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WILLIE SHOEMAKER ► : -i ■ : : Shoemaker on Swaps in Fourth Bid for Kentucky Derby Score ; ! , ] [ , [ Finished Third Two Years t Ago On Invigorator; Fifth In Both 52 and Last Year " By OSCAR OTIS CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 6. — Willie Shoemaker, rider -of Swaps in Saturdays "Run for the Roses," will be making his fourth Kentucky Derby try, and striving for his first win. Shoemaker has been sticking pretty close to western racing and his campaigns east of the Rockies are diminishing, but he remarks that the Kentucky Derby is the one big race that he would most like to win. Last year, Shoemaker piloted the favorite, the California-bred Correlation, and while he made a run with him from 16th to a momentary fifth in the stretch, Correlation lugged and hung, eventually wound up sixth to Determine. The year before, he rode a masterful _race on the 41-1 shot, Invigorator, and "was able to be third behind Dark Star and Native Dancer, finished in front of such good ones as Royal Bay Gem, Correspondent, Straight Face and Social Outcast. His maiden Derby effort was in 1952, when he was fifth with Count Flame to Hill Gail. In California, Shoemaker has become something of an institution. He has led most every meeting of major classification in the Golden State for the past few years, including last winter at Santa Anita, where some riding competition pours in from the East and it becomes somewhat tougher for any one rider to get top quality mounts every day. Tied With Culmone in 1950 Statistics can get boring, so we are not going to cite them at length, but the fact remains that Willie Shoemaker has been riding winners since his apprentice year at 20 per cent or better, an exceptionally high average to sustain over any extended period of time. He tied with Joe Culmone for American leadership in number of winners, 388, in 195and, but set an all time American record in 1953 with 485. That year he rode a winning percentage of 29, the highest in the leadership annals of the American Racing Manual, which lists such figures back to 1895. In his earlier years as a rider, Shoemaker became known as "Silent Shoe" and while the title has stuck, he will carry on a full conversation today although he is still sparing with a word. All kinds of compliments have been aimed his way by his fellow riders. He rides cleanly, and he has few suspensions to mar his riding record. Johnny Longden, when asked if he thought he could pass the 5,000 mark in his lifetime, replied that Shoe- maker had a far better chance because he rode so many more winners earlier in his career than did Longden. Eddie Arcaro has said Willie is one of the great stakes riders of modern times. A natural lightweight, Shoemaker can eat all he wants with no need to count calories, and if he has one flaw, it might be that he is too small to exert the great strength that can be exhibited by an Arcaro or a Westrope. * But Shoemaker has compensating factors. One is his sense of balance and touch. He can get the utmost run out of a vast majority of his horses, and while he can take a horse out on the pace, he prefers to allow a horse to race early within striking distance, and invariably he has something left for that vital last eighth, and especially that last sixteenth. Ability to Use Hands Well Observers from Europe who watched him ride last winter at Santa Anita said that as far as they were concerned, his outstanding good quality was his delicate : handling of a horse with his hands. Another reason for Shoemakers spectacular . percentage of winners as against ; mounts accepted is his coolness. Nobody has called him "iceman" yet, but he does ; not rattle easily, and nothing, absolutely nothing, can make him prematurely move , with a horse when ordered to begin a drive from a certain point. In fact, it was this trait which really got him started and overcame the disadvantage [ he was under as an apprentice ; and he was so non-talkative. Shoemaker would go to the paddock, listen to the instructions, and say nothing. The infuriated trainer would have no idea whether Shoemaker understood or not. But they were satisfied when Shoemaker followed those [ ! Continued on Page Eighteen ! Shoemaker Makes FourHv Bid for Score in Derby Brought Invigorator iruThird In 53; Fifth in Other Tries Continued from Page Eight instructions as close as was humanly possible, and thereafter didnt care whether he answered them or" not. In later years, Shoemaker explained this stone silence in the paddock, and around the barns as well, with "I wasnt sure of myself, so thought it better just to say nothing." Shoemakers success has received a great assist from,, his lifetime agent, Harry Sil-bert, who has guided him in most affairs. When Shoemaker had a mild slump on the coast a few months ago, Silbert quickly insisted, "its me thats in a slump, not Willie. I just havent been getting him the mounts that I should." A native of Fabens, Tex., Shoemaker grew up in California, started out as a farm hand at the .ranch of the late Tom Simmons. When he thought he had learned enough, he appeared at the race track and asked for a chance to ride. Trainer George Reeves gave him his first helping hand. A few months ago, the Shoemaker story was deemed so colorful, his winning ways so prolonged, that he rated a feature story in the Saturday Evening Post, co-authored by Henry McLeninore and Los Angeles turf writer Bqb Herbert. Shoemaker has saved his money, having been a ward of the Los Angeles courts until he was 21, a procedure necessary for an earning minor in California under its so called "Jackie Coogan" law. He has most of his money in government bonds and has one investment in his hometown of Arcadia, an apartment house. If Shoemaker can win the Derby with Swaps, he will make all California happy, for sure, and satisfy an ambition he has had ever since he knew for sure that he was a success in his saddle profession.
