Trouble "And another thing a lot of people didnt see last Saturday in the Derby," Conn went on. "We could easily have been in trouble on the first turn. I saw a hole between horses on the turn, and there was room and I made for it. But Willie Johnson on Fighting Back was outside of me, and his colt came over, and it looked as if Count Turf was going to be shut off. I yelled to Johnson, and he took Fighting Back out, and I , went through. If Johnson had shut me off, and had had to take up sharply, we could have been cooked right there. "Outside of that one incident," Conn concluded, "it was an easy race for us. On the backstretch, going to the far turn, three horses were in front of me — Phil D., Repe-toire and Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame was about done, and I didnt think Phil D., would go much farther. I set Count Turf in behind Repetoire, and I saw that Pete McLean still had a snug hold on his colt. ] At the three-eighths pole, he still had | Repetoire under wraps, I made a run at ] him, on the outside, and I saw Pete call on Repetoire, and he had nothing left. The ! run Pete had been saving just didnt exist. ] From there in, it was all over. Through the ] last sixteenth, I was looking around, so as to be sure nobody made a charge at me. J had plenty left if they had come on, but nobody came on." Cheered by Jamaica Crowd i "How did you feel when you got back to Jamaica on Monday and the crowd cheered i you when you came on the track?" we 1 asked. l "I was surprised when they started clap- ping. I felt good. You know, when youve * once been up there on top, you miss it l terribly when they forget who you are. £ Why, if Im not a rider, Im just another l little man, and believe me, there have been CONN McCREARY j. f £ t * T j f t j 2 j. j r j j [ I , ] | ] ! ] ] J i i 1 l * l £ l times this last year when Ive been awfully close to being another little man." "There are lots of things you could do if you didnt ride," we said. "You could train. You could act, remember what a hit you were in the jockeys show?" "Ive thought Id like to work on a breed- ing farm when I hang up my tack," Conn said. "But then, it gets to be pretty lonely on a farm, and you miss the races and all the excitement. It wont be the same thing, I guess like not being ready to eat now, Ill have to be cooled out pretty good be- fore Im ready for the farm." "And the crowds that clap you after you win the Derby and boo when you are in a losing streak, will you miss the crowds?" "There are times when all of us jocks think we wont miss them," Conn said, grinning. "Eddie Arcaro may say in print that he doesnt care what they call him when he comes in after a race. I think he does care. I know I care. And we get to know them. There is a man who stands right by where we weigh in, and when I pass him after losing one, he always says the same thing. Drunk again, McCreary! [ Now Im not a drinking man, so the first few times, I laughed. But this has been I going on for years, and always the same man, and always the same Drunk again. "Now you take this afternoon," Conn I went on. "I rode a couple who started fa- t vorite. Off their rare best races, they might j have won. But instead, they ran their usual bad races, and finished up the track. * So when I came in, that crowd that lines J the rail were all after me. How did a bum * " like you ever win the Derby, they said. Oh, yes, there are times I can do without r the crowd. " r Gets All Tense "There are times," he went on, "when z I try so hard to do things right, that I get * all tense. Im of two or three minds about £ every move before I make it. And then, A of course, everything goes wrong." P "How did the long slump start? And, c why?" b "Well, Ill tell you," McCreary said, a a "Weve all got our little faults, havent * we? Little traits that, mostly, go back to * our early days in the game. Somtimes, S they are not even faults. Just something funny that sticks with you. Now you take " k Arcaro. When Eddie broke in, the man he worked for was a nut on Eddie not spending his money, and Eddie always wanted , nice clothes. So now, if Eddie needs a necktie, why he buys a dozen, and Ill bet f at home his closets are full of suits and S1 things that he has only worn once or " twice. And some he never will wear. Its p a quirk. You see, he wanted those things ~ so bad when he was a kid. "So, you take me, Ive got a lazy streak. Always have had. When I first began to ride, I was with Steve Judge, trainer for the Wood vale Farm. He was a fine man to work for, but he was a four thirty trainer. You had to be up and around the barn every morning at four thirty, exercise and school horses, and then walk hots until about noon. Then, after all that, Continued on Page Forty-Four I . , . . i t [ i [ » i i . • I j I J | j i - i e 3 McCreary s Main Desire Is to Ride in Top Form Avows He Has No Intention of Being Just Another Little Man Continued from Page Three youd go to the jocks room and get ready to race horses. Id ride, usually, seven a i day. If it hadnt been that they had steeplechases at Pimlico, Belmont. Sara-. . toga and Laurel — where we raced — Id have ! ridden eight." Conn laughed. Now instead of breaking me to work. Judges schooling put one idea in my head [ — to take it easy, once I was in a position to do what I wanted to do. And I did not have too long to wait. Success came fast, when it came, and all the owners wanted I me to ride the good horses, and I was mak-. . ing a lot of money. As soon as I saw I ; was sitting pretty, I decided that now I would ride, when I felt like it. When I [ didnt feel like riding. Id cancel my r mounts. Why one year, I could have been , leading rider of the country, easy. I had [ a long lead. But I quit in November be-. . cause I was tired of riding. "That lazy streak of mine was at the , bottom of my long slump, and let me give [ you an example of what it means to keep plugging. You remember when Arcaro got t the years suspension and didnt ride Well, when Eddie was reinstated, he had a long r slump. Hed ride, say a couple of winners a week, but, just as with me recently, he ft could not seem to get going. It wasnt anything ■ that he did wrong, he simply did not t have winners. How can you tell what the J reason was? I wish I knew. "During that time when Eddie was away r off form, I was cock of the heap, and I [ was doing like I told you — riding when I [ felt in the mood, or staying home with the 8 wife and the kids, listening to a ball game, , or off hunting or fishing. Doing as I pleased, , in other words. ■ , "Well, one afternoon in Florida, my agent t had booked four mounts. That was a day f I didnt want to ride, and Nick Huff, who ft ■ t J r I [ I [ 8 , , t f was agent for Arcaro then, came to my agent and got those four horses for Eddie. All four horses won, and that afternoon was the end of Arcaro *s losing streak, and end of hi» slump. And maybe you can say that it was the beginning of mine. "In any case." McCreary said as we got up to leave, "you can know one thing for sure. What Steve Judge didnt teach me. Ive now learned the hard way, and Ill be out there riding anything with four legs as long as they want me to." You see. Conn McCreary does not intend to be "just another little man."
