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, _ — t Don Fair, Chart Caller, Catches Shoemakers Error Immediately Daily Racing Form Trackman* Shows Split-Second Thinking In Detecting Riders Mistake NEW YORK. N. Y., May. 6.— Don Fair, who called" the Kentucky Derby chart for Daily Racing Form, demonstrated in the midst of Saturdays dramatic stretch run that it takes split-second thinking to detect a split -second error. Its a safe assumption that the vast majority of those who witnessed the running of the Blue Grass classic were unaware that Willie Shoemaker, astride Gallant Man, had misjudged the finish, believing the race was over some 70 yards before the actual wind-up and that he had won it. "Shoe" realized that he had erred a fraction of a second later and again went to work on his mount — unavailingly. as it developed. Fair, while "calling- one of the years most important charts — giving the margins separating the various contestants — immediately noted Shoemakers mistake and called attention to it in his chart footnotes. Red Smith Credits Fair for Alertness Red Smith, one of the nations best respected sports columnists, credited Fair for for his wisdom and alertness in his column in Sundays issue of the New York Herald Tribune and other papers throughout the country, saying: "Newspapermen who had gone peddling down from the press boxe as Iron Liege finished werent aware of Shoemakers error, but even as they quizzed the riders. Don Fair, the chart-caller, was upstairs writing: Gallant Man. in hand and saving ground to the last three-eights, moved up determinedly in the early stretch, reached the lead between calls, and was going stoutly when his rider misjudged the finish, and he could not overtake Iron Liege when back on stride." Shoemakers temporary lapse has been the talk of the country and has provided column material for the nations best-known sports scribes. Following are some quotes from nationally read columns: RED SMITH, New York Herald Tribune: "If Willie Shoemaker handt misjudged the finish line in the Kentucky Derby, the mint -scented air of these parts would be split today by hosannahs saluting one of the grandest rides in the long and sometimes larcenous history of Churhchill Downs. Gallant Man didnt want to run much in the early stages, Willie said, and his rider had to get after the colt halfway over the course. Then Shoemaker took him around the field, made up a dozen lengths, and drove him over the last half mile in :49. In 83 Derbys. only four horses have gone that fast through the last four furlongs. "Beaten a nose by Iron Liege. Gallant man might have won by as much as a length if his rider hadnt eased him up 15 lengths short of the wire. The sorriest part of that was that he had been warned against that very error — the colts owner, Ralph Lowe, had dreamed he would commit :t — and Willie thought he was following instructions." SHIRLEY POVICH, Washington Post: "In baseball the term for ineptness is Shoemaker, and today in horse racing it was the same, with a capital S. Willie Shoemaker had the Kentucky Derby won with Gallant Man in the finishing jumps and then fumbled it away to Willie Hartack and Iron Liege. "At the finish, the stewards messaged that they would have words with Shoe- ; maker when he dismounted and so attendants brought the rider in. Yep, Shoemaker confessed, he had misjudged the finish, stocd up in his stirrups 15 lengths before the wire, thinking the race was over, and was beaten a nose when he went back to the whip. "The stewards generously called it an error in judgment, but Mr. Ralph Lowe, Gallant Mans owner, could have harsher words for it. Shoemakers error in judgment was an 2,950 item for Mr. Lowe, the difference between first and second money. "Shoemaker didnt alibi, said only that he had become confused in thinking that the sixteenth pole was the finish line. When he went back to the whip there wasnt time by a noses width to take the race back from Iron Liege, the one he had headed, the chart men said, when Shoemaker goofed." ARTHUR DALEY, New York Times: "They let Iron Liege run with reasonable freedom in Saturdays Kentucky Derby, under the skillful handling of Willie Hartack, and he galloped off with the blanket ; of roses. Still its possible — perhaps even probable — that the Calumet charger would have made it if Willie Shoemaker on Gallant Man had not pulled one of the most colossal boners in racing history. "Willie the Shoe is no apprentice boy. He comes mighty close to being the best jockey in the business. Yet he misjudged the whereabouts of the finish line, stood up I momentarily in his stirrups a short distance before the wire and lost the Derby by the margin of a palpitating nose. "By way of compounding the fantasy, Ralph Lowe, the owner of Gallant Man, had had a pre-Derby dream that his colt had the race as good as won when the jockey misjudged the finish line and raised himself outof the saddle too soon. "The more a tourist thinks about it, the more he become convinced that there was an Alice in Wonderland motif to this Derby, where everything got curiouser and curi-ouser. There was the second-string horse winning the race. There was Shoemaker of all people* riding like a shoemaker and there was the nightmarish dream. The only character missing was the Mad Hatter, who probably was off in the wings, thinking everything was wonderful."
