view raw text
SUNNY JIM FITZSIMMONS and his two sons James left and John FITZSIMMONS and his mosf famous of all charges Nashira worlds leading leadingmoney money winner GALLANT FOX Fitzsimmons first Triple Crown winner He won the three big threeyearold classics in 1930 Mr fitz Saddling 11th Derby Horse Bold Ruler Hope For Fourth Score ScoreHad Had Gallant Fox Omaha and Johnstown Return Victorious Distraction His First Starter StarterBy By TOM OREILLY OREILLYThere There was a twinkle and an occasional expression of awe and wonder in the clear baby blue eyes of jJames Mr Fitz Fitz simmons as American thoroughbred rac ¬ ings 82yearold training patriarch leaned his bent figure across a flattopped desk in his stable office and spoke of former Kentucky invasions seeking victory in the Derby On the Louisville grounds with his big Wheatley Stable horse Bold Ruler you may be sure that Mr Fitz knows his yay around Churchill Downs Bold Ruler is the llth horse Mr Fitz has shepherded into this equine cockpit for what is known as the peepuls race and if past experience means anything Oscar Wilde called ex ¬ perience a word we use for mistakes nothing new possible can happen to him himAll All Three From Belair BelairMr Mr Fitz has trained three Derby winners all from the famed Belair Stud of the Jate William Woodward Sr First there was Gallant Fox ridden in 1930 by Earle Sande to inspired Damon Runyon to declaim declaimGimme Gimme a handy i Guy like Sande SandeBootin Bootin them winners home homeFive Five years later when Sande had hung up his tack and was temporarily singing Wagon Wheels among other Hollywood cowboy songs in Manhattans famed head ¬ ache incubator called the Stork Club Omaha a son of Gallant Fox ridden by Smokey Saunders brought Mr Fitz his second Derby His last victory was scored With Johnstown in 1939 with Jimmy Stout now a New Jersey racing official in the irons This was far from his last Louisville appearance however for who can forget 1955 when Nashua was Belairs big horse That was the year Eddie Arcaro was quoted as saying We were doing all right until Swoosh went Swaps and the Californian took it all allMrFitz MrFitz first crack at the Derby came exactly 29 years ago when he arrived at Churchill Downs with Distraction the the Wheatley Stables Wood Memorial win ¬ ner Wood Always Good Yardstick YardstickThe The Wood has always been a good yard ¬ stick for me said Mr Fitz in a high pitched voice that made you wonder if he had been an Irish tenor in his youth Son George says No He couldnt carry a tune in a basket If a horse did well in the Wood I shipped him Of course whether he did well or not if the boss wanted him to go he went Well Distraction was a real nice horse but he had bad racing luck I remember it was raining like helL and this didnt make me feel too badly because Dis ¬ traction loved the mud But he got left at the post postWell Well he really wasnt left It was just that he got tangled up in the webbing of that starters barrier Danny McAuliffe who was riding him got him away real last Too fast in fact because the rain had made that webbing stick and the horse hit it itLooking Looking at todays field it is hard to be ¬ lieve that fully 22 horses started in that 1928 Derby with four late scratches due to the rain Reigh Count a solid favorite who later became the proud daddy of Count Fleet won it all for Mrs John D Hertz Distraction finished 13th in the big field which wasnt exactly a disgrace when you realize that he was less than a length off the llth horse a fair country money win ¬ ner named Sun Beau owned by Willis Sharpe Kilmer KilmerTwo Two years later Fitz won his f irst Derby with Gallant Fox FoxI I stood In the centerfield for that one he recalls and to tell you the truth I didnt see a darned thing When it was all over and I tried to get to the winners cir ¬ cle it was just impossible They had police ¬ men on horseback in the infield in those days and they wouldnt let the crowd out on the track I didnt get to the horse until he was an eighth of a mile down the track from the circle on his way home Still that didnt take any of the thrill away I think thats what makes the Derby the festivity and excitement smiled Mr Fitz as he scraped his chin reflectively People who love it go anyhow whether they get to see it or not In the old days we used to go down on a special train and live on the train after we got there It was great I remember a little guy talking