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Neves Accepts His First Derby Mount MountRound Round Tables Rider Hears v 3000 Winner Mark in Very Colorful West Coast Career CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky May 3 After riding more than 23 years having more than 19000 mounts and win ¬ ning almost 3000 races Ralph Neves fyaally will make his first appearance in silks in a Kentucky Derby Saturday after ¬ noon Neves a 38yearold veteran of the saddle wars sic will pilot Kerr s ables Round Table in the classic classicKnownas Knownas the Portuguese Pepper Pot Neves probably has been in more racetrack spills suffered more injuries and has re ¬ ceived more suspensions than any other rider in history Nevertheless Neves is rated one of the finest jockeys currently active His runins with stewards and doc ¬ tors generally have been attributed to his daredevil style of riding the rail rather than intentional foughhouse or malicious ¬ ness nessThe The pepper pot days are for the most part behind Neves now He has matured considerably and has come to rely more on his judgment and skill than his daring in recent years As evidence he was voted the recipient of the beorge Woolf Memorial Awara in 1954 1954Recalling Recalling Fall Back in 1 936 Perhaps the most famous story concern ¬ ing Neves which some observers still maintain is apocryphal dates back io May 8 1936 when he was thrown heavily to the track in a bad spill at Bay Meadows According to the tale he was pronounced dead as he lay on the racing strip but when he was carried back to the jockeys room another doctor administered adren ¬ alin and he miraculously came back to life Supposedly the first words out of his mouth were Whens post time for the next race Whether the story is true or whether it is just another yarn that has been embel ¬ lished all out of proportion over the years is beside the point The fact remains that Neves did shake off the effects of the spill and came back to win four races the very next day His resiliency is amazing and is probably the main reason that he is riding today He has almost literally fractured just about every bone in his body in addi ¬ tion to suffering innumerable bruises Dur ¬ ing the war he was with the Army Re ¬ mount Service and broke his back when his horse shied at a hurdle and threw him Doctors told him he would never ride again and he was discharged from the service because of his injury But three jnonths later he was back in the saddle andshortly later was spilled again and suffered a broken hip Born in East EastNeves Neves an easterner by birth is now a Califorhian and does most of his riding on the coast with only occasional forays to the easts and midwest Although he has never led the national jockey standings he has consistently been right near the top through the years He hopes to win his 3000th race at Hollywood Park this sum ¬ mer thus joining Johnny Longden Eddie Arcaro Ted Atkinson and Johnny Adams as the only American jockeys ever to score that many victories He has ridden many of the top horses in the west during the past two decades and has won almost every major stake offered in California CaliforniaNeves Neves was born on Cape Cod Mass but butContinued Continued on Page 35 D Neves Accepts First Derby Mount Astride Round Table TableContinued Continued from Page 16 D Dwas was taken to California by his parents when he was sijc years old He grew up in South San Francisco and as a youth cad died at a golf course where many horsemen played Because of this association he soon gravitated to the track where he was first employed by Mrs C B Ma Irwin He won his first race at Longacres Wash In 1934 aboard Liolele He later was under contract to W E Boeing Louis B Mayer and Charles S Howard but he has free ¬ lanced for many years now nowNeves Neves his wife Midge to whom he has been married 14 years and their two chil ¬ dren live in Arcadia Calif near Santa Anita Park In addition to his riding he also operates a popular restaurant in Ar ¬ cadia but still finds time to play golf regu ¬ larly and go on an occasional hunting trip
