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New England By Teddy Cox Expect DeRoin to Go Places in Riding Ranks Hinphy Rates Him Best Prospect He Has Had Predicts He Will Continue Aftef Losing Bug SUFFOLK DOWNS, East Boston, Mass., May 30. David Bernard DeRoin knows how to cut the corners, whether it is in his workshop just across the road at his Beachmont, Mass., home, or on the turns here at Suffolk Downs. He set out to become a cabinet maker and attended vocational school and was becoming quite adept in woodcraft when he was lured under the local shed-rows. Presently he is the toast of all Yankeelandfhes the little David who is beginning to locate his best stride, after recovering from recent surgery, and if he encounters any veritable Goliaths along the way you may rest assured hell meet the situation with the same skill and dexterity of the Biblical hero. Jn your travels youre quite reluctant to allow yourself too far out on the limb in your appraisal of apprentice jockeys. Youve seen too many of them bluster forth with clusters of triumphs, only to fade away once their valuable "bug" is gone and they are forced to operate under "mens par" for the course. This boy, DeRoin, though, has a tendency to break through the formations of protective callousness you may have developed. Hes disarming and hes clever and hes sharp and hes mannerly. You had seen him perform for just a few days during the early phases of the Lincoln Downs meeting. When he aggravated an old injury to a badly inflamed ankle, and an operation was necessary. The convalescence period required the remainder of the Rhode Island meeting and he didnt get back under silks until the thoroughbred caravan moved up here to Suffolk Downs. Youve been watching his every move and youre now convinced hes a shrewd little man who has a future. Biggest Booster Is an E-Rider This observation becomes affirmed more emphatically when you sit there under the shedrow and listen. Bill Hinphy, who holds his contract, has been lauding him since he came toNew England this season on that cold, bitter afternoon early in March. Himself a former rider, and a good one, Hinphy is another who doesnt become easily excited over an apprentice simply because he rides winners. "But this boy DeRoin is the finest prospect Ive ever seen," Hinphy says. "There hasnt been one like him since Tony DeSpirito or Joe Culmone. Theres no bug boy in America who comes close to him, in my opinion. I dont know how many riders Ive had, but hes head and shoulders over them all in every way. First of all, he is a youth of extremely high morals and character. Theres never a night when he doesnt kneel and thank the Man Upstairs for. his good fortune. Hes that kind of boy, the kind youd like to have for your own son. He saves his money, too. He is preparing for the future and, if everything goes well, he will be fairly well fixed by the time he loses his "bug." But it wont end there. Hell continue on. Hes light and he has been well grounded as a rider and he keeps trying to improve." DeRoin calls Hinphy "Uncle Bill." He says the veteran trainer is responsible for everything he has accomplished, but he is also quick to award his agent, Arthur "Happy" Carcieri, a big assist. "I first wentwith Jack Goodwin. He died last year. He took me to the farm at Moorestown, N. J, when I was 15, and I cut grass, worked yearlings, mucked, out stalls, and cut more grass. Mainly I cut grass, it seemed, and pulled weeds, and I didnt like it. So eventually I quit and went with a couple of other trainers, Mr. Venuti and Mr. Ryan, but . I didnt get along too well, and one day I bummed a ride back to the track with Happy, and he was the one who has guided the way since. He brought me to Uncle Bill and he took me under contract." Used to Be Whip-Happy DeRoin had some ideas of his own when he came with Hinphy. "Like most youngsters," Bill relates, "he was somewhat whip-happy. He didnt seem to think a horse could run without feeling the constant sting of the whip. Well, I took the bat away fromhim for a time in the morning and I told him he should learn how to handle the reins and how to sit a horse and that there were many other things to be mastered before the whip became too important. He was a good student , and he listened. There are times, though, when he still gets anxious and gets into his mounts before it is necessary. But he corrects his mistakes quickly, when told of them, and he has a keen, analytical mind to handle problems that require split-second decisions. What I like best is that hes seldom in a hurry on the back-stretch. He knows where races are won in the last eighth of a mile." Get the coin with DeRoin! Program Scribblings: Youre somewhat surprised to see handsome old First Glance out there on the track with a 13,000 claiming tag and finishing "up the track." The 10-year-old son of Discovery Bride Elect, by High Time, was once a valued member of the stakes-winning campaigners for Alfred Gynne Vanderbilt.