to my boy John in the club car shortly after we pulled out of Penh Station that year He was telling John how he though the Derby was the greatest event in the world He said he had worked and saved all his life for that trip and he was Agoing to enjoy it Then on the day of the race John told me he saw the little guy sound asleep in the res ¬ taurant with his head among the julep glasses And on the way home he still in ¬ sisted it was the greatest event of them all allGallant Gallant Fox His Best Sophomore SophomoreGetting Getting back to the race Mr Fitz said I guess Gallant Fox was the best three yearold I ever trained Nashua was supreme at two And nobody could beat Diavolo at four He could run and win races Gallant Fox was a hard horse to train He wouldnt do anything by himself Needed a lead and competition all the time I worked three horses in relays against him I didnt want him to ruin one horse so Id only send one along with him for a short distance and then let another one relieve him Aga Khan was a hard horse to train too He was just too damned smart If you worked him from the three quarter pole today you had to start him frqm the fiveeighths pole tomorrow He wouldnt starj at the same place every day Had a mind of his own ownMr Mr Fitz says he had a good view of Omahas Derby because he was taken up to Matt Winns private box That was live years later when Gallant Fox son beat 17 others including the filly favorite Nellie Flag There was some sore of jamup and he couldnt get from the box to the win ¬ ners circle I didnt get to the horse til he was half cooled out he recalled recalledOmahas Omahas Derby was followed by three years of unusually bad luck Teufel and Granville ran onetwo in the 1936 Wood Teufel was the Wheatley Stable horse rid ¬ den by Eddie Litzenberger Belair Studs Granville had Jimmy Stout in the saddle Entered with Belairs Merry Pete oridden by Malley they seemed to give Fitz a strong hand in the big race Teufel fin ¬ ished eighth Merry Pete wound up 10th and Stout was bumped off Granville at the start Bold Venture the 20tol shot beat Brevity by a head for top honors honorsFitz Fitz got closer in 1937 with Wheatleys Melodist whom Johnny Longden rode to fourth place behind War Admiral A year later Stout was sixth with Fighting Fox a brother to Gallant Fox in Lawrins big race It was at this time that George Ryall was beginning to wonder if Wood ¬ ward owner of Gallant Fox Fighting Fox etc didnt want to name one ofhis horses I J Fox after the furrier Then in 1939 came Stouts revenge when he made every Derby post a winning one with Johnstown JohnstownTom Tom Young took care of me that day recalls Fitz fondly He got me a seat in the first box on the track near where Matt Winn stood Everybody stood on chairs of course and I saw the horse at the six ¬ teenth pole around the turn and at the finish That was the only Derby at which I had my picture taken with Mr Wood ¬ ward receiving the Cup CupTwo Two years ago you recall Swaps beat Nashua in the Derby but was beaten in turn in the famous Chicago match race raceIts Its a funny thing about my memory says Mr Fitz it plays tricks on me With ¬ out a record book Im likely to get confused about these races Now strangely enough I can remember things that happened when I was five years old just as clear as if they occurred yesterday I remember when they were breaking ground for the Sheepshead Bay race track and stabled the work horses in my fathers Darn The drivers used to put me on the work horses I can remem ¬ ber that Hanover was by Hindoo out of Bourbon Belle and Kingston was by Spen ¬ cer out of Tangier but things that hap ¬ pened only a few years ago get me all confused confusedI I remember that when Stout got knocked off Granville I was in the infield and a colored fella was standing on a box yelling Fitzs on top Fitzs on top all the way He was following Brevity who finished sec ¬ ond to Granville and made a mistake That accident Was too bad because Jimmy Stout was the best boy I ever had He was with me 13 years and was thoroughly reliable reliableYears Years ago there was a famous actor named Denniman Thompson who played the title role in David Harum on Broad ¬ way It is always said by old timers that Thompson was a dead ringer for Mr Fitz Well Mr Fitz will do until a better David Harum comes along And today well see what he can do with Bold Ruler RulerLay Lay off the pace son then go get em at the stretch turn
