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JOHN L McKNIGHt Ownertrainer of ofBolero Bolero U winner of the Youthful Stakes Stakesat at Jamaica OReilly on Racing Arcaro Answers Even Stupid Questions It Helps Sport SportBy By TOM OREILLY OREILLYJAMAICA JAMAICA L I N Y May 1 Politicians holding public office are accustomed to answering questions by the piess Theyd better be The press represents the public that nays their salaries But how about a private business man faced with the same routine Suppose you had to answer questions daily about every business deal in whiclvyou were involved Think you could handle it Take Eddie Arcaro for instance biggest money earner in the riding business Every day he contracts to ride horses for various people And when his work is finished the reporters pounce on him for some answers What does Eddie think of all these questions After all his deals take place right in front of everybody He would be perfectly within his rights in saying Well you saw the race why ask about it Being a champion of course Sir Edward is not that kind of guy He grins and says Its all part of the game In fact its an important part After all racing needs publicity just like any other business and we should be glad to help out the re ¬ porters in any way we can I think its good for them to ask ques ¬ tions That way you get the right answers Of course he continued with an even broader smile now that the Derby is coming up the silly season is really on I mean you get some of the silliest questions asked you at the Kentucky Derby that vou ever heard But you mustnt be a wise guy and look down your nose at these daffy questions because you should remember that the Derby was built on publicity There are hundreds of reporters who show up down there who have never seen more than a few small horse races in their lives Now they have made the Derby And they want to analyze the whole thing at once If you give it a little thought contin ¬ ued Arcaro who bows to ho man in the think department you must realize that even though they ask dopey questions these fellows must be pretty good reporters to get the Derby assignment So you pa ¬ tiently try to explain things as simply as you can You cant blame them for asking odd questions aboutxa sport that is com ¬ pletely new to them And by helping them out you help racing Daffiest Question of All Time TimeWhat What was the daffiest question he had ever been asked at a Kentucky Derby Eddie guffawed guffawedThe The alltime AllAmerican killer to me was asked by a poor little guy who obvi ¬ ously didnt know what it was all about the year I won on Whhiaway He asked me how much farther do you think you could have won by Ye gods I was in front by 10and still drivin and set the track rec ¬ ord two one an two twoActually Actually answering questions about a race youve just ridden isnt very hard but sometimes I wish theyd give you a chance to cool out he said seriously Here it 1 should be pointed out that these questions usually are thrown at the rider almost im ¬ mediately after he has dismounted If he lost a big race like the Derby through sheer hard luck or some mistake he made himself he is not likely to be in a very happy mood for interviewers interviewersSometimes Sometimes you get so mad at what hap ¬ pened to you that its hard to remember the reporter is just doing his job I got beat on Hill Prince one time when Im sure I should have won and when a report ¬ er asked me what happened I could have died I had only been caught in about 10 blind switches out there You know a rider has no time to contemplate his decisions He must make up his mind in a split sec ¬ ond because holes open and close awful fast You might be placed perfectly behind two horses and are prepared to pass them enter ¬ ing the stretch Then just as you draw abreast the outside horse bolts and youre dead deadOf Of course the experts always ask sen ¬ sible questions I dont know anybody who comes up with better questions than young Pat OBrien and Eddie Farrell who come down here to question the jockeys after a big race Those men know how to watch a race and if they see something odd at atContinued Continued on Page FortyTwo OReilly on Racing Continued from Page Three say the fiveeighths pole theyll ask about it Its a pleasure to try to give them the right answers answersYou You cant get annoyed at the fellows who ask silly questions at the Kentucky Derby though Theyve made it the most publicized racein the world After all they have to go home and write and most of them do a great job Theres one question that comes up all the time that throws me though Fellows mean well when they ask it and I try hard to answer but its just impossible They ask Whats the greatest thrill you ever had in horse racing Now Ive been ridin for 25 years and Ive had one thrill piled on top of another Its like asking a lover boy what was the greatest night he ever had in his life last night For me its the important one comin up thats the big thrill Right now Im looking forward to Saturday with Bold Ruler RulerThe The interviewer wished him luck with the Ruler and Eddie said Thanks Well need all we can carry carryEddie Eddie is president of The Jockeys Guild GuildThank Thank you Mr President
