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OReilly on Racing JAMAICA L L N Y April 30 There is a latent perversity in all sports followers that often puzzles the unknowing Groups on the ground of one sports event are a cinch to spend considerable time talking about another Deep discussions on Ivy League football are heard at the club presenting the National Open Golf Cham ¬ pionship while an afternoon with the Yankees at the stadium is en ¬ livened by debates on prize fights This is a trait similar to that exhibited by people who when told to read a newspaper story believed to be of special interest to them will inevitably read some ¬ thing alongside it first Some years ago Mike Jacobs the late prize fight promoter whose knowledge of the art of selfdefense seldom got closer to the ring than the box office was horrified to find all the writers collected in his office debating a horse race and com ¬ plained Dont anybody ever mention the big fight around here And so it is in horse racing Visit the paddock at Jamaica between races and what is Walter Joseph Mara the veteran patrol judge discussing You wont believe it skiing skiingNow Now Mara whose trim athletic figure at 58 is topped by a fighting face of ruddy hue with a kindly eye and grey wavy hair has a racing background second to none He was born in Sheepshead Bay just a few blocks from the home of trainer Jim Fitzsimmons and still lives there as a bachelor His father the late Jimmy Mara was a well known steeplechase jock under contract to the J W Colt stable racing at Sheepshead Brighton Beach Gravesend and Belmont The elder Mara became a trainer in 1905 and within a few years young Walter was galloping horses for him himStudent Student of the Late Mars Cassidy CassidyAfter After graduating from Erasmus Hall high in Brook ¬ lyn Walter became an assistant starter under the late Mars Cassidy From 24 to 32 he did similar duty for Marshall Cassidy working in Canada Caliente Cleve ¬ land Columbus and points west He started races himself at Rose Tree and other hunt meetings and was starter at the first summer meeting at Charles Town in 1934 He became a New York patrol judge in 1935 and now also acts as a steward at Scarborough Downs in Portland Maine His brother Vincent Mara two years younger was 18 years yrith Jim Fitzsimmons and is now a paddock and patrol judge His son Vincent Jr serves in a similar capacity at Gulfstream and Wheeling Downs An elder brother William is a retired trainer trainerNow Now the curious thing about Mara is that at the age of 50 shortly after the doctor had ordered him to purchase spectacles and at a time when many men sense that the rocking chair and carpet slippers loom ahead he took up skiing This is a dangerous sport You will never encounter a devotee of the slippery bedslats who didnt admit that his gelundesprung and slalom training contained periods when part of his person required a plaster cast A young mans ski can be an old mans splint and the first thing erected beside any top flight schussing salon is an infirmary How come Mara took to the hills hillsAny Any man who can walk can ski smiled Mara I know people 70 years old who ski every year Winter sports simply fascinated me I read an advertisement about Winter Park Colorado 60 miles west of Denver on the Continental Divide I went out there and took instructions from George Engle Five years later I was made one of his assistant instructors Get hurt Oh yes twice I was in a plaster cast I fractured a bone in my foot going down hill and once while standing still I fractured a rib In the ski country there is a flat light on the snowy hills that often hides bumps I was standing on one of those bumps and didnt realize it I leaned backward turned over and cracked the rib ribToo Too Dangerous Even for Jockeys JockeysJockeys Jockeys Theyd make wonderful skiiers because of their magnificent balance But I wouldnt recommend it for them too dangerous dangerousIts Its just for suppleboned young fellows in their late fifties no decrepit kids eh ehPhysically Physically the jocks would be perfect for it said Mara but mentally they are fearless I know jockeys They would take chances on a mountainside that no sane skier would attempt Thats why I dont recom ¬ mend the sport to them Fearless skiers get into trouble troubleFor For three winters Mara skied abroad He has skee daddled around St Moritz Davos Zermatt Arosa Bad Gastiene sounds like a busted main what Kitzbuhl Zurs San Antoine Garmisch and on practically every Alp from Austrias Zugspitz to the one they built in Wanamakers toy department years ago This winter he plans to visit northern California around Squaw Valley and Lake Tahoes Sugar Bowl OReilly on Racing Continued rrom Page Seven Sevenwere were Pinky Grimes the old trainer for John Hertz who owns a ranch on Colo ¬ rados Troublesome river and Sir Gordon Jlichards who was viewing the horse races at St Moritz Those races by the way are over a six furlongs track laid out on packed snow over a frozen lake There is only one rail the inside one and the horses which inn the wrong way wear caulks Mara is also a tennis enthusiast and a pupil of Mike Etonian who was Bill Til dens favprite pro Walter took up golf last winter as a small concession to the advancing years Slide Kelly
