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t Ismael Valenzuela Fine Young Jockey Texas-Born Lads Ability in Saddle for Calumet in Past Earns Him Tim Tarn Mount CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 2. — "I spoke to a lot of people around the country." Calumet trainer Jimmy Jones said by v.*ay of explanation as to why he selected Ismael Valenzuela to replace the injured Bill Hartack on Tim Tarn for tomorrows Kentucky Derby. "I also spoke to a number of former riders, whose judgment I respect. They all told, me this boy could horseback. And then, of course, he did do some excellent riding for us back in California several years ago." As a matter of widely recognized fact. 23-year-old Milo Valenzuela is being hailed throughout the profession as one of the finest young jockeys to come along in many years. Hirsch Jacobs, who ranks with the countrys leading trainers, thought enough of him to put the boy on his Promised Land in three 00,000 stakes this season and Valenzuela won two of them — the San Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita and the John B. Campbell at Bowie. And in his first extended invasion of the New York circuit, Milo is presently the leading rider along the "Big Apple." Brother Also Top Rider One of 22 children. Valenzuela, whose brother Angel has been a top rider in the East for many seasons — he won The Garden State with Prince John in 1955 — was born in McNary, Texas. At the age of 11, Milo left his fathers sheep farm in Mexico and went to work on a ranch near El Paso, Texas: Soon lie was riding match races on quarter horses, and in time became one of the most proficient riders at the bush tracks of the Southwest. Valen-zuelas salary at the time: 0 a month, and most of fliat went-home to Mexico to help out the family. "Those quarter-horse races were something." he recalls. "Theyd let a big boy exercise my horse before the race. Id wait for him near the starting line. Then theyd put me on the horse. I weighed about 50-60 pounds. The horses would fly under the lighter weight." When he was 16, Valenzuela switched from quarter-horses to thoroughbreds, and wound up at Centennial Race Track, near Denver, where he rode 12 winners in his first two weeks of competition. Milo did most of the riding for trainer Eddie Pres-nell, who took him to California in 1953. Valenzuela did well on the West Coast, where Angel was also in action at the time, and between them they earned enough money to buy a ranch for the family near Grand Junction, Colorado. - Father of Boy and Girl "My father didnt want to leave Mexico." Ismael says, "but when he died in 1954, we bought this ranch and brought my mother, brothers and sisters to the States." • Valenzuela. who was married in 1953, is the father of a boy and girl. Hes been highly successful in California over the past few seasons, particularly with the Llangollen Farm stable of Mrs. Richard "Liz" Lunn. In 1956, he rode Porterhouse for Mrs. Lunn to beat Swaps in the Cali-fornian at Hollywood Park, and that same fall rode Mrs. Lunns Mister Gus to beat Nashua in the Woodward at Belmont Park. This spring, however, he decided to try New York, and had done so well since his arrival that he hopes to remain East for the entire season. Angel is also riding in Gotham, and the two brothers are very close. Valenzuela is a likeable, well-mannered, intelligent boy who speaks English and Spanish with equal fluency. He got into a couple of off -track scrapes on the West Coast that cost him some riding engagements, but basically he is clean-cuT, and is maturing into a really topnotch jockey. Hes as strong as a bull, and can do everything a good rider should. Youll hear from hiili with increasing frequency in years to come. ISMAEL VALENZUELA
