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: . . : 4 Nagler on Racing Star Riders Point Out Flaws In Films, Books About Racing By BARNEY NAGLER BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 31. The red-brick building in which the jockeys shuck their walking raiments for their riding gear is a two-floor job. The lower story is just below ground-level, a "sort of cellar," as one working stiff put it, neat and orderly, complete with steel lockers painted green. A larger number of riders dress in the catacomb. Upstairs, the stars dress- Arcaro and" Atkinson and Woodhouse. "Down here," a valet said, "we got Willie Boland to save us, and that Sterling and Anderson, too." So the visitor walked up a flight and checked to see how the other half lives in advance of a day in racing. They flourish indeed, sitting around talking about races and racing, and about the life and times and tribulations of- men on the hoof. The subject on this occasion, turned to spills. "Do you ever worry about falling?" a visitor asked Eddie Arcaro. "I dont think so." "Do you ever get used to falling?" "I dont think so," Arcaro said. Ted Atkinson, sitting on a bench across the aisle, said, "The funny things are the books written on racing. I read one recently, See How They Run", in which the jockey wouldnt move up in front because he was afraid of a fall in front of all the horses." "Hell," said Arcaro, "thats the place to be, I would think, if you have to fall." "Fiction about racing is always kind of funny," Atkinson said. "How about National Velvet?" "What made that funny?" "Well, you remember the horse breaks a bone in his leg, and hes a thousand dollar plater. Now he comes back. They patch him up and hes a stake hors3. That doesnt happen in racing." Derby First Race He Remembers "How about the people who brought that horse to the Derby a few years ago?" Arcaro said. "I mean that little gray horse they bred themselves. That would have made fiction if it had won, but it didnt get to run. I thought it made the Derby look a little silly at the time." "The Derby,, the visitor said, "is the first race I remembeiJVVien I was a kid I remember seeing a picture called Kentucky Derby in a movie liouse in Brooklyn. The race was the big thing, of course, and there was a Dixieland band in the pit and they played real fast when the race was on." "Yes," Atkinson said, "and the race lasted six minutes." There was laughter. "I dont remember that one," Arcaro said. "Im not that old." There was more laughter. "But I remember the one called Kentucky," Arcaro went on.. "That was the one they used my Derby on Lawrin, the finish, I mean. That was a pretty good picture." "A man came along and fixed Atkinson with a stare. t "Tell me," he said, "how was your Boy Scout hike?" Atkinson smiled. "It was all right, but taking care of a bunch of 12-year-old kids, Continued on Page Fifty-Seyen Nagler on Racing Continued from Page Nine " thats real tough work," said the assistant scoutmaster. "What I want to know," Ihe newcomer said, "is whether any of. those kids know you, ever heard about you?" "Oh, I think so," Atkinson said. "Ive distributed some pictures of myself among them, five or six, no more." " "None of them ever asks you if youve got a tip in the sixth, do they?" Atkinson smiled. So did Arcaro. "Theyre kids," Atkinson said, "and completely unspoiled. Unspoiled, that is, if youre not taking care of them on an overnight hike." Fiction had given way to reality.
