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• Maryland By Charles Hatton—. Gonzalez. Has Interesting Background Pimlicans Greet Derby Hero Needles Count Chic Owned by Italian Restaurateur PIMLICO, Baltimore, Md., May 10. — The youngster from Cuba is afraid of no man;s horse. We refer to the - derring-do of Carlos Gonzalez, who is riding for Jimmy Hechter. Gonzalez, who is 22, relates in his fractured English that he came to ride for Hechter quite by happenstance last spring. "Charlie McKee," he observes, "was supposed to ride Elberwhhi, but he no show up. The clerk of scales say to me Hey, Gonzalez, I got a mount open if you want him. Sure I ride him, I say, then all the other jocks, they tell me what kind of horse this Elberwhirl is. Hes bad. He will kill you, they say. But I look at the records and I see other boys ride and he roo kill anybody. You crazy, I tell them. So I ride him." Now this Elberwhirl is a notorious rogue, so recalcitrant he must be taken to the gate in advance of the rest of the field. When he throws a wing ding he scatters everything and everybody. Gonzalez, who won his first race in Canada four years ago, showed no trace of fear of the son of Whirl-away. He did not win with him first time out, but at Pimlico just a week later he did. Also with Hechter s Sea Admiral and Flotilla, rounding out a triple. Gonzalez parents had envisioned abaseball career for him, and when he wanted to go to the tracks at the age of 14 they positively forbade it. But Gonzalez, while he fears nobodys quadruped, is terrified of . thrown baseballs. As he recalls it now he says "one day I am working in the market, -and this old race track friend say to me; you small, why you no working to be a jockey? I tell him I want to be a jockey but my mother say no. So this friend, who knows my mother and my father real good, talks to them. The next day, I quit the market and went tb the race track." Within a few years Gonzalez developed into the ablest rider in Cuba. In Ohio two years ago it appeared his career had come to an untimely end, when he fell and was badly injured,*kicked twice in the lower half of the left leg. Two bones were absolutely crushed. This puthim in bed for a year, but Gonzalez was not to be trapped into going home without first reaching an agreement with his mother. "I write her a letter from the hospital," he remembers, "and I tell her I am having trouble, but I no come unless she promise that I can go back to * race track." She writes me OK, so I go and stay in the bed for a year. When I am well, she lets me leave, but it makes her very sad." Carlos has two brothers and three sisters, none of them interested in horses or the thoroughbred sport. "JMy mother," he says, "never sees a horse race. It scares her so much." Needles Gets a Champions Welcome One of the pleasures of coming to Pimlico following the Kentucky Derby is the welcoming of the contenders - from Derby ville for the Preakness. Amid popping camera bulbs and TV cameras, Needles arrived at nearby Mt. Washington yesterday. He did not appear to be the least worn from his long junket from the Downs for his date with the 00,000 added classic May 19. He seemed to appreciate the sunlight and the fresh ah as he walked down the ramp to a waiting van, which con- . veyed him to his Pimlico barn. Joe Rutter, who is his groom, commenting on the trip said, "you can say that Needles shipped much better than we did," indicating that it was a tiring experience. Greeting Needles on his arrival were trainer Hugh Fontaine and his wife Lynn. Jovial and obliging, the Fontaines posed willingly Tor cameramen as quite a production was made of the arrival for the stretch runner who seeks to become the ninth Triple Crown winner. Adding to the festive atmosphere at the unloading were a large group of youngsters from the Mt. Washington area, who cheered the cblt as he stepped from the car. Also noted among the spectators were two Catholic nuns, from the nearby Sisters of Mercy Provincial House, who had heard that an important horse was due in Maryland, to be unloaded at this station. One rather elderly individual said that he had watched Man o War get off a train at the same platform before he won the Preakness, but he pointed out that Man o War had no van to carry him to the Hilltop course and was walked over the hills to the race course. Three Others Arrive Without Fanfare Emphasizing the difference between win and place was heralded by the arrival of Calumets Fabius; the colt who made such a contest of the Derby until Needles passed him. The son of Citation reached Pimlico earlier than expected, just before nightfall last night, shipping by rail. Two other more or less sure starters checked into the course during the busy mornings vanning wheh Count Chic arid No Regrets pulled into the grounds about 10 p.m. Count Chic, who is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Dino Lozzi, operators of an Italian restaurant near Seattle, and W. E. Britts No Regrets arrived in fine fettle after a 26 hours trip from Derby-ville. Count Chic finished fourth in the "Rose Run" and No Regrets was seventh to cross the finish line. Turfana: There is much interest here in the auction of the A. G. Vanderbilt horses at Belmont Park on Monday morning May 21. . . . Lou Pondfield was a press box visitor. . . . Bryan Field is readying Delaware Park, for the "Distaff Big Three." . . . The Stanton track is among the few having a playground especially for the children.
