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1 - OReilly on Racing Shoemaker Rides Six Winners And Gives Air Lines Big Plug " By TOM OREILLY BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., June 3. Did it occur to you that Willie Shoemaker, the eminent horse jockey, did more to dramatize commercial aviation over the week end than all the grey-flanneled ad-men in Madison Avenues ulcer gulch put together? On Friday, Wee Willie was going about his business at Hollywood Park, California, winning three races aboard The Shoe .10, Full Time .60 and Alidon .20. On Saturday, 10 hours and 3,000 miles away here on the opposite side of the continent, the young man was out at Belmont Park winning three more race on Hicks Error .30, Attica 8.00 and Gallant Man .90. He spent -the night sleeping soundly on a United Air Lines plane. For businessmen such performances are commonplace. For athletes, however, Willie hit a milestone. Men who make a profession of conditioning athletes have long been suspicious of the airplane. One year before Charles A. Lindbergh put the Wright brothers handy contraption on the map, by flying solo from New York to Paris, Gene Tunney made front page news by announcing that he would make a daring flight from his training camp, at Stroudsburg, Pa., to Philadelphia where he won the heavyweight championship from Jack Dempsey. Today we know that was a mere puddle-jump. Willies all-night flight between two days of hard, profitable work, was something else again. When Steve Owen was coaching the New York Football Giants, for Tim Mara, it was suggested that .he fly his team to the West Coast for a game. Owen said he would be perfectly willing to fly his club out there provided they were given enough time after landing to "rest up from the trip"." It was stout Steves contention that long, transcontinental flights took entirely too much out of an athlete. "Whether a man realizes it or not," contended Steve, "when an airplane revs up its motors he becomes tense. He may only feel it for a second or two because that is all the time it takes him to adjust. The tension remains, just the same, however, and it isnt relieved until he steps out of the plane at his destination. It is7 only a mild thing, ordinarily, and for a trip of only an hour or so doesnt mean much. But when you are under that tension for a full tenhours, crossing the continent, it leaves you rather exhausted,. Any football coach who took a team into a game right after a trip like that would be crazy." Work Letter Perfect After Long Plane Ride Now everybody will admit that riding a horse is hot the rock em-sock em sort of exercise obtainable in a professional football game. Nevertheless, riding a horse in big-time races, is not the sort of thing anyone should attempt who is suffering from nervous exhaustion. It calls for wideawake, split-second thinking and plenty of action to go with it. Shoemaker after that long plane ride from the coast, was practically letter-perfect in his work. He even . found the finish line without any trouble. Shoemaker is an attractive, dark-haired, brown-eyed, little man, perfectly proportioned in miniature. In fact Shoemaker always brings to mind Stanley Martineaus famed statue of a tennis player that stands on a pedestal in the entrance hall of Park Avenues Racquet and Tennis Club. Many a man has lost a bet on that statue. It shows a tennis .player bent over just after making a shot. It seems so tiny that few people believe it is half the size of a six-foot man. Measured from head to toe, however, it is exactly three feet, and every line is perfectly proportioned. Shoemaker is an unusually calm young man. No questions ever seem to surprise him. If you recall, he was just as matter of fact about admitting that hed missed the finish line in the Kentucky Derby as he was to anything else, even though that gesture may make him as famous as Roy Riegels, the All-America footballer, who ran the wrong way in the Rose Bowl, or "Wrong Way" Corrigan, the trans-Atlantic flyer. "Sleep," he said lazily, "I slept like a log. Got on the plane at 9 oclock. Went to sleep about 10. Woke up about an hour before.we got to New York. It was a straight-through plane. We got here at 7 oclock. I felt fine all day." An exceptionally neat dresser, Willie was ; climbing into a blue, pin-stripe creation as he talked. "Ysleep sittin up. But ysleep real good. At least I do. It isnt as good as sleepin in bed, ocourse, but its no trouble." Willies size, grace and sharp attire would mark him as a jockey anywhere. Moreover, his picture has been in every paper printed in America. In short, he is Continued on Page Thirty-Eight OReilly on Racing j Continued from Page Six a celebrity easily recognizable by the public. Did people ask him questions about his Derby mistake? "As a matter of fact." replied Willie, "the public surprised me. They werent as tough as I thought theyd be. People in general are pretty polite. They like to ask about it. If it was true. But theyre just curious. They dont want to hurt your feelings. "The photographers took pictures of me at that new colored finish line pole they have here. I think they ought to call those finish markers Shoemakers. Maybe I deserve a rake-off." As you can see, from the above, Willie is completely adjusted to his situation. He continued on, to speak of the Belmont track. "Theres plenty of room out there. Its a1 nice track. No crowding on sharp turns. Of course, the tracks in California are harder and help the speed horses. Belmont is softer and sandier. "Ill be back again to ride in the Belmont. Im high on Gallant Man for that one. Specially if he runs like he did today. Hes a fine horse." And our William is a fine rider. Goodbye, now !
